Rating: 
Summary: a quick, fairly satisfying read
Review: I was drawn to this book because it took place approximately 40 years before the Civil War, and it was told in a voice that we rarely hear from...the female point of view, specifically a planter's wife who is completely unsympathetic. I enjoyed this book because it was sharp, quick, and closely focused on the shared women's issues that Manon and Sarah have in common, despite the mistress/slave relationship. Unlike other books on this period that I have read, it has no fluff. I enjoyed it, and read it in a day and a half.
Rating:
Summary: A great short read...
Review: I was impressed enough with this book that I thought I would pass on my enthusiasm to others. Seems to be enough of that to go around. I can understand the reviewer from MD feeling frustrated with the main character, however I think it's more of a testament of the writers ablity to convey the alien emotions of slavery and survival. Can anything be more frustrating than a character (or society) willing to employ considerable intellect to ensure mutual internal destruction?
Rating:
Summary: A great short read...
Review: I was impressed enough with this book that I thought I would pass on my enthusiasm to others. Seems to be enough of that to go around. I can understand the reviewer from MD feeling frustrated with the main character, however I think it's more of a testament of the writers ablity to convey the alien emotions of slavery and survival. Can anything be more frustrating than a character (or society) willing to employ considerable intellect to ensure mutual internal destruction?
Rating:
Summary: Property: An Apercu to Reversing Roles
Review: I won't dwell on the story line of the book because I think other reviewers have done well. However, I do invite new readers to pay close attention to Ms. Martin's characters' roles. It seems Ms. Martin has taken the idea of reversing otherwise typical antebellum "positions" and turned it into pivotal points of interest--at least enough to hold the reader's attention. Manon's character crosses over into the role of the white master--she too suckles Sarah's milky breast: "I dropped to my knees on the carpet before her and rested my hands upon her wrists...This is what he does" (one could take those white "rested" hands "upon" those black wrists and see this too as a rape). In an ultrally "slighter" sense, Manon is put into the position of the black male slave--she becomes the chase: "I kept running...It was the black, the ground riddled with roots that tripped me and nettle grass that cut my feet like razors. I could still hear them behind me, still in pursuit...I bent down and plunged my hands into the cool mud, then smeared it over my face, my arms, and into my hair." Needless to say, the white mastress comes out alive, with a defected arm and some cuts on her face--none of which are inflicted by the revolters. And do we dare see a slight hint of motherhood in Manon as she allows Walter to sleep by the fire: "I let him sleep there once...and now he wants to do it every day. Rose says he always wants to be where I am." Ms. Martin also tampers with the role of the black female slave. Sarah "disguised as a white gentleman"--a "presentable" aristocrat named Mr. Maitre is a fresh literary experiment with character. Up North, Sarah's role changes again from white male to a free black woman---a traveled free black woman. The latter is something Manon realizes she will never experience. Aside from Mr. Maitre, white male characters in Ms. Martin's book are typical. I would even go so far as to say they are non-fictional. Though the book stretches out into a rare point of view, I found nothing wooing or unusual about the white male characters. As Manon's character is so onery, so conflicted, so miserable, these qualities deem her likable because she is believeable. The novel could have been much longer. Yet, "Property" is a captivating, fast read. Recommended!!
Rating:
Summary: PROVOCATIVE READ
Review: I won't recount the plot since it's been already recounted below. I found PROPERTY a fascinating read, as I am a white Southerner and come from families who owned slaves. I think the author has done a better recounting of life in 1828 than most writers have done, and is masterful in the way that she allows her protagonist's unveiling of her own selfishness with her own words. She has wonderfully revealed the sheer boring evil that was slavery and how it undermined Southern society, as much a blight to the owners as the slaves. I also like that there were no absolute monsters in this book -- that even the nasty slaveowner was showed briefly brave, when he comes back to try and rescue his wife; that the protagonist has a few moments of dry humor. I've withheld a perfect Five Stars because I really feel the ending story, while powerful, seemed to lack balance in that it was only one point of view. I think the slave woman should have been given a voice, and think that's why the ending came too abruptly to a halt. Her last sentence, practically her only one, simply wasn't enough. I understand the logic that she wasn't allowed a voice back then, but surely, she'd have a story to tell us now. But thank God for honesty in the telling. The true depravity of slavery is America's nasty little secret, and this story goes a long ways to showing the pathos and spiritual squalor of such a life, misery all around and plenty to spare.
Rating: 
Summary: Devoured in a Weekend
Review: If you're looking for a compelling, fast read that gives you a unique perspective of the complicated master-slave relationship, Property is the book for you. I devoured this book in a matter of hours, only to pass it to a friend who did the same. The narrator (and plantation mistress), Manon Gaudet, moves her story along quickly with details of her "terrible" life alongside a dreadful husband and the light-skinned slave, Sarah, he favors. Manon's pouty, snide narrative offers a rarely explored perspective of slavery and a reminder of just what a backwards time in history it was.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating, unique glimpse of plantation life
Review: Martin has created a fairly unsympathetic (but highly interesting) protagonist in planter's wife Manon Gaudet. Manon is truly a product of her time and place (antebellum Louisiana) and if you're looking for warm and fuzzy, you won't find it in Manon's attitudes toward slavery - more specifically, her attitude toward her own "property," Sarah, a slave that was a gift to her when she married her husband, and who has a child by her husband, something Manon has been unable (and unwilling) to provide. This is truly a fascinating glimpse into this time period. Martin's writing really transports you. Manon is a bright, headstrong character, and despite her prejudices, you can't help but admire her moxie. She handles everything - from a slave revolt to the death of her mother - in a detached but determined fashion. My only complaint: it should have been longer! I felt cheated not being able to follow Manon further into the future.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful
Review: Other reviewers have explained the plot and nuance of this book well enough.
I'll just say I thought it was wonderful. I read it in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Read
Review: Property was a very fascinating read. Reading this novel puts you inside the minds of slaves and their owners. This was my very first time reading anything by Valerie Martin. She has a very unique writing style.
Rating:
Summary: Slave-owner's narrative
Review: The story is narrated by a New Orleans slave-owner's wife in the 1830's. She is a bitter angry woman, directing her resentment largely against the victim (...).
It's a compelling story, with interesting evocations of New Orleans in the grip of yellow fever and a slave revolt and lots of violence and (...) of many kinds (but which nobody seems ever to enjoy).
I suppose it's wrong to expect cheerfulness in a an account of this shameful time in American history (when the Union jack was the flag of freedom) but Manon Gaudet's misanthropy and misogyny, combined with the absence of any voice of charity or reason, create a rather depressing read.
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