Roots

Rating:
Summary: One of the best historical sagas written
Review: I am surprised that I have not read this book sooner ~~ considering how much I love biography/family histories. This is one book that will definitely go on my top 50 books.

Alex Haley writes of his seven generations of family life ~~ beginning with "The African" ~ Kunta Kinte ~ who was abducted from his village in The Gambia and ending with a brief biography of himself. From a proud African captured and forced to become a slave to freedmen and farmers, business owners and the women who prayed for the families while keeping the stories alive ... this is one book to cherish.

You struggle with Kinte's disappointments, fears, sorrow, bitterness and joy as he watches his freedom disappears into slavery. You begin to understand his anguish at losing his family, self-respect, pride and honor. You begin to understand the stoicness behind each slave's demeanor as he or she serve their masters/mistresses and their secret longings for a home they can call theirs or even live their lives without fear of being sold off to another family plantation. And you begin to understand their relief when the Civil War ended.

I have to confess, Haley's family are among the fortunate ~~ they managed to stay together through two slave-holding families ~~ though I don't understand how the Murray family can say slavery is ok. They may be more lenient than other slaveholding families ~~ but it is still wrong to hold another human being against their will simply because of their skin color.

Haley demonstrates how the intelligence of his family helped them survive the years during slavery, after Civil War and during the Reconstruction period. And I have to confess, my favorite scene in this whole book is when Tom, shortly after being freed, comes upon a white man who had whipped him after accusing him of stealing food while working for him during the war, gives him a drink. The captain then demanded that Tom gives him a drink and Tom just looks at him steadily before walking away. He knew then that he was free and unbeholden to any white man. And Tom is my favorite character ~~ he finds a way to work around working for white men and still retaining his independence. He has the strength of The African running in his veins.

This is one book that will be sticking with me for a long time. It is rich in heritage. It is rich in dialect. It is rich in every human emotion possible, and dreams. It is rich in hope as well. This is one book that should be deemed as a classic ~~ it portrays American history in a way that we don't get to hear in classes in school. It is one dimension of a time that seeps in history ~~ and it is an African-American history. It is one that I highly recommend for everyone to read. The voices of Haley's ancestors aren't so easily forgotten. They will haunt you the next time you hear of a Civil Rights movement happening ~~ or a story about a slave ancestor. These are a people who have not forgotten their roots and where they came from. They hung onto their dreams and dignity as best as they could throughout some of the harshest times in the matters of history. And Haley captures their voices beautifully.

This is one book you won't regret picking up.

Rating:
Summary: Would rate it more stars than five ...
Review: This is one of those books that can change your life. Apart from the moving story of Kunta Kinte, there is power to make you more humble and a better person than you are today. I read this book about 10 yrs back(yes!) and even today it has left an deep impression and keeps coming back to me.
If you are an emotional person, you will cry at least once. This book is not depressing at all. It makes you congnizant of the fact that you are truly blessed in not having to suffer terrible hardships and people before you have.
I would recommend this book to everyone who loves books.

Rating:
Summary: Damn Good Book
Review: This is a great book that follows a boys struggle to find his family after he was captured by slave traders in West Africa. Its thrilling to read how he struggled through surpression and hardtimes.It is a book that shows one mans ambition in an ambitious way. i recomend this book to everyone who likes a good book about a real life topic.

Rating:
Summary: A compelling masterpiece
Review: Very engaging book that traces a family's history starting in West Africa through the generations.

Rating:
Summary: It's A good book for you
Review: My name is Antonia Bain and I read this book inside of my Literature class. This book is very Interesting,the way that he tries to find his ancestors. The way he travels around asking Questions and listening to stories form his Americain Family.My school is St. Anne's this is were I heard about this book.

Rating:
Summary: Grasped my heart and holds it still
Review: I feel as though I've been on a journey, a physical, real-life journey, with this lineage that started with Kunta Kinte. I feel as though some of the events in the story were touchable, and I feel at least a pinch of the injury, vengeance, despair, hopes of freedom, lashings, and tears that were just some of the elements in the grand story. I feel as though my life after reading the book is more meaningful, that knowing just that much more about Africa and slavery has made me wiser at heart. I feel a touch of Africa inside me. I feel. That, my friend, is what makes Alex Haley's novel so good.

I file it under historical fiction, and love it. I can't yet critique it like a scholar; I can only respond to it from my heart. My awe-filled heart.

Rating:
Summary: Should be read.
Review: I wonder if this book was required reading and discussion in junior high school, would race relations improve in the United States?

Rating:
Summary: Hey everybody! Check out the review by MICHAELHA13!
Review: Hey everybody! Check out the review by MICHAELHA13. The whole review concerns his defense of American slavery. So, I click to get more information on him. The only review he's ever done is this racially motivated review of this classic book. Then I go into his Wish List: he wants to purchase over 20(!) books on Confederate generals and leaders! And he hasn't bought any, so he must not have any money. And he spells poorly, also. Hope he stays in Texas. Check him out! (By the way, Roots by Alex Haley gets 5 stars from this humble reviewer.)

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, Humerous, and Moving
Review: This book was the best I have ever read, and I have read dozens and dozens of them. Some were good, but none brought on the same feelings as this particular novel. Alex Haley has told true, hard-core facts, but also adds a twist of his own story with humor and a style all his own. It begins in Kunta Kinte's small African village and the description of the very strict ways of his Mandinka tribe. It then progresses very quickly into the often horrifying story of the treatment of slaves when he is kidnapped and shipped to America. He has happy times there, but the bad ones far outnumber them. It is an amazing story of both personal and family strength, and I would reccomend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A Gorgeous, Riveting Tale
Review: Roots is the riveting story that traces a black family from the ancestor who was captured by slave traders in Africa and follows the family down through seven generations. An important and worthwhile project that benefits all groups. As Alexander Haley later acknowledged, Kunta Kinte was as much a symbol for all blacks as he was a real person.

The later generations received less detailed treatment, and several historical sources of information may have been overlooked. For example, there may be census or other records that verify parts of the story (e.g. Massa Waller's sale of Kizzy), but these are not mentioned.