Sounder

By William H. Armstrong

It was published in 1969, understating the story of an African-American boy living with his sharecropper family and a dog named Sounder. The setting is vague as it's not clearly stated in the book, leaving me to guess it could be around late 1800 or early 1900.

Seeing the cruelty towards African-American in the great literature is no more rarity. Unfamiliarly, this time, I was not ignited nor agitated but felt sorrowful over people lives who lived in those times. With the subtle and moving method of writing, it felt as if I was transported into the place next to a family who was oppressed by the obnoxious and hideous society. As there's no main characters' names written except a god, I thought that it could be any African-American family in those times and places which were not long ago and not far away but only on Earth.

This is of only handful pages book but the story would resonate in my mind very long time and I sure say that it will strike a chord with everyone who reads.