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The Book of Negroes
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Abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle—a string of slaves— Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. But years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic “Book of Negroes.” This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the US for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all of its own.
Aminata’s eventual return to Sierra Leone—passing ships carrying thousands of slaves bound for America—is an engrossing account of an obscure but important chapter in history that saw 1,200 former slaves embark on a harrowing back-to-Africa odyssey. Lawrence Hill is a master at transforming the neglected corners of history into brilliant imaginings, as engaging and revealing as only the best historical fiction can be. A sweeping story that transports the reader from a tribal African village to a plantation in the southern United States, from the teeming Halifax docks to the manor houses of London, The Book of Negroes introduces one of the strongest female characters in recent Canadian fiction, one who cuts a swath through a world hostile to her colour and her sex.
Abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle—a string of slaves— Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. But years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic “Book of Negroes.” This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the US for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all of its own.
Aminata’s eventual return to Sierra Leone—passing ships carrying thousands of slaves bound for America—is an engrossing account of an obscure but important chapter in history that saw 1,200 former slaves embark on a harrowing back-to-Africa odyssey. Lawrence Hill is a master at transforming the neglected corners of history into brilliant imaginings, as engaging and revealing as only the best historical fiction can be. A sweeping story that transports the reader from a tribal African village to a plantation in the southern United States, from the teeming Halifax docks to the manor houses of London, The Book of Negroes introduces one of the strongest female characters in recent Canadian fiction, one who cuts a swath through a world hostile to her colour and her sex.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 18, 2007
About the author
Lawrence Hill
36 books1,560 followersHill is the author of ten books of fiction and non-fiction. In 2005, he won his first literary honour: a National Magazine Award for the article “Is Africa’s Pain Black America’s Burden?” published in The Walrus. His first two novels were Some Great Thing and Any Known Blood, and his first non-fiction work to attract national attention was the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada. But it was his third novel, The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins Canada, 2007) — published in some countries as Someone Knows My Name and in French as Aminata — that attracted widespread attention in Canada and other countries.
Lawrence Hill’s non-fiction book, Blood: The Stuff of Life was published in September 2013 by House of Anansi Press. Blood is a personal consideration of the physical, social, cultural and psychological aspects of blood, and how it defines, unites and divides us. Hill drew from the book to deliver the 2013 Massey Lectures across Canada.
In 2013, Hill published the essay Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning (University of Alberta Press).
His fourth novel, The Illegal, was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2015 and by WW Norton in the USA in 2016.
Hill is currently writing a new novel and a children’s book, and co-writing a television miniseries adaptation of The Illegal for Conquering Lion Pictures. Hill is a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph, in Ontario.
Lawrence Hill’s non-fiction book, Blood: The Stuff of Life was published in September 2013 by House of Anansi Press. Blood is a personal consideration of the physical, social, cultural and psychological aspects of blood, and how it defines, unites and divides us. Hill drew from the book to deliver the 2013 Massey Lectures across Canada.
In 2013, Hill published the essay Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning (University of Alberta Press).
His fourth novel, The Illegal, was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2015 and by WW Norton in the USA in 2016.
Hill is currently writing a new novel and a children’s book, and co-writing a television miniseries adaptation of The Illegal for Conquering Lion Pictures. Hill is a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph, in Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 7,067 reviews
October 5, 2009
(International title: Someone Knows My Name)
It's 1802 and Aminata Diallo, now an old woman, sits down to write her life story at the request of the Abolitionists in London. Abducted from her village in West Africa at the age of eleven and marched in a coffle (a string of slaves) for three months before reaching the coast, Aminata survives the voyage to America and ends up sold to an indigo plantation owner in South Carolina. She describes herself as lucky, because compared to the tragic circumstances and end of so many other black slaves, Aminata manages to survive using her wits, her skills as a midwife, her ability to pick up new skills quickly, and her strength of character.
She witnesses many horrors and sorrows, and experiences them as well, that make her ponder the human nature and the hypocrisy of religions, even her own. Yet through it all she does not succumb to anger or hatred; she wants only to be together with her husband, Chekura, and their children, who are all taken from her.
When Britain surrenders to the rebels they keep their promise to the Black Loyalists - in a way. With a certificate proving they have worked behind British lines for at least a year, they can sign their name in the Book of Negroes and be given passage to a British colony. Most are sent to Nova Scotia, including Aminata. She may have escaped the American slave owners but she hasn't escaped the prejudice, fear and hatred with which the blacks face everywhere they go. The opportunity to return to Africa - the dream she's always had - comes her way, but if she ever wants to see her home village of Bayo again she'll have to make a deal with the devil.
This book is going straight onto my "favourites" list. The sweeping, lifelong, cross-generational story arc reminded me of another favourite book of mine, City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling, which is about the early days of the Dutch in Nieuw Amsterdam before it became New York. The Book of Negroes is a powerful story on many fronts: it's a very human story, sympathetic, honest, fair to the greys of history, thought-provoking, poignant.
One of the beautiful things about this book is how, as a reader, you feel more in tune with the Africans, while the whites seem strange, alien, bewildering, contradictory. I don't mean that Hill paints an uneven picture - far from it, the rendering of history into something visceral, tangible, grants perspective and context. It's not a simple matter of "white man, bad; black man, victim". That's what I mean by this book being honest: honest about human nature, about the complexities of history, without making excuses for anyone of any colour. I don't mean that there weren't characters who enrage you, but that they are presented relatively free of the taint of presentism.
