christait's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
brieizziye's review against another edition
5.0
A very strong female character that you can instantly fall in love with. She is forever in the book figuring things out for herself and drawing conclusions from the new world around her. She never once is the victim, though realistically she is the whole time. Her intelligence is inspiring and really hits home how traits and talents can be the key to survival.
The book also holds a place in my heart as it is not a book simply about slavery and her story but following the slave trade, and how Africa (including African's aided in the capture of many) the journey from inner Africa to the ships, the ships to the new world, and back home.
It's a fairly easy read but has a few twist and turns.
The book also holds a place in my heart as it is not a book simply about slavery and her story but following the slave trade, and how Africa (including African's aided in the capture of many) the journey from inner Africa to the ships, the ships to the new world, and back home.
It's a fairly easy read but has a few twist and turns.
bklyn76's review against another edition
3.0
in canada, this novel is called "book of negroes." it's a great story, but i wasn't as captured by it as everyone else seemed to be. maybe it was b/c it took me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to finish it. definitely something worth checking out though.
candlewick_nosebleed's review against another edition
5.0
The most beautiful, heartbreaking book I’ve ever read. Will surely be a favourite for years to come.
weaselweader's review against another edition
5.0
A moving indictment of Canada's part in the history of slavery!
Many of us will remember being moved to tears by the power and depth of ROOTS, Alex Haley's compelling novel on the slave trade that was published almost 40 years ago. Lawrence Hill's THE BOOK OF NEGROES gives contemporary readers the opportunity to savour a very similar novel and to experience the horror, shame and embarrassment of acknowledging that such abhorrent conduct towards black people is an indelible part of North America's past.
I was fascinated to discover that the THE BOOK OF NEGROES is a real historical document. It painstakingly lists the names and details of freed Loyalist slaves who chose to leave the United States to go to Canada, a difficult and frightening decision that, for them, must have seemed no less daunting than the Israelite's search for the Promised Land. To my shame as a Canadian, many of the blacks who were part of this migration discovered that their treatment in Nova Scotia was just as reactionary and oppressive as that which they had hoped to leave behind as freed slaves in the northern states of New England.
Constructing his novel around the fact of this amazing document, Lawrence Hill has presented THE BOOK OF NEGROES as a fictionalized autobiography. Aminata Diallo, a precocious and brave young girl kidnapped from her village in West Africa, marched in chains to the Atlantic coast, squashed into the hold of a stifling, disease-ridden slaver and shipped to South Carolina where she was sold as a slave, tells her own story. We hear of the love and loss of her husband, her life as a slave under multiple owners, her migration to Nova Scotia, her return to Freetown in Sierra Leone and, ultimately, her trip to England and the presentation of her fascinating but appalling story to the British people through the members of British Parliament seeking to abolish slavery.
The history that Lawrence Hill presents to us is at once spellbinding and repulsive. The incredible art and archival material that Hill has chosen to accompany the text in the illustrated edition starkly bring the story to life. We are reminded that, while THE BOOK OF NEGROES is a novel, it is based in a reality the horror of which is almost impossible to exaggerate. As a Canadian, I felt, frankly, that I had been soundly slapped for an entirely unwarranted sanctimonious attitude. Until I read THE BOOK OF NEGROES, I was blissfully unaware of the extent of Canada's involvement in the ugliness that was the treatment of ostensibly free black people when they moved to Canada.
February 2010 is Black History month. I urge every reader to take the time to participate in this worthy event by reading Lawrence Hill's THE BOOK OF NEGROES. Perhaps, in time, bigotry and racism will come to be no more than a historical memory.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Many of us will remember being moved to tears by the power and depth of ROOTS, Alex Haley's compelling novel on the slave trade that was published almost 40 years ago. Lawrence Hill's THE BOOK OF NEGROES gives contemporary readers the opportunity to savour a very similar novel and to experience the horror, shame and embarrassment of acknowledging that such abhorrent conduct towards black people is an indelible part of North America's past.
I was fascinated to discover that the THE BOOK OF NEGROES is a real historical document. It painstakingly lists the names and details of freed Loyalist slaves who chose to leave the United States to go to Canada, a difficult and frightening decision that, for them, must have seemed no less daunting than the Israelite's search for the Promised Land. To my shame as a Canadian, many of the blacks who were part of this migration discovered that their treatment in Nova Scotia was just as reactionary and oppressive as that which they had hoped to leave behind as freed slaves in the northern states of New England.
Constructing his novel around the fact of this amazing document, Lawrence Hill has presented THE BOOK OF NEGROES as a fictionalized autobiography. Aminata Diallo, a precocious and brave young girl kidnapped from her village in West Africa, marched in chains to the Atlantic coast, squashed into the hold of a stifling, disease-ridden slaver and shipped to South Carolina where she was sold as a slave, tells her own story. We hear of the love and loss of her husband, her life as a slave under multiple owners, her migration to Nova Scotia, her return to Freetown in Sierra Leone and, ultimately, her trip to England and the presentation of her fascinating but appalling story to the British people through the members of British Parliament seeking to abolish slavery.
The history that Lawrence Hill presents to us is at once spellbinding and repulsive. The incredible art and archival material that Hill has chosen to accompany the text in the illustrated edition starkly bring the story to life. We are reminded that, while THE BOOK OF NEGROES is a novel, it is based in a reality the horror of which is almost impossible to exaggerate. As a Canadian, I felt, frankly, that I had been soundly slapped for an entirely unwarranted sanctimonious attitude. Until I read THE BOOK OF NEGROES, I was blissfully unaware of the extent of Canada's involvement in the ugliness that was the treatment of ostensibly free black people when they moved to Canada.
February 2010 is Black History month. I urge every reader to take the time to participate in this worthy event by reading Lawrence Hill's THE BOOK OF NEGROES. Perhaps, in time, bigotry and racism will come to be no more than a historical memory.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
j_f's review
3.0
I had high hopes for this book, as slavery stories are some of my favourite subgenre of historial fiction. But this book was just not written with any kind of memorable style. The characters' interactions were stilted and awkward, and I felt like the author was trying so unsuccessfully to be funny. The main character especially was unrelatable; she didn't seem like a real person, more just like some 'deity' walking among humans, and she was hailed as so amazing by everyone that I thought, what makes her better than everyone else in her position? We get, she is literate. Go her. But is that really supposed to be her whole purpose in life?
The most compelling parts of this book were about the main character's children, and they were barely included. I give it a 2.5 stars, but I'm rounding it up because I enjoyed it at least in theory.
The most compelling parts of this book were about the main character's children, and they were barely included. I give it a 2.5 stars, but I'm rounding it up because I enjoyed it at least in theory.
sarchen's review against another edition
5.0
Riveting and heart wrenching story. Follows the life of a girl ripped from her home and forced into the slave trade. Informative and captivating.
neen_mai's review against another edition
4.0
A lifelong journey to get home. So many heartbreaks and broken dreams. This felt like a genuine autobiography.
zoegeels's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
emilysapozhnykova's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5