Sold as a Slave

Hmm, this is an odd one.Firstly we are warned in the introduction that the “famous opening section, dealing with life in Benin, is a fabrication... however the narrative that follows the slavery [is] absolutely authentic.”Which puts me a bit of a disadvantage, now struggling to accept the authenticity of the whole book...Anyway, this is a series of excerpts from the authors [b:The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself 240009 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Written by Himself Olaudah Equiano https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388217529s/240009.jpg 502685].The excerpts read ok as excerpts, but the writing style is fairly basic - just a chain of events explained. The descriptions of his slavery, and the events around this, the treatment he received (both bad and good) are terrible and interesting in equal measure, and he obviously did well to achieve his education and ability to communicate a book, but I assume (my reading in this field is limited) there are better written biographies - probably not relying on a fictional start!I can't settle between two or three stars, it would have been 2.5, otherwise I struggle with the three stars I gave the excerpt from Thesigers excellent Arabian Sands - [b:Across the Empty Quarter 869167 Across the Empty Quarter (Penguin Great Journeys) Wilfred Thesiger https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356447658s/869167.jpg 854553], which was only because I thought the selection of excerpts was poor.