Written in 1967 this book was and remains controversial. I found the book very well-written, timely and thought provoking. ( )

A must read. Styron would not be able to publish this today, not without the help of James Baldwin and he's no longer with us. ( )

I am still suspect of Pulitzer Prize winning books, even those predating the '90s, and find it interesting that my copy of The Confessions of Nat Turner, first printed fifteen years after winning the award, bears no indication of its achievement. I suspect this is due to the subsequent controversy arising from a white man imagining what a slave would think and feel. Personally, I think fiction is doomed if we continue down the path of restricting authors to writing characters matching their personal backgrounds.

The Confessions of Nat Turner is William Styron's first-person narrative of the events surrounding a short-lived slave rebellion, told by the man who led it. In spite of the controversy the book caused, I found it a mostly believable depiction of what might have led to the insurrection. Nat—whose assigned surname is actually that of his owner—is an intelligent, mostly sympathetic character whose major character flaws Styron invented. There is nothing in the historical record documenting the relationships he had with any of the victims, particularly his obsession for a white woman who is, according to the real confession, the only person he personally murdered. There are also several unnecessary (ill-considered?) scenes whose homoerotic undertones and lack of clarity regarding who was doing what to whom work against what the novel was attempting to achieve. I also found the practice of writing speech in dialect distracting, but that was more prevalent (less objectionable?) when the novel was written.

The Confessions of Nat Turner is not of the same quality as Sophie's Choice, perhaps because it is told from the perspective of the main actor rather than by an observer, adding an (intentional?) element of unreliability to the novel's events rather than subjecting them to simple misinterpretation. Given the paucity of historical documents about both the events and the people involved (including significant discrepancies in the number of people murdered), Styron wrote a book worthy of reading. Buy a copy with his afterword, where he elaborates on the objections to his inventions and explains some of the choices he made as an author. ( )

Good historical novel of a slave who led a revolt against their masters in the early 1800s in Virginia. Makes you think about slavery and what it does to people. I listened to it as an audiobook. ( )

Here's what I wrote after reading in 1985: "Fictional characterization of the 1831 slave revolt leader, Nat Turner. Violence, hatred, and sorrow throughout." Won a Pulizer but was critiqued for a variety of ways in which Styron characterized both whites and blacks, slaves and slave-owners, in the novel. Based on actual event, a slave revolt in VA led by Nat Turner who was found guity and killed. ( )