If you're not familiar with the term, "presentism" refers to our natural tendency to judge history through the lens of the present, by our own modern standards, rather than acknowledging and positioning things within a historical perspective. Hill has done an admirable job of completely immersing us in the 18th century, creating a protagonist who is a product of the time as much as one of circumstance.
Hill has managed to write a convincing, wonderful female protagonist - frankly, not many male writers are this successful. Aminata is unflinchingly honest with herself and others, and by being so thoroughly in her head, she gives us what the Africans needed most during slavery: a voice, the understanding that she's just like us, not some black beast from darkest Africa - heathen, barbarian, uncivilised. As in some other books, the irony comes through clearly: which is the uncivilised race? Who is the barbarian? When Aminata arrives in London, the first thing she sees are the legless beggars on the street, the filth and crowds and pretensions. She doesn't even need to say anything.
Another irony is the rebellion in the American colony - Aminata is in New York when things get nasty, and constantly hears the white Americans talking about being slaves to the British, and fighting for their freedom. Aminata doesn't need to point out anything here, and I don't think I do either.
Her own people don't come off smelling of roses either. The book is thoroughly researched and historically accurate, and makes no bones about Africans enslaving each other well before the white people came, and it is Africans who capture Aminata, kill her parents, torch her village, and sell her to the white slavers. Slavery has a long, long history, and no race, it seems, is exempt. The Egyptians did it, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Israelites were famously enslaved, the Romans are guilty - and what is feudalism if not a form of slavery, which the English and French and others used for a very long time?
If nothing else, this book highlights the fact that, no matter what colour you are or what your diet is, we are all human and share this intangible thing called human nature. Cruelty exists everywhere, and cannot be simply attributed to your race, though neither can it be excused. This is why I insist that the history of black slavery - while it existed predominantly between the British slaving companies and the Americas - is everyone's history. For a comprehensive story covering three different continents and exposing many of the situations black slaves, runaways and freed slaves faced, you can't go wrong with this one.
It's also beautifully written. Aminata has a simple, honest style, without embellishment or fanciful detail. She rarely passes judgement, but offers her own thoughts and perspective subtly. She is captured just before reaching puberty and so, ironically, escapes female circumcision, which her people practised (removing the clitoris and part of the labia, and sewing up the vaginal entrance - extraordinarily painful and meant to make a woman "pure" for her husband - Aminata isn't keen but doesn't judge; I on the other hand believe it is the cruellest form of torture you can do to a woman and there's no excuse for it. It's an old African tradition, nothing to do with Islam, and still occurs in some places like Ethiopia).
There are moments of violence and cruelty, because that was largely the life of the black slaves, but while Aminata doesn't gloss over them, neither does she dwell on them in such detail that you shy away from the book.
I was walking one day behind a yoked man who swerved without warning to the left. I had no time to react, and my foot sank into something wet and soft. Something like a twig cracked under my heel. I let out a scream. Under my foot was the body of a naked, decomposing man. I jumped away and ripped leaves from the nearest branch. In a frenzy, I wiped a mass of wriggling white worms from my ankle. I was shaking and wheezing. Fanta took the leaves and wiped my foot and held me and told me not to be afraid. But my hysteria escalated, even though Fanta barked at me to calm down, and I could not stop screaming. (p41)
For all that Aminata and other slaves go through, she deserves the right to tell her whole story and not shy from the unpleasant details, or have her account censored. Remember her audience: white, genteel 19th century English men and women, the Abolitionist committee, the court of law, the common people who can read the newspapers in which parts of her story are published. It is the early 1800s, Regency London - the same time and place in which we love to read carefree romance novels that are free of the taint of black slavery - and the English have no real idea or any sympathy for what the black slaves endured. She argued to be the one to write her own story, by herself, and she refused to let the Abolitionists remove details that "couldn't be proven". Even though she is a fictional character in a fictional account, she deserves to be heard by us as well.
There's one other thing I just have to mention: the evolution of the African-American dialect. I've come to appreciate it because of this book. I mean, I always understood that it was their way of forming a new identity, one that couldn't be taken away from them, even now. But as they learnt English, as slaves, what would happen if they spoke like their masters? Aminata learns this, she learns the dialect that the slaves speak to each other, and the grammatically stronger but far from perfect English they use with the white people. They needed a way to speak to each other without the whites understanding, yet they all came from different African tribes speaking one of thousands of African languages, or they were born on plantations and don't know any African languages at all, and so they devise their own way of speaking, close to English but entirely of their own creation. After Aminata escapes slavery, she drops this dialect and speaks "proper" English, but I get the sense it is due to her ability to learn languages quickly and well, and her desire not to be looked down upon, rather than a form of pretension. It certainly makes her a bit of a curiosity with the white people.
The Book of Negroes is a masterpiece of historical literature, capturing the contradictions of the human condition in graceful, honest prose, and gifting us with a new, entirely sympathetic protagonist. Please, read this book. It couldn't possibly fail to touch you, and teach you.
It's 1802 and Aminata Diallo, now an old woman, sits down to write her life story at the request of the Abolitionists in London. Abducted from her village in West Africa at the age of eleven and marched in a coffle (a string of slaves) for three months before reaching the coast, Aminata survives the voyage to America and ends up sold to an indigo plantation owner in South Carolina. She describes herself as lucky, because compared to the tragic circumstances and end of so many other black slaves, Aminata manages to survive using her wits, her skills as a midwife, her ability to pick up new skills quickly, and her strength of character.
