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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
Classic! If you haven't read it, you need to. It was a quick, easy read. I never really got bored with it, though there were some parts that were definitely more intense than others. I did get a bit annoyed with the flow of the chronology sometimes - it felt like the author bounced us ahead in huge chunks from time to time.
The book follows seven generations of an American family. It begins with Kinta Kunte, a Mandingo teenager kidnapped in Africa by slave traders and taken to Virginia. It ends with his great-great-great-great-grandson Alex Haley. The book chronicles the family's century as slaves in Virginia and North Carolina in detail. Though a mix of fact and fiction, the book brought the everyday lives of slaves and slave owners in the South. The entitlement, fear, and bigotry of the White slave owners becomes infuriatingly apparent. So does the unfortunate learned helplessness, fear, humiliation and degradation of the slaves. The book provides a realistic education every American should have.
Next on my list is to see the movie!
The book follows seven generations of an American family. It begins with Kinta Kunte, a Mandingo teenager kidnapped in Africa by slave traders and taken to Virginia. It ends with his great-great-great-great-grandson Alex Haley. The book chronicles the family's century as slaves in Virginia and North Carolina in detail. Though a mix of fact and fiction, the book brought the everyday lives of slaves and slave owners in the South. The entitlement, fear, and bigotry of the White slave owners becomes infuriatingly apparent. So does the unfortunate learned helplessness, fear, humiliation and degradation of the slaves. The book provides a realistic education every American should have.
Next on my list is to see the movie!
Wow...I will be doing a FULL review for this soon.
This book follows the blurb and is exactly what is been said about it. It is an emotional journey that is very, very worth it but takes a lot out of you. Very good book.
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I've never felt so invested in the characters of a book before. One of the best books I have ever read.
The concept of this book is ambitious, and intriguing. There are both advantages and disadvantages of this narrow approach to telling black America's history—what it lacks in breadth, it makes up for in depth. And vice-versa, it must be said. The conditions of slavery described here seem—to my imperfect understanding—to be a sort of median among the range of conditions that existed. But having some sense of the extremes makes for a much fuller understanding. That said, of course, it can hardly be the job of one single book to create that fuller understanding. And the depth of experience described here is really valuable.
I loved the book, and highly recommend it. But since I don't have much to say about that which hasn't already been said before, let me point out two things I wasn't wild about. The first is the technique Haley used to try and locate the narrative in time for his readers. Slave conversations full of names, locations, and other specific details did the expository work he wanted them to do, I suppose, but they were jarringly unrealistic. Especially in a book with so much rich detail, they really took me out of the narrative. I would much rather he simply named the years at the beginning of each chapter, or something along those lines. His characters could then have made vague allusions to events (as they surely would have in real life), rather than speaking about them as though they were teaching a survey course.
The second issue I have is more significant. Haley deals with the most recent generation or two in about as much space as it takes him to describe individual days and nights earlier in the book. It's not hard to imagine why he might do this. He may have just been ready to move on. Perhaps he thought his reader would be familiar enough with recent history so that his description wouldn't add much, and perhaps he thought recent history was simply less important than previous generations. Surely he also felt some (economic, professional, literary) pressure to get the thing done and to keep the length manageable. I have to wonder whether there was ever a discussion of making it a two-volume work, to allow more space for this part of the story, but I doubt it was seriously considered. I'm conscious of this lack, though, and it feels like a real one, partly because of Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns. She points out quite well, I think, the way this chapter of America's race history has been underestimated and undervalued. She also shows quite well how individual stories can be used to illuminate it. It's a shame, really, that Haley didn't do the same.
But again, I really liked this book, those two complaints notwithstanding. I'm also aware of the controversy surrounding Haley's claims about how factual the book is. I'm put off by that, certainly. But I never assumed the book was at all factual until I finally reached the end (where he makes that claim). So I'm judging it here on its merits as a work of historical fiction, and on that ground I think it stands pretty firmly.
I loved the book, and highly recommend it. But since I don't have much to say about that which hasn't already been said before, let me point out two things I wasn't wild about. The first is the technique Haley used to try and locate the narrative in time for his readers. Slave conversations full of names, locations, and other specific details did the expository work he wanted them to do, I suppose, but they were jarringly unrealistic. Especially in a book with so much rich detail, they really took me out of the narrative. I would much rather he simply named the years at the beginning of each chapter, or something along those lines. His characters could then have made vague allusions to events (as they surely would have in real life), rather than speaking about them as though they were teaching a survey course.
The second issue I have is more significant. Haley deals with the most recent generation or two in about as much space as it takes him to describe individual days and nights earlier in the book. It's not hard to imagine why he might do this. He may have just been ready to move on. Perhaps he thought his reader would be familiar enough with recent history so that his description wouldn't add much, and perhaps he thought recent history was simply less important than previous generations. Surely he also felt some (economic, professional, literary) pressure to get the thing done and to keep the length manageable. I have to wonder whether there was ever a discussion of making it a two-volume work, to allow more space for this part of the story, but I doubt it was seriously considered. I'm conscious of this lack, though, and it feels like a real one, partly because of Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns. She points out quite well, I think, the way this chapter of America's race history has been underestimated and undervalued. She also shows quite well how individual stories can be used to illuminate it. It's a shame, really, that Haley didn't do the same.
But again, I really liked this book, those two complaints notwithstanding. I'm also aware of the controversy surrounding Haley's claims about how factual the book is. I'm put off by that, certainly. But I never assumed the book was at all factual until I finally reached the end (where he makes that claim). So I'm judging it here on its merits as a work of historical fiction, and on that ground I think it stands pretty firmly.
