Exploring the African Diaspora

I finished a great novel today called Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips. The book consists of four stories, all relating to the African diaspora. In the first story we see a slave owner traveling to Liberia to locate a former slave whom he has fallen out of contact with. In the second, an ex-slave travels great distances to somehow find the daughter she was separated from years ago. The third section consists of a slave trader's ship's log. Finally the fourth section explores an African-American soldier in World War II and the British woman who loved him.

Phillips does a great job of connecting the four stories. He does this with very subtle connections in each story as well as an introduction and conclusion that frame the other stories. The power of this novel lies not in what is stated boldly, but what is mentioned matter-of-factly, or sometimes not at all.