She witnesses many horrors and sorrows, and experiences them as well, that make her ponder the human nature and the hypocrisy of religions, even her own. Yet through it all she does not succumb to anger or hatred; she wants only to be together with her husband, Chekura, and their children, who are all taken from her.
When Britain surrenders to the rebels they keep their promise to the Black Loyalists - in a way. With a certificate proving they have worked behind British lines for at least a year, they can sign their name in the Book of Negroes and be given passage to a British colony. Most are sent to Nova Scotia, including Aminata. She may have escaped the American slave owners but she hasn't escaped the prejudice, fear and hatred with which the blacks face everywhere they go. The opportunity to return to Africa - the dream she's always had - comes her way, but if she ever wants to see her home village of Bayo again she'll have to make a deal with the devil.
This book is going straight onto my "favourites" list. The sweeping, lifelong, cross-generational story arc reminded me of another favourite book of mine, City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling, which is about the early days of the Dutch in Nieuw Amsterdam before it became New York. The Book of Negroes is a powerful story on many fronts: it's a very human story, sympathetic, honest, fair to the greys of history, thought-provoking, poignant.
One of the beautiful things about this book is how, as a reader, you feel more in tune with the Africans, while the whites seem strange, alien, bewildering, contradictory. I don't mean that Hill paints an uneven picture - far from it, the rendering of history into something visceral, tangible, grants perspective and context. It's not a simple matter of "white man, bad; black man, victim". That's what I mean by this book being honest: honest about human nature, about the complexities of history, without making excuses for anyone of any colour. I don't mean that there weren't characters who enrage you, but that they are presented relatively free of the taint of presentism.
If you're not familiar with the term, "presentism" refers to our natural tendency to judge history through the lens of the present, by our own modern standards, rather than acknowledging and positioning things within a historical perspective. Hill has done an admirable job of completely immersing us in the 18th century, creating a protagonist who is a product of the time as much as one of circumstance.
Hill has managed to write a convincing, wonderful female protagonist - frankly, not many male writers are this successful. Aminata is unflinchingly honest with herself and others, and by being so thoroughly in her head, she gives us what the Africans needed most during slavery: a voice, the understanding that she's just like us, not some black beast from darkest Africa - heathen, barbarian, uncivilised. As in some other books, the irony comes through clearly: which is the uncivilised race? Who is the barbarian? When Aminata arrives in London, the first thing she sees are the legless beggars on the street, the filth and crowds and pretensions. She doesn't even need to say anything.
Another irony is the rebellion in the American colony - Aminata is in New York when things get nasty, and constantly hears the white Americans talking about being slaves to the British, and fighting for their freedom. Aminata doesn't need to point out anything here, and I don't think I do either.
Her own people don't come off smelling of roses either. The book is thoroughly researched and historically accurate, and makes no bones about Africans enslaving each other well before the white people came, and it is Africans who capture Aminata, kill her parents, torch her village, and sell her to the white slavers. Slavery has a long, long history, and no race, it seems, is exempt. The Egyptians did it, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Israelites were famously enslaved, the Romans are guilty - and what is feudalism if not a form of slavery, which the English and French and others used for a very long time?
If nothing else, this book highlights the fact that, no matter what colour you are or what your diet is, we are all human and share this intangible thing called human nature. Cruelty exists everywhere, and cannot be simply attributed to your race, though neither can it be excused. This is why I insist that the history of black slavery - while it existed predominantly between the British slaving companies and the Americas - is everyone's history. For a comprehensive story covering three different continents and exposing many of the situations black slaves, runaways and freed slaves faced, you can't go wrong with this one.
It's also beautifully written. Aminata has a simple, honest style, without embellishment or fanciful detail. She rarely passes judgement, but offers her own thoughts and perspective subtly. She is captured just before reaching puberty and so, ironically, escapes female circumcision, which her people practised (removing the clitoris and part of the labia, and sewing up the vaginal entrance - extraordinarily painful and meant to make a woman "pure" for her husband - Aminata isn't keen but doesn't judge; I on the other hand believe it is the cruellest form of torture you can do to a woman and there's no excuse for it. It's an old African tradition, nothing to do with Islam, and still occurs in some places like Ethiopia).
There are moments of violence and cruelty, because that was largely the life of the black slaves, but while Aminata doesn't gloss over them, neither does she dwell on them in such detail that you shy away from the book.
I was walking one day behind a yoked man who swerved without warning to the left. I had no time to react, and my foot sank into something wet and soft. Something like a twig cracked under my heel. I let out a scream. Under my foot was the body of a naked, decomposing man. I jumped away and ripped leaves from the nearest branch. In a frenzy, I wiped a mass of wriggling white worms from my ankle. I was shaking and wheezing. Fanta took the leaves and wiped my foot and held me and told me not to be afraid. But my hysteria escalated, even though Fanta barked at me to calm down, and I could not stop screaming. (p41)
For all that Aminata and other slaves go through, she deserves the right to tell her whole story and not shy from the unpleasant details, or have her account censored. Remember her audience: white, genteel 19th century English men and women, the Abolitionist committee, the court of law, the common people who can read the newspapers in which parts of her story are published. It is the early 1800s, Regency London - the same time and place in which we love to read carefree romance novels that are free of the taint of black slavery - and the English have no real idea or any sympathy for what the black slaves endured. She argued to be the one to write her own story, by herself, and she refused to let the Abolitionists remove details that "couldn't be proven". Even though she is a fictional character in a fictional account, she deserves to be heard by us as well.
