You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
grace_theliteraryfiend 's review for:
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
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.