Hottentot Venus

I want to thank the other reviews who sold me on this book because here it is, 6 am, and I can't put it down. For a fascinating and disturbing look into this woman's story, written with lush descriptions and unforgiving honesty, I highly recommend it as well. LOL @ the other two haters - your BS was helpful to NO ONE and that alone speaks for itself. GTFOHWTBS. Truth hurts.

Hottentot Venus is a wonderful work of historical fiction by Barbara Chase-Riboud surrounding the exploitation and short life of Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman. Saartjie was a South African herdswoman who was brought to England in 1810 and exhibited in a freak show for seven years as the "Hottentot Venus." She was exhibited in a cage partially covered in "native attire" where thousands came to view her protruding buttocks and elongated labia ("apron") - a symbol of beauty and desire by her tribesmen. A distortion on the image of Venus as the goddess of love and beauty, Saartijie was heralded as the missing link between man and apes - thus propelling her as an atrocity to be gawked upon, repulsed and pitied by Victorian England and France. Saartjie's experience in England lands her in a famous legal case in which abolitionists took her "partners" to court insisting that Saartjie was enslaved and working against her will. She, being an illiterate person, testified that she had signed a written contract with her "partners" and was being fairly compensated; however considering she died in poverty, the contract (if it truly existed) is highly questionable. Immediately upon death at age 27 from complications caused by alcoholism, syphilis, and tuberculosis, Saartjie's body was sold and dissected to prove the theory that she was indeed the missing link and not human. Her remains (death caste, full skeleton, and prized "apron") were callously displayed and stored in a Paris museum for nearly 200 years and were only recently returned to her native South Africa for burial in 2002. Chase-Riboud's in depth research and careful reconstruction of Saartjie's world is superb! The novel is lengthy, detailed and descriptive. It has a Victorian flair to it - especially in the passages where in depth dialogue is used to convey the Englishmen's misguided, racists thoughts of the time. The author's imagination fills in the gaps and gives Saartjie a resonant voice that transcends time. A true work of historical fiction as it references the French Revolution, American Civil War, and historical figures like Jane Austen, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Charles Darwin. The reader empathizes with Saartjie, all the while pulling for justice to be served for her. This is a touching novel - one that will stay with the reader well after the last page is turned. Reviewed by Phyllis APOOO BookClub Nubian Circle Book Club

..this book should be on the reading list in every high school,how else are we to change the cruelty and racism that is inflicted and promoted by governments down thru history,the story of sexism is most painful as you become aware that society today is still staring at its "venus" in the form of many young and spiritual girls and women today,in all countries of the world...the authors style is brave as she takes us from murder to our lonely Sarah shopping for beloved gloves and thru a death journey that is poetic in its justice.......please read this and urge others to

I stayed up late last night finishing a truly tremendously fine book: Hottentot Venus by Barbara Chase-Riboud. It's definitely in the do-not-miss category and is very close to being best book of the year (so far). Sometimes a novel can be too heavily loaded with detail but, in this one, the superb writing and language balance perfectly the detail. The book evokes its time (1789-1820 or so) richly and satisfyingly with a story that is more than a match for the times and the writing. To my eye, there's only one misstep and, likely, others wouldn't find it so.

Barbara Chase-Riboud delivers a truly extraordinary piece of fiction based on the true story of Sarah Baartman dubbed the Hottentot Venus. Chase-Riboud takes the reader from the Cape of South Africa, St. Helena(the island of Napoleon's exile) to England and France. Venus-Sarah Baartman dreams of escaping Africa, due to the loss of her family by the dutch and English invaders.She agrees to go England with her husband, an English ship's doctor to become a dancer but soon finds fame is not quite what she expected. She is exploited, and forced to parade naked in a London freak show, where she suffers racist and sexists taunts and is continously ridiculed by the British Public. She is able to withstand this humilation by drowning in alcohol and self-denial. She is eventually sold to a French circus owner who abuses sarah, and forces her be further exploited by the French Medical Society where she is examined and probed like an animal, of which she is compared. They use Sarah to further their racist and sexist theories about humans and humanity. The French eventually gets sarah's remains after her death at age 27 where she further exploited and degraded. Chase-Riboud's meticulous research, clear and objective style makes Sarah's self-destructive life not only palatable but extremely believable and is a page turner from beginning to end