There's one other thing I just have to mention: the evolution of the African-American dialect. I've come to appreciate it because of this book. I mean, I always understood that it was their way of forming a new identity, one that couldn't be taken away from them, even now. But as they learnt English, as slaves, what would happen if they spoke like their masters? Aminata learns this, she learns the dialect that the slaves speak to each other, and the grammatically stronger but far from perfect English they use with the white people. They needed a way to speak to each other without the whites understanding, yet they all came from different African tribes speaking one of thousands of African languages, or they were born on plantations and don't know any African languages at all, and so they devise their own way of speaking, close to English but entirely of their own creation. After Aminata escapes slavery, she drops this dialect and speaks "proper" English, but I get the sense it is due to her ability to learn languages quickly and well, and her desire not to be looked down upon, rather than a form of pretension. It certainly makes her a bit of a curiosity with the white people.
The Book of Negroes is a masterpiece of historical literature, capturing the contradictions of the human condition in graceful, honest prose, and gifting us with a new, entirely sympathetic protagonist. Please, read this book. It couldn't possibly fail to touch you, and teach you.
June 11, 2019
Someone knows my name is a compelling and fascinating account of one woman’s remarkable experiences that spans six decades and three continents as a slave from childhood through to her death. I loved this book when I first read it in 2011 and really enjoyed re-reading (listening) to this one as a buddy read with a friend. A book that grabs your attention from page one.
The history of the Slave Trade in America is heartbreaking and real and this is one of those books that is chilling and unputdownable because it brings history to life for the reader and that is how historical fiction works so well for me. The author paints a realistic but terrifying picture of a time and practice that that will have your emotions all over the place as you read of the horrendous atrocities of slavery in our world’s history.
The story focuses on Aninata Diablo, who was born in West Africa in 1745. Kidnapped as a child, she is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War.
This book’s strength lies in its wonderful protagonist Aminata, a frail old lady who recounts her story and her courage and strength in the face of all evil is truly inspiring and page turning. You will find yourself rooting for this character from the very first page.
A meticulously researched novel that is rich in history and a book that is educational, entertaining and really good story.
I listened to his one on audio and really enjoyed the narration and can highly recommend this as a hard copy read and an audible choice.
The history of the Slave Trade in America is heartbreaking and real and this is one of those books that is chilling and unputdownable because it brings history to life for the reader and that is how historical fiction works so well for me. The author paints a realistic but terrifying picture of a time and practice that that will have your emotions all over the place as you read of the horrendous atrocities of slavery in our world’s history.
The story focuses on Aninata Diablo, who was born in West Africa in 1745. Kidnapped as a child, she is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War.
This book’s strength lies in its wonderful protagonist Aminata, a frail old lady who recounts her story and her courage and strength in the face of all evil is truly inspiring and page turning. You will find yourself rooting for this character from the very first page.
A meticulously researched novel that is rich in history and a book that is educational, entertaining and really good story.
I listened to his one on audio and really enjoyed the narration and can highly recommend this as a hard copy read and an audible choice.
December 18, 2014
This is definitely the best book I read in 2011 and one I will remember for a long time. Aminata Diallo is such a powerful character, a woman who had to deal with so much in her life but came out with a small victory in the end. Slavery is something we all know about but it's very rare we really think about what the slaves went through, and how they were forced to adopt to a new culture and life separated from their family and homeland.Lawrence Hill did exceptional work on this book.
July 8, 2017
UPDATE: $1.99 Kindle special today! It's soooooooo GOOD!!!
Lisi: (my best friend since Jr. High School). Thank you for last week-end!
NOTE: If you have received your mail, I have started this book which you told me I MUST MUST read. I started it this morning.
WOW....I'm hooked already! WONDERFUL ---just as you said!!!!
Thanks *Ilyce*! (luv, ya...'Hi to Ken')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WOW!!!! I could not stop thinking about this story even when I wasn't reading it. (I'll be thinking about this book for a long time)!
"The Book of Negroes" is a real historical document -which lists names of slaves who chose to leave the United States to go to Canada. (had to be frightening).
This book is packed-filled with history- and struggles for survival. Slave-trades? --my God ---what a journey you're taken on by excellent writing of the author Lawrence Hill!
The storytelling is TOP QUALITY ---absorbing ---page after page!!! Amazing characters, (indomitable heroine), times, places, human suffering, and eventual freedom.
Its a long thick-fat paper-back book ---but I enjoyed reading EVERY WORD!. I 'couldn't skip over anything!
Very impressive epic novel!! Cheers to Lawrence Hill!
Lisi: (my best friend since Jr. High School). Thank you for last week-end!
NOTE: If you have received your mail, I have started this book which you told me I MUST MUST read. I started it this morning.
WOW....I'm hooked already! WONDERFUL ---just as you said!!!!
Thanks *Ilyce*! (luv, ya...'Hi to Ken')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WOW!!!! I could not stop thinking about this story even when I wasn't reading it. (I'll be thinking about this book for a long time)!
