booklife review of The Simulated Plantation
Synopsis: Cory, a young Black computer programmer, is trapped in a virtual reality simulation where she must navigate life as a white man on an 1860s Alabama plantation. Can she playact the part without compromising her convictions? Must she befriend a slaveowner’s family in order to survive? Can she do anything for Apollo, Polly, and all the other slaves on the plantation while protecting herself? Will it help or hurt to warn anyone about the coming Civil War? When a slave woman is murdered can Cory find the killer (or escape the simulation) before the killer turns on her? Cory must draw on her wits, her upbringing and her life experiences to make difficult moral and life-saving choices.
Haynes (Suspects) veers from his Northwest Murder Mysteries series in this unique exploration of identity, power, and injustice. Video game programmer Cory Sergeant—a Black woman raised on the principle that “honesty was the prerequisite for integrity, confidence, [and] success”—is up against a deadline when she and her colleague decide to test a new virtual reality game capable of transporting users back in time. Cory elects to travel to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, but when a hitch in the game lands her in 1860 Alabama instead—in the body of a white man—her excitement and curiosity quickly fade away to fear.
Cory’s physical transformation allows her safety and autonomy—a sharp contrast to the enslaved characters’ experiences. She witnesses firsthand the brutality and abuse of enslavement, continually questioning how she can make a positive impact while seeking a way back to her real life. As she teaches the enslaved individuals she meets how to read, tries to protect them, and works to improve their lives, she experiences profound awakenings, including her realization that, in 1860s Alabama, she would not “swap my position on the plantation to be a slave… Too hard a life.” Haynes’s setup forces Cory to confront history in a deeply personal way, and the message—that understanding injustice requires experience, even if that experience is uncomfortable and destabilizing—is powerful.
Haynes’s writing feels immersive, particularly in the plantation setting. The disparities between Cory’s 21st century life and 1860 Alabama are vivid: she misses her fiancé and the comforts of contemporary living, but she also forms meaningful relationships that make it hard for her to leave. Some of her choices—dropping hints about future presidential elections, introducing fingerprinting to help solve a plantation crime—take more risks than classic time-travel tropes, but Haynes succeeds at creating an artificial reality that illuminates the oppressive, inhumane life of enslavement.
Takeaway: Immersive story confronts injustice through lived experience.
Comparable Titles: Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Production grades Cover: B Design and typography: A- Editing: A- Marketing copy: A
Cory’s physical transformation allows her safety and autonomy—a sharp contrast to the enslaved characters’ experiences. She witnesses firsthand the brutality and abuse of enslavement, continually questioning how she can make a positive impact while seeking a way back to her real life. As she teaches the enslaved individuals she meets how to read, tries to protect them, and works to improve their lives, she experiences profound awakenings, including her realization that, in 1860s Alabama, she would not “swap my position on the plantation to be a slave… Too hard a life.” Haynes’s setup forces Cory to confront history in a deeply personal way, and the message—that understanding injustice requires experience, even if that experience is uncomfortable and destabilizing—is powerful.
Haynes’s writing feels immersive, particularly in the plantation setting. The disparities between Cory’s 21st century life and 1860 Alabama are vivid: she misses her fiancé and the comforts of contemporary living, but she also forms meaningful relationships that make it hard for her to leave. Some of her choices—dropping hints about future presidential elections, introducing fingerprinting to help solve a plantation crime—take more risks than classic time-travel tropes, but Haynes succeeds at creating an artificial reality that illuminates the oppressive, inhumane life of enslavement.
Takeaway: Immersive story confronts injustice through lived experience.
Comparable Titles: Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Production grades Cover: B Design and typography: A- Editing: A- Marketing copy: A