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"Georges Munier is a sensitive boy growing up in the nineteenth century on the island of Mauritius. The son of a wealthy mulatto, Pierre Munier, Georges regularly sees how his father's courage is tempered by a sense of inferiority before whites and Georges vows that he will be different." "When Georges matures into a man committed to "moral superiority mixed with physical strength," the stage is set for a conflict with the island's rich and powerful plantation owner, Monsieur de Malmedie, and a forbidden romance with Sara, the beautiful woman engaged to Malmedie's son." "Swordplay, a slave rebellion, a harrowing escape, and a vow of vengeance - Georges is unmistakably the work of the master who wrote The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. Yet it stands apart as the only book Dumas ever wrote that confronts the subject of race - a potent topic, since Dumas was of African ancestry himself." "This edition also features a Foreword by Jamaica Kincaid and an Introduction and notes by Werner Sollors, who addresses key themes such as colonialism, racism, African slavery, and interracial intimacy."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
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Georges Munier, the mixed-race man from Ile de
The action, which Tina Kover adroitly translates, proceeds with terrific pace, and we feel we know what will happen to Georges - it's all too inevitable given his treasonous course. We have an unexpected, thrilling turnabout, a daring daylight escape, and a truly swashbuckling chase and naval battle to finish the book.
This works really well as adventure, although Georges and the other lead characters become a little too cardboard-cutout for me. Maybe I ask for too much from a 19-century adventure story, but Dumas makes his theme a noble rebellion against racial oppression, so maybe I wanted something a little more real. Maybe I'm being unfair and unrealistic. Anyway, this is a good way to find out a lot about Dumas, and if you want to escape with a classic story from another time, try "Georges." It won't disappoint if you're looking for straight-up adventure.
The only criticism I have is Georges's lack of development. He basically came out of the womb courageous, moral and intelligent. The only things that changed were his age and strength.
However, all of that is small potatoes. This is a side of Dumas I have never seen, and I wish there was more.
The first part of the story reminds me of the old Charles Atlas ads where the 90-pound weakling transforms himself into a muscular man able to defend himself. The rest of the story is bit like The Last of the Mohicans if it had been written by Dickens. The action is well-paced and the uncertainty of Georges' fate kept me turning the pages. Some of the characterizations feel weak, though. Georges keeps a mental distance from everyone, including the reader. When he does eventually fall in love, the object of his devotion is a 16-year-old girl who reminds me a little of Lydia Bennet. If she hadn't been a teenager, though, I think she might have acted differently and thus changed the outcome of the novel.
The treatment of race and prejudice is problematic in the novel. Georges despises the inferior treatment he is subjected to by the island's white society. However, Georges' family owns hundreds of slaves, and Georges and his family seem to view the African slaves as inferior in intellect and will. I'd like to find out more about Dumas to see how closely this mirrored his own attitude toward racial issues.