This is a wonderful account of the author's family tree. I'm amazed at the level of detail the author had for people who lived centuries ago.
It has taken me a few days to gather my thoughts about Roots and I have concluded that I need to reread the novel at a time when I can read the physical copy of the book. Don't get me wrong, I loved the audio and Avery Brooks did an amazing job of narrating this lengthy text.
I know this is an odd way to open a review by saying I need to reread a book, but hear me out. Roots is a sweeping family drama based on the authors own family history, it addresses not just the issue of slavery, but also ideas of home, belonging, social division, and so much more. Haley litters his narrative with real historic events and covers roughly 300 years of history; as you can imagine this is a lot of time and information to cover in a single novel. Haley has weaved an intricate tapestry with his characters and how he portrays their relationships, interactions, and motivations provides a lot to think about. Nothing is simple and straight forward, but life never is.
Another obstacle I faced when reading the novel was that of expectation. I had purposely avoided watching Roots the miniseries in anticipation of one day reading the novel, but of course I could not avoid seeing clips and hearing comments about the series. As a result I started reading the novel with already preconceived notions of what to expect, these expectations took away from the experience of reading the book because I was always thinking about what was to come, or anticipating some imaginary idea of what was to happen. This was a disservice to the book and in hindsight I should have watched the miniseries and instead compared the two narratives.
In short, the novel was well written and engaging, it didn't blow me away, but then my own expectations may have been set too high. However, the book did deserve better from me as a reader and so I look forward to the day I get the opportunity to revisit Kunta Kinta and his family.
I know this is an odd way to open a review by saying I need to reread a book, but hear me out. Roots is a sweeping family drama based on the authors own family history, it addresses not just the issue of slavery, but also ideas of home, belonging, social division, and so much more. Haley litters his narrative with real historic events and covers roughly 300 years of history; as you can imagine this is a lot of time and information to cover in a single novel. Haley has weaved an intricate tapestry with his characters and how he portrays their relationships, interactions, and motivations provides a lot to think about. Nothing is simple and straight forward, but life never is.
Another obstacle I faced when reading the novel was that of expectation. I had purposely avoided watching Roots the miniseries in anticipation of one day reading the novel, but of course I could not avoid seeing clips and hearing comments about the series. As a result I started reading the novel with already preconceived notions of what to expect, these expectations took away from the experience of reading the book because I was always thinking about what was to come, or anticipating some imaginary idea of what was to happen. This was a disservice to the book and in hindsight I should have watched the miniseries and instead compared the two narratives.
In short, the novel was well written and engaging, it didn't blow me away, but then my own expectations may have been set too high. However, the book did deserve better from me as a reader and so I look forward to the day I get the opportunity to revisit Kunta Kinta and his family.
From BBC Four:
A historical portrait of American slavery, recounting the journey of one family and their will to survive, endure and ultimately carry on their legacy despite enormous hardship.
Episode 1
Juffere, West Africa, 1767 - young, proud Kunta Kinte is being initiated as a Mandinka warrior and ready to start thinking about his future. But a feud with a rival family results in him being kidnapped and sold to English slave traders, who are in the business of transporting shiploads of enslaved Africans to America to be sold. Following an attempted rebellion onboard the ship, Kunta is eventually brought to Maryland, where he is purchased by Virginia tobacco baron John Waller. But the young warrior's indomitable spirit is not ready to be subjugated.
Episode 2:
The American Revolutionary War, 1782. Ten years after being bought as a slave, Kunta escapes and is enlisted to fight for the English army. But his hopes of freedom are soon brutally crushed. Kunta marries beautiful slave Belle and the two have a daughter, Kizzy, who grows up to be a bright, defiant young woman, inheriting her father's spirit - with both good and dire consequences.
Episode 3:
Young George - son of Kizzy and slave owner Tom Lea - grows up to become involved in cockfighting. His flamboyancy and impressive bird-training skills earn him the nickname of Chicken George and he wins many fights for Tom Lea, as he starts to dream of becoming a free man one day.
Episode 4:
After 20 years in England, Chicken George makes his way back to America and reaches Tom Lea's farm, where he hopes to be reunited with his family.
A historical portrait of American slavery, recounting the journey of one family and their will to survive, endure and ultimately carry on their legacy despite enormous hardship.
Episode 1
Juffere, West Africa, 1767 - young, proud Kunta Kinte is being initiated as a Mandinka warrior and ready to start thinking about his future. But a feud with a rival family results in him being kidnapped and sold to English slave traders, who are in the business of transporting shiploads of enslaved Africans to America to be sold. Following an attempted rebellion onboard the ship, Kunta is eventually brought to Maryland, where he is purchased by Virginia tobacco baron John Waller. But the young warrior's indomitable spirit is not ready to be subjugated.
Episode 2:
The American Revolutionary War, 1782. Ten years after being bought as a slave, Kunta escapes and is enlisted to fight for the English army. But his hopes of freedom are soon brutally crushed. Kunta marries beautiful slave Belle and the two have a daughter, Kizzy, who grows up to be a bright, defiant young woman, inheriting her father's spirit - with both good and dire consequences.
Episode 3:
Young George - son of Kizzy and slave owner Tom Lea - grows up to become involved in cockfighting. His flamboyancy and impressive bird-training skills earn him the nickname of Chicken George and he wins many fights for Tom Lea, as he starts to dream of becoming a free man one day.
Episode 4:
After 20 years in England, Chicken George makes his way back to America and reaches Tom Lea's farm, where he hopes to be reunited with his family.
It was really hard for me to get into, but it picked up about 1/4 the way through.