Brenna B. (demiducky25) reviewed on 4/11/2009 + 161 more book reviews

I was initially prepared to give this book a 5, but it did start to drift at the end and the fact that I learned Haley may have plagiarized parts of the book did ruin it a bit for me. Nevertheless, it is still a pivotal book in American culture and spawned a mini-series that was one of the most watched shows ever, so I felt that it is something that I should read in my lifetime (I learned that my mom read it when it first came out when she saw it at my house on the table, so that was cool too). Roots starts with such beautiful imagery that you can picture the lush African backdrop. I didn't realize so much of the early part of this book took place in Africa, I thought it was mostly about Kunta Kinte adjusting to life as a slave, but seeing his true heritage really helps the reader to understand Kunta's motives and feelings. Later the story starts to feel as brown and yellowed as the old copy of the book I was reading. You feel Kunta's despair, the overwhelming hopelessness that seems to come over the lives of everyone as they face cruelty at the hands of their white owners (some are more cruel than others, but as it is pointed out in the story, even the kindest owner still owns a person and there's something wrong with that) and helplessness over their own lives. The story follows Kunta's descendants- his daughter Kizzy, her son Chicken George, his son Tom, and Tom's family (though this is where the story gets rushed in the last hundred or so pages) all the way up to Alex Haley. the author.

This book really makes you think about your own family and your own roots. A common theme throughout the book is sharing family history with the next generation so that you know where you came from. I doubt there are a lot of families today that can really trace their family back more than about two generations, so I can see how this book really influenced the idea of tracing one's genealogy.

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