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mzjai117 's review for:
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
I’m happy that I finished Roots since it had been on my to be read pile for years. I’d watched the television version years ago then rewatching it recently. I didn’t pay much attention to the television version but the book really helped put all the pieces together of Alex Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kinte.
Roots starts out in Gambia and discusses the birth of Kunta until he is captured by slavers and taken to the shores of Maryland. I had no idea he was brought here in the 1760’s. How ironic til this day that white men wanted freedom from England all while enslaving black people......
There was a bunch of facts that I either missed in the television series or were just in the book itself. I was very shocked at how old Kunta was when he married Bell. They were in their 40’s by the time she was born. The story goes on to talk about Kizzy’s life and her son Chicken George and his family after the Civil War. The story followed the family all the way until Alex Haley was born. The last part talked about Alex’s research into his family history and finally writing this book.
This version of Roots is an abridged audio version. The unabridged version is about 30 hours and I some how feel like I missed a huge amount of the story. I may go back and listen to the unabridged version.
I’m slightly envious that Mr Haley can trace his roots all the way back to Africa,back to the village where his ancestors lived. I believe that they kept their history alive by talking about their ancestor that had been brought over on a slave ship and how he never forgot his name or where he came from.
Roots starts out in Gambia and discusses the birth of Kunta until he is captured by slavers and taken to the shores of Maryland. I had no idea he was brought here in the 1760’s. How ironic til this day that white men wanted freedom from England all while enslaving black people......
There was a bunch of facts that I either missed in the television series or were just in the book itself. I was very shocked at how old Kunta was when he married Bell. They were in their 40’s by the time she was born. The story goes on to talk about Kizzy’s life and her son Chicken George and his family after the Civil War. The story followed the family all the way until Alex Haley was born. The last part talked about Alex’s research into his family history and finally writing this book.
This version of Roots is an abridged audio version. The unabridged version is about 30 hours and I some how feel like I missed a huge amount of the story. I may go back and listen to the unabridged version.
I’m slightly envious that Mr Haley can trace his roots all the way back to Africa,back to the village where his ancestors lived. I believe that they kept their history alive by talking about their ancestor that had been brought over on a slave ship and how he never forgot his name or where he came from.