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thopp84 's review for:
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
I consider myself a pretty fast reader,usually. Not with this book, though. It took me almost two weeks to finish this book. There was just so much there that was so brutal and hard to read. I found myself completely drawn into this book and these characters. I wanted to read more about Kunta Kinte and was sad when his time in the novel ended. This book makes very clear how awful an institution slavery was and how ingrained into American culture it became. Through this book, we really see the effects of slavery and white supremacy down through the generations all the way up to the present day. I was reminded of the movie 12 Years a Slave, another example of how much damage slavery has done.
This book has been accused of being more a work of fiction than an actual fact. That doesn't take away anything from its power. As a white person, I was disgusted and sickened by the way my ancestors treated the slaves in this book. Even the "nicer" slave owners are still horrible because they own slaves in the first place. It is an institution that cannot be excused or justified. It simply was and remains a stain on our nation's history. This book shows that while we have come a long way, we haven't come far enough. I learned so much about the history of the slave trade from this book. For that alone, it is worth it. It also gives us so many compelling characters that I grew to know and love. That makes the atrocities committed against them even more deplorable. There is lots of awful stuff portrayed in this book, no doubt about that. However, it is all stuff that is necessary to read and understand. You need to know the history of slavery. Maybe then, you will understand a little better the struggles that black people face even now. I'm glad I spent the past two weeks reading this. It was well worth it. I feel like a better person and a better human being for having read this. I now have a better understanding of what it is like to be black in America.
This book has been accused of being more a work of fiction than an actual fact. That doesn't take away anything from its power. As a white person, I was disgusted and sickened by the way my ancestors treated the slaves in this book. Even the "nicer" slave owners are still horrible because they own slaves in the first place. It is an institution that cannot be excused or justified. It simply was and remains a stain on our nation's history. This book shows that while we have come a long way, we haven't come far enough. I learned so much about the history of the slave trade from this book. For that alone, it is worth it. It also gives us so many compelling characters that I grew to know and love. That makes the atrocities committed against them even more deplorable. There is lots of awful stuff portrayed in this book, no doubt about that. However, it is all stuff that is necessary to read and understand. You need to know the history of slavery. Maybe then, you will understand a little better the struggles that black people face even now. I'm glad I spent the past two weeks reading this. It was well worth it. I feel like a better person and a better human being for having read this. I now have a better understanding of what it is like to be black in America.