"The Book of Negroes" is a real historical document -which lists names of slaves who chose to leave the United States to go to Canada. (had to be frightening).
This book is packed-filled with history- and struggles for survival. Slave-trades? --my God ---what a journey you're taken on by excellent writing of the author Lawrence Hill!
The storytelling is TOP QUALITY ---absorbing ---page after page!!! Amazing characters, (indomitable heroine), times, places, human suffering, and eventual freedom.
Its a long thick-fat paper-back book ---but I enjoyed reading EVERY WORD!. I 'couldn't skip over anything!
Very impressive epic novel!! Cheers to Lawrence Hill!
August 23, 2023
"لو أعيش طويلا حتى أنهى هذه القصة، فسوف تظل حية بعد وفاتى. ربما تبقى في مكتبة لندن وقتاً طويلاً بعد أن أعود إلى روح أجدادى.أتخيل أحياناً أول قارئ يعثر على قصتى. أيكون فتاة؟ ربما امرأة. رجل . رجل إنجليزى. إفريقي. واحد من هؤلاء الناس سوف يجد قصتى ، ويمررها. وعندئذ،على ما اعتقد ، سأكون قد عشت لهدف ما." ."
بم يشعر من كُتبت عليهم الغربة ! ولا اتحدث هنا عن الغربة التى نختارها أو تجبرنا عليها ظروف اجتماعية او إقتصادية ، بل أتحدث عن الغربة الإجبارية ، أن يتم أنتزاعك رغماً عنك من موطنك . وإلى اى مدى ستتحمل ؟وإلى متى ستظل تشتاق الى موطنك ؟ بم يشعر من وُلد حراً وعاش لسنوات في سعادة وفجأة تم انتزاع كل شئ منه ؟ ماذا يمكن أن نفعل من أجل حريتنا ؟ وإلى أى مدى يمكن أن نذهب للحفاظ عليها ؟ والى متى نستطيع احتمال أن يتم حرماننا منها ؟ وفي النهاية كيف يحيا من يستعبدون البشر هكذا دون ضمير ودون شعور ؟
" هل قابلت في حياتك شخصاً يقترف أشياء فظيعة، ويستطيع أن ينظر في عينيك دون أن يفزع؟ أن تنظر في وجه آخر يعنى شيئين: أنك تقر بإنسانيته ،وأنك تؤكد، في الوقت ذاته، إنسانيتك أنت"
حين قرأت عن فكرة الرواية ورأيت تقييماتها العالية تحمست لها لكن ظننت انها ستكون ثقيلة وأننى سأشعر معها بالملل خاصة أن موضوع العبيد وتحريرهم ليست في قمة اهتماماتي لكني تفاجأت انى ألتهم الصفحات بإعجاب بالاسلوب وبإهتمام حقيقى و تعاطف وتألم مما يحدث .
هذه الرواية برغم عدد صفحاتها وبرغم البؤس والمهانة التى بها إلا انى استمتعت حقا بقراءتها ، وظللت اتسائل كيف لم يترجم أى عمل آخر للكاتب ؟؟ كيف لكاتب له هذه القدرة على السرد ولم تترجم باقي اعماله ولم تُعرف الرواية كما يجب !! هناك حقا الكثير من الكتب والكتاب الرائعين لكن حقوقهم وشهرتهم مهدورة وبعضهم مهدور حقه لدينا لأن للأسف لم تترجم اعماله او لم يتم التسويق لها جيداً.
اعجبتنى أميناتا دياللو او كما اطلقوا عليها لعدم استطاعتهم نطق الإسم مينا لكنى سأناديها أميناتا اسم موطنها ، اسمها الحقيقى دون اختصارات.
مينا" في هذه الأرض الجديدة. صار لى اسم آخر،" منحنى إياه شخص، هو حتى لايعرفنى. اسم جديد لحياة ثانية كتبت لفتاة استطاعت ان تبقى على قيد الحياة بعد عبور النهر الكبير "
اعجبتنى رغبتها في التعلم ، قوتها ، إنسانيتها وحنانها وتعاطفها ، رفضها للإهانة وصلابتها ، رفضها للإستسلام رغم كل ما لاقته من أهوال ومصاعب . كانت تعود لتقف صلبة وتواجه مايحدث لها وتقدم المساعدة دوماً للآخرين .
" كل ما أعرفه هو أن كل الذين أحببتهم أكثر من اى شئ آخر ، تم انتزاعهم مني "
" آلام الفقد لا تذهب أبداً . ولكننى أستمر. بطريقة ما ، أواصل الحياة."
أميناتا انتى مثل أعلى ليس فقط للنساء لكن للبشر جميعا نساءً ورجال ، انتى مثال للقوة والجرأة والعطف والإنسانية . أميناتا التى قررت ان تكتب قصة حياتها وكل ما شاهدته بنفسها دون مساعدة من أحد ودون أن يؤثر عليها أحد.
"- قررت أن أكتب قصة حياتى
-مؤكد .. ولكنك تحتاجين إرشاداتنا لكى ....
