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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This book was excellent. It follows Kunta Kinte an African from Gambia. He is stolen from his country and sold in America as a slave. The story then follows his life as a slave. He has one child and once that child is sold to a different slave master the story perspective changes to her and keeps changing to the next generation as the story goes along all the way to Alex Haley himself.
Haley did year so research to trace his lineage back to Africa. He also did his research on what life was like in Gambia in the early 1700s. It is a long book but it really does not take long to read, it reads like a novel so you get wrapped up in the characters and story.
Highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.
An absolutely amazing read ... a must read in your lifetime.
Fascinating. Horrifying. Educational. Engaging. Terrific.
This is as bleak as you can get. But you know what? It’s not even the worst that I’ve read.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Despite the considerable controversy surrounding this novel, I found Alex Haley's epic completely enthralling and satisfying. I understand that at the time of its publication, Roots was a national phenomenon, inspiring countless people to dig into their family history to understand their roots. I can't say that I was inspired to learn more about my roots after reading this novel, but the story did give me better understanding of the importance of knowing where you come from and taking pride in who you are.
I respect Haley's purpose in writing Roots: to offer his family's history as an example and surrogate for many black Americans whose African lineages have been forgotten because of "the fact that preponderantly the histories have been written by the winners." However, I had a great problem with how Roots was researched and written. Firstly, I'm perturbed by the controversy of plagiarism and inauthenticity surrounding Roots. I don't think you need to market something as "fact" for it to be important and impactful, which Roots obviously is. This controversy is something that I cannot forget and that taints my experience with the novel. Secondly, it seemed as though Haley was more concerned with portraying historical events from a black perspective than bringing his ancestors to life. I know more about cockfighting than I do about the character Kizzy. I was expecting to know these characters inside and out, but that wasn't the case. I'm also really irritated that the point of view characters are nearly entirely male. In my 688 page edition, only 29 pages were written from a woman's perspective. It seemed as though these pages were included only long enough for this character to birth a son to carry on the story. In fact, the author wrote more pages from his first-person perspective (32 pages) than he did about the one female ancestor from whose perspective he wrote. Overall, I recommend reading this if you're new to slavery and plantation stories AND if you want to hear about American history from the perspective never talked about or taught in schools. Don't read this if you're expecting in depth character development, seamless pacing and an irrefutably true story.
