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nahnisbookz 's review for:
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
I loved this book & would give it 5 stars if there had been no doubt about where Haley got his ideas from. This left a bad taste in my mouth. I also feel that it ends in a weird way.
In any case, anyone interested in American history should read this book. Besides, it is just really interesting. The first half follows the life of Kunta Kinte in Africa. This part of the book is really rich and could be a book all on its own.
Kunta Kinte gets kidnapped and the reader is suddenly brought with him through the slave trading process. Haley describes the different smell of Europeans, their hairy beards and the fact that many Africans thought that they were going to be eaten. Then, the Middle Passage where people were chained next to one another & sores open up due to
being kept in one position for so long. All sorts of foreign languages are being spoken and no one can understand one another. Fear and misery permeate their lives until it just weighs down so much that death is preferable. The lucky people die.
Kunta Kinte survives and is sold into slavery. All of his history is gone, his culture is gone, his knowledge about nature is lost and he is treated like a stupid African. Then, the lives of Kunta Kinte's successive generations are followed. Each character is fully realized. Some you will love and others you will just shake your head at (like Chicken George). The end is rather abrupt considering all of the time spent on Kunta and the following generations. But in all, Roots is well worth reading.
In any case, anyone interested in American history should read this book. Besides, it is just really interesting. The first half follows the life of Kunta Kinte in Africa. This part of the book is really rich and could be a book all on its own.
Kunta Kinte gets kidnapped and the reader is suddenly brought with him through the slave trading process. Haley describes the different smell of Europeans, their hairy beards and the fact that many Africans thought that they were going to be eaten. Then, the Middle Passage where people were chained next to one another & sores open up due to
being kept in one position for so long. All sorts of foreign languages are being spoken and no one can understand one another. Fear and misery permeate their lives until it just weighs down so much that death is preferable. The lucky people die.
Kunta Kinte survives and is sold into slavery. All of his history is gone, his culture is gone, his knowledge about nature is lost and he is treated like a stupid African. Then, the lives of Kunta Kinte's successive generations are followed. Each character is fully realized. Some you will love and others you will just shake your head at (like Chicken George). The end is rather abrupt considering all of the time spent on Kunta and the following generations. But in all, Roots is well worth reading.