Read this for reading group. Now I realise that this is an important story. Not a novel but one man’s account of slavery, so that the world could know what happened to him. Undoubtedly many others were in worse situations. I did think the film was very powerful when I watched it back in 2013. But I hated reading the book. Partly because the language felt impenetrable, partly because of the long dull accounts e.g description of sugar cane industry. I didn’t know where any of the places were and there were too many names to remember so it was difficult to relate to. For me, this is not a book to be read for pleasure, rather one to be studied for its historical value.