I accepted the chunks of reported history as I felt it was realistic: house servants picked up scraps of news while serving dinner to their masters slaves who were drivers or otherwise accompanied their masters out of the house and far away were able to bring back news news travelled between people almost by osmosis then someone would report it to an audience, and I’m sure that’s what happened. They’re brutal and deeply horrible, as are the rape of Kizzy and other scenes, but not gratuitously so: we needed and need to know this stuff.Īs a reading group, we differed a bit on our attitudes to the way history was inserted into the narrative once we were in the US. The descriptions of his capture and sale, his attempts to escape and the driving down of his spirit until he lacks the will to try again, are of course devastating. I was particularly engaged by the fact that Haley doesn’t give explanations for a lot of the terms used, for implements, clothing, kinds of food – he just places the terms there and, presumably, expects you to know what they meant or look them up (some I did, some I did, if you see what I mean). There was more than I expected about Kunta’s life – over a quarter of the book – and I loved reading about the society in his village in The Gambia, every day life and his growing up.

I’m so glad I was prodded into attempting it by the 1976 Club – of course I can’t say I enjoyed it as such, but it was a compelling read, fascinating, human, and I learned a lot.

I’d known about this seminal saga of Kunta Kinte, his life in Africa, his abduction and Middle Passage on an American slave ship, his slavery, family and descendants seemingly forever, but it seemed to be too big, too brutal, too hard to read. I feel that they do watch and guide, and I also feel that they join me in the hope that this story of our people can help to alleviate the legacies of the fact that preponderantly the histories have been written by the winners. Simon’s post collecting reviews is here and I’m sure there will be loads of great resources to explore as the week continues! I was fortunate enough to be able to read this book through September along with the bloggers Buried in Print (review here) and The Australian Legend (his review here), 30 chapters a week, every week it was a pleasure and privilege to read it alongside them and also fascinating to get their Canadian and Australian perspectives respectively. Warned well in advance, I tackled the 889 pages of Alex Haley’s American Black history saga, “Roots”, as you do. Hooray, it’s time for Kaggsy and Simon’s twice-yearly Year Book Club, and this week it’s 1976.

Roots book alex haley