There are some books that you would have been hearing of, for years; but never have even seen the book anywhere as such. This was such a book until I came across this in the library, last November. The book was big but I was not sure of the genre and went ahead with just an information that this is the story of the ancestry of the author. And, Oh boy! where all did it take me?!
The story starts in the African village of Jufureh where a boy named Kunta Kinte takes the center stage of the story. His life goes on effortlessly in the small Namibian village where we see the life in the African village through his eyes and finally him growing to adolescence. One day, he unexpectedly falls into the hands of white slave traders (toubob) who bring him and other African people to America to work as slaves. Once in America, he is sold to a white landlord from whom he tries to escape resulting in crippling him. He slowly starts to settle in eventually picking up some English and finally marrying a lady and leading a life among the slaves. The story then follows Kunte Kinte and also his generations journeying through a life of slavery to the present day of the author.
The read was a compelling one. This is not a thriller or mystery to expect suspense at every nook and corner. Rather it is the path of life through the various generations of Kunta Kinte. I really salute the effort made by the author Alex Haley to trace his roots back to the small African village. I really loved the portion of the African life of Kunta and when the pace shifted to America I could not bring myself to the pace of the book. I really did not want the portion of African life to be over. I had not read much on the African culture before and I did get to know much here which was really the best part to read. Post that the read did get painful for the major part. I could not bring myself to think about what all could have happened during the slavery time in America. The more I wished the African part of the novel to linger around; the more uncomfortable I was with the slave part. The prose was simple and the book is quite long enough at around 800 pages. As I told, the read was erratic throughout gaining pace at start and then really slowing down and then picking up pace at regular intervals throughout. The socio economic, ethnic culture prevalent in the times were shown well. The author takes us through a trip down the pages of history along with the generation of Kunta. The black people who were already slaves for generations in America could not really understand the doldrums inside Kunta who lived as a free man till then. The way he tried to stick to his roots and made sure it was passed to his generations was in fact so great. Not just him alone, the way how his whole generations keep remembering was just great. Bell, Kizzy, Chicken George, Mathilda, Tom, Irene and all other faces remains imprinted on our minds long after we finish the book. No matter how well the white folks seem to take care of the slaves, freedom is something that makes life complete. The cries of Kunta and Kizzy still ring loud and clear in my ears.
The read was compelling and close to my heart. I would recommend this to anyone who would values life. No matter how much big and comfortable cage a bird is in, it still is in cage. It cant fly round the world which is what it is supposed to do. No quantities of food or comfort or love inside the cage is going to negate the thought of free flight into the yonder world.
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