-من غير إرشادات .. شكرا جزيلا.. حياتي..كلماتى..قلمى..أنا قادرة على الكتابة"
نجح الكاتب نجاح باهر في أن يجعلنى أتماهى مع أميناتا وحياتها منذ الطفولة مرورا بإختطافها ومالاقته حينها وبعدها ، شعرت معها بألم الوسم "قطعة معدنية محمية .... يغرسونها فوق حلمتى اليمنى بقليل. تمتلئ خياشيمي برائحة لحمى المحترق. أشعر بالألم يسرى في أعصابي مثل موجة بركانية ملتهبة"
أنا موسومة ومع الأسف لا أستطيع أن افعل أى شئ يخلصنى من هذه العلامة ، التى احملها منذ ان كنت في الحادية عشرة"
، أحسست معها بالقهر والمهانة والضعف .
" فقدت أمى وأبى وبلدتى. ضاعت فرصتى في تعلم كل الصلوات القرآنية. لم يعد ممكناً أن يعلمنى أبى القراءة والكتابة، كما كان يفعل فى السر "
ركبت معها السفينة ورأيت معها الأهوال التى حدثت مع كل راكبي السفينة . وإلقاء المرضى والأموات منهم في البحر
" في سفينة العبيد تلك ،رأيت أشياء لا يمكن لأهل لندن أن يصدقوها ابداً. ولكننى أفكر في الناس الذين عبروا البحر معى. الذين بقوا على قيد الحياة. رأينا الأشياء نفسها. مازال بعضنا يصرخ فزعاً فى منتصف الليل"
عشت معها أحداث كل شئ حدث معها في أمريكا ورأيت نظرات البيض لها ، أحسست بجروحها وألامها وعشت معها تفاص��ل كثيرة. أحببت معها وانتظرت زيارة حبيبها ، حملت معها أول مولود لها .
سافرت معها وكتبت معها كتاب الزنوج .أنكسرت معها وعدت ثانية للوقوف . ذهبت معا لنيويورك وعاصرت فترة الاستقلال ورأيت تأثير الأحداث عليها . فكانت هذه الفترة مهمة في حياة أميناتا . أحسست بضعفها وقوتها في ذات الوقت . ورأيت بعينيها كل مايحدث أمامها ليس فقط لها لكن لكل من حولها . وتألمت من أجلهم جميعاً. وحلمت معها حلمها الذي لم تتخلى عنه يوما " كل ما أريد أن أفعله هو العودة إلى المكان الذي ولدت فيه"
عشت معها عدم معرفتها من أين جاءت وإلى أين هى ذاهبة ؟ لم اعرف مثلها سوى اسم قريتها بايو . لكن أين هى بايو ؟ وإلى أين يأخذها خاطفيها ؟
" - أخذوك من إفريقيا لتعملى عند البيض
-أفريقيا .. ما هى ؟
-الارض التى جئت منها.
-يسمونها إفريقيا؟
-نعم..لو أنك مولودة هناك.. يسمونك إفريقية.. ولكنهم هنا يسموننا جميعاً بنفس الأسماء : الزنوج.. السود .. يسموننا بالتحديد: العبيد.
-عبيد ؟
-عبيد .. هذا يعنى اننا ملك للبيض
-لست ملكاً لأحد.. ولست إفريقية .. أنا بامانية..وفولانية. أنا من بايو قرب سيجو.. لست كما تقول .. أنا لست إفريقية"
-
"أين افريقيا بالتحديد.. وكيف تستطيع الوصول إلى هناك ؟ أحيانا أشعر بالخزى لأننى لا أعرف إجابة . كيف يمكن أن آتى من مكان، ولا أعرف أين هو ؟"
برغم كل الألم في الرواية لكن تحية للكاتب الذي إستطاع أن ينقلني الى أفريقيا وأمريكا ولندن وجعلني اتأثر بكل ماحدث وهذا شئ ليس سهل ان يحدث معي.
لا أستطيع أن أحول بصري عنهم ولا أن أمنع نفسى من التفكير في الزوجات والأزواج والأبناء والآباء الذين فقدوهم في سيرهم المطرد باتجاه البحر. وكلى فزع مثلهم تماماً، أستطيع أن أتخيل توترهم وهو يتصاعد حتى يصل إلى نوبات من الهستيريا وفقدان القدرة على الكلام، بل الجنون أحيانا، عندما يتكدسون كالسردين في سفن العبيد، ويساقون عبر البحر ويباعون، إذا نجو ، في المزادات."
حين يكون البشر تجارة يشارك فيها كل من يستطيع الإستفادة منها ، حتى ان الافارقة أنفسهم كانوا يساعدون في إستعباد آخرين من بنى جنسهم ، يخطفونهم ، يقومون بالمساومة عليهم وبيعهم . ان يصبح أ خيك في الوطن هو الآخر عدوك هذه مأساة أقوى وأشد من متاجرة البيض بهم .
