Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex HaleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
More like four and a half stars rather than a full five. Very engrossing. Rich with detail and believable characters. Sure the book's reputation has been sullied by well-founded accusations of plagiarism, and Haley certainly had an agenda to push, but still this is a book well worth reading. One thing that captured my imagination was the idea that Haley was able to track down his ancestry from a handful of African words and phrases handed down through the generations from Kunta Kinte. My late Grandma used to sing a song from...her mother, I guess--I'm not even sure. None of us living descendants knows the songs meaning nor true origin. I wonder whether it would be possible for us to track it down similar to what Alex Haley did.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment