Reviews from some of our members....
ROOTS by Alex Haley
Reviewed by Abhijit Kothari
Roots is the saga of the authors origins. It traces the history of the clan beginning with the village of Juffure in Gambia, Africa to Kunta Kinte's the warrior who is kidnapped by slave traders "while he went gathering wood to make a drum" .
The vivid pictures of tribal life and the deep sense of dignity instilled in the villages form a stark contrast to the subhuman even sub animalistic behavior meted out to them by the slave traders. Treated no better than livestock and shackled to each other on a plank so that they could they could only lie down, Kunta Kinte is brought down on a ship to America.
The novel traces his family through six generations down to the author himself. The novel, although longish, has a tight narrative which does not allow interest to flag substantially at any point.
An interesting feature ( common , perhaps, to sagas ) is the simultaneous, and often un connected occurances of events of the lives of the characters along with near historic events in the enviromnent.
Here, we trace the character through American history beginning with the British rule to the war of independance, through the early presidents down to Abraham Linclon.
The author has a vivid descriptive style and pictures of the lives of Juffure, the horrifying treatment of slaves on board the ship, the American countryside and life on slaverow come alive. The treatment of the whole subject of slavery is carried out sensitively,and often with a deep insight into the minds of both the masters and the slaves.
Yes, there is a strong underlying voice of protest, but it is not a scream that drowns out all else. This is an important book that succeeds in making us realise that " preponderntly, the histories have been written by the winners"
All in all, a moving , gripping and important book !
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