" يبدو لى أن التجارة في البشر لن تنتهى، طالما بقيت لبعض الناس حرية اقتناء الآخرين "
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بم يشعر من كُتبت عليهم الغربة ! ولا اتحدث هنا عن الغربة التى نختارها أو تجبرنا عليها ظروف اجتماعية او إقتصادية ، بل أتحدث عن الغربة الإجبارية ، أن يتم أنتزاعك رغماً عنك من موطنك . وإلى اى مدى ستتحمل ؟وإلى متى ستظل تشتاق الى موطنك ؟ بم يشعر من وُلد حراً وعاش لسنوات في سعادة وفجأة تم انتزاع كل شئ منه ؟ ماذا يمكن أن نفعل من أجل حريتنا ؟ وإلى أى مدى يمكن أن نذهب للحفاظ عليها ؟ والى متى نستطيع احتمال أن يتم حرماننا منها ؟ وفي النهاية كيف يحيا من يستعبدون البشر هكذا دون ضمير ودون شعور ؟
" هل قابلت في حياتك شخصاً يقترف أشياء فظيعة، ويستطيع أن ينظر في عينيك دون أن يفزع؟ أن تنظر في وجه آخر يعنى شيئين: أنك تقر بإنسانيته ،وأنك تؤكد، في الوقت ذاته، إنسانيتك أنت"
قال مانديلا: لا يوجد إنسان ولد يكره إنسانا آخر بسبب لون بشرته أو أصله أو دينه.. الناس تعلمت الكراهية وإذا كان بالإمكان تعليمهم الكراهية إذاً بإمكاننا تعليمهم الحب، خاصة أن الحب أقرب لقلب الإنسان من الكراهية.
حين قرأت عن فكرة الرواية ورأيت تقييماتها العالية تحمست لها لكن ظننت انها ستكون ثقيلة وأننى سأشعر معها بالملل خاصة أن موضوع العبيد وتحريرهم ليست في قمة اهتماماتي لكني تفاجأت انى ألتهم الصفحات بإعجاب بالاسلوب وبإهتمام حقيقى و تعاطف وتألم مما يحدث .
هذه الرواية برغم عدد صفحاتها وبرغم البؤس والمهانة التى بها إلا انى استمتعت حقا بقراءتها ، وظللت اتسائل كيف لم يترجم أى عمل آخر للكاتب ؟؟ كيف لكاتب له هذه القدرة على السرد ولم تترجم باقي اعماله ولم تُعرف الرواية كما يجب !! هناك حقا الكثير من الكتب والكتاب الرائعين لكن حقوقهم وشهرتهم مهدورة وبعضهم مهدور حقه لدينا لأن للأسف لم تترجم اعماله او لم يتم التسويق لها جيداً.
مايا أنجيلو – أدري لماذا يغرد الطائر المحبوس في قفصه
الطير الحر
على ظهر الريح ينط
ويعوم على سطح النهر
حتى ينتهيَ التيار
ويغمس جناحيه
في ضوء الشمس الذهبي
معلنا السماء سماءه.
=
ولكن الطير القابع
في قفص ضيق
لا يقدر أن ينظر
من قضبان غضبه
فقد قص جناحاه
وربطت قدماه
فيصدح بالتغريد.
الطير المحبوس يغرد
في رعشة خوف
من أشياء لا يعرفها
لكن ما زال يتوق إليها
فيُسمع لحنُه
من أقصى التل
لأن الطير المحبوس
يغني للحرية.
الطير الحر يفكر بنسيم آخر
وبريح الغرب تهب على الأشجار المتنهدة عليلة
تنتظره سمان الديدان على المرج المشرق كالفجر
ويسمي السماء سماءه
ولكن الطير المحبوس يقف على قبر الأحلام
يصرخ صرخة كابوس ظلُه
فقد قص جناحاه وربطت قدماه فيصدح بالتغريد.
الطير المحبوس يغرد
في رعشة خوف
من أشياء لا يعرفها
لكن مازال يتوق إليها
فيسمع لحنه
من أقصى التل
لأن الطير المحبوس
يغني للحرية.
" هذى أنا، امرأة زنجية عجوز متهالكة ، عبرتُ من البحار ما يتجاوز عدد قدرتي على التذكر ، وقطعت من الأميال أكثر مما قطعه حصان أنهكته المشاوير طيلة حياته، وكل ما أتمناه هو ما لا يمكن إدراكه : الأبناء والأحفاد أمنحهم محبتى ، والأبوان يمنحاننى الدفء والرعاية."
اعجبتنى أميناتا دياللو او كما اطلقوا عليها لعدم استطاعتهم نطق الإسم مينا لكنى سأناديها أميناتا اسم موطنها ، اسمها الحقيقى دون اختصارات.
مينا" في هذه الأرض الجديدة. صار لى اسم آخر،" منحنى إياه شخص، هو حتى لايعرفنى. اسم جديد لحياة ثانية كتبت لفتاة استطاعت ان تبقى على قيد الحياة بعد عبور النهر الكبير "
اعجبتنى رغبتها في التعلم ، قوتها ، إنسانيتها وحنانها وتعاطفها ، رفضها للإهانة وصلابتها ، رفضها للإستسلام رغم كل ما لاقته من أهوال ومصاعب . كانت تعود لتقف صلبة وتواجه مايحدث لها وتقدم المساعدة دوماً للآخرين .
" كل ما أعرفه هو أن كل الذين أحببتهم أكثر من اى شئ آخر ، تم انتزاعهم مني "
" آلام الفقد لا تذهب أبداً . ولكننى أستمر. بطريقة ما ، أواصل الحياة."
أميناتا انتى مثل أعلى ليس فقط للنساء لكن للبشر جميعا نساءً ورجال ، انتى مثال للقوة والجرأة والعطف والإنسانية . أميناتا التى قررت ان تكتب قصة حياتها وكل ما شاهدته بنفسها دون مساعدة من أحد ودون أن يؤثر عليها أحد.
"- قررت أن أكتب قصة حياتى
-مؤكد .. ولكنك تحتاجين إرشاداتنا لكى ....
-من غير إرشادات .. شكرا جزيلا.. حياتي..كلماتى..قلمى..أنا قادرة على الكتابة"
نجح الكاتب نجاح باهر في أن يجعلنى أتماهى مع أميناتا وحياتها منذ الطفولة مرورا بإختطافها ومالاقته حينها وبعدها ، شعرت معها بألم الوسم "قطعة معدنية محمية .... يغرسونها فوق حلمتى اليمنى بقليل. تمتلئ خياشيمي برائحة لحمى المحترق. أشعر بالألم يسرى في أعصابي مثل موجة بركانية ملتهبة"
أنا موسومة ومع الأسف لا أستطيع أن افعل أى شئ يخلصنى من هذه العلامة ، التى احملها منذ ان كنت في الحادية عشرة"
، أحسست معها بالقهر والمهانة والضعف .
" فقدت أمى وأبى وبلدتى. ضاعت فرصتى في تعلم كل الصلوات القرآنية. لم يعد ممكناً أن يعلمنى أبى القراءة والكتابة، كما كان يفعل فى السر "
ركبت معها السفينة ورأيت معها الأهوال التى حدثت مع كل راكبي السفينة . وإلقاء المرضى والأموات منهم في البحر
" في سفينة العبيد تلك ،رأيت أشياء لا يمكن لأهل لندن أن يصدقوها ابداً. ولكننى أفكر في الناس الذين عبروا البحر معى. الذين بقوا على قيد الحياة. رأينا الأشياء نفسها. مازال بعضنا يصرخ فزعاً فى منتصف الليل"
عشت معها أحداث كل شئ حدث معها في أمريكا ورأيت نظرات البيض لها ، أحسست بجروحها وألامها وعشت معها تفاص��ل كثيرة. أحببت معها وانتظرت زيارة حبيبها ، حملت معها أول مولود لها .
سافرت معها وكتبت معها كتاب الزنوج .أنكسرت معها وعدت ثانية للوقوف . ذهبت معا لنيويورك وعاصرت فترة الاستقلال ورأيت تأثير الأحداث عليها . فكانت هذه الفترة مهمة في حياة أميناتا . أحسست بضعفها وقوتها في ذات الوقت . ورأيت بعينيها كل مايحدث أمامها ليس فقط لها لكن لكل من حولها . وتألمت من أجلهم جميعاً. وحلمت معها حلمها الذي لم تتخلى عنه يوما " كل ما أريد أن أفعله هو العودة إلى المكان الذي ولدت فيه"
عشت معها عدم معرفتها من أين جاءت وإلى أين هى ذاهبة ؟ لم اعرف مثلها سوى اسم قريتها بايو . لكن أين هى بايو ؟ وإلى أين يأخذها خاطفيها ؟
" - أخذوك من إفريقيا لتعملى عند البيض
-أفريقيا .. ما هى ؟
-الارض التى جئت منها.
-يسمونها إفريقيا؟
-نعم..لو أنك مولودة هناك.. يسمونك إفريقية.. ولكنهم هنا يسموننا جميعاً بنفس الأسماء : الزنوج.. السود .. يسموننا بالتحديد: العبيد.
-عبيد ؟
-عبيد .. هذا يعنى اننا ملك للبيض
-لست ملكاً لأحد.. ولست إفريقية .. أنا بامانية..وفولانية. أنا من بايو قرب سيجو.. لست كما تقول .. أنا لست إفريقية"
-
"أين افريقيا بالتحديد.. وكيف تستطيع الوصول إلى هناك ؟ أحيانا أشعر بالخزى لأننى لا أعرف إجابة . كيف يمكن أن آتى من مكان، ولا أعرف أين هو ؟"
برغم كل الألم في الرواية لكن تحية للكاتب الذي إستطاع أن ينقلني الى أفريقيا وأمريكا ولندن وجعلني اتأثر بكل ماحدث وهذا شئ ليس سهل ان يحدث معي.
لا أستطيع أن أحول بصري عنهم ولا أن أمنع نفسى من التفكير في الزوجات والأزواج والأبناء والآباء الذين فقدوهم في سيرهم المطرد باتجاه البحر. وكلى فزع مثلهم تماماً، أستطيع أن أتخيل توترهم وهو يتصاعد حتى يصل إلى نوبات من الهستيريا وفقدان القدرة على الكلام، بل الجنون أحيانا، عندما يتكدسون كالسردين في سفن العبيد، ويساقون عبر البحر ويباعون، إذا نجو ، في المزادات."
حين يكون البشر تجارة يشارك فيها كل من يستطيع الإستفادة منها ، حتى ان الافارقة أنفسهم كانوا يساعدون في إستعباد آخرين من بنى جنسهم ، يخطفونهم ، يقومون بالمساومة عليهم وبيعهم . ان يصبح أ خيك في الوطن هو الآخر عدوك هذه مأساة أقوى وأشد من متاجرة البيض بهم .
" يبدو لى أن التجارة في البشر لن تنتهى، طالما بقيت لبعض الناس حرية اقتناء الآخرين "
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December 11, 2020
Abducted by slave traders as a young child, Aminata is a survivor. She is taken so far from home that her ultimate vow is to get back. This is her powerful story that will make you laugh, tear and jump for joy all at the same time. Powerful. Moving. Memorable. The Book of Negroes will stay with you long after you have read it.
I couldn't put this one down. I know it seems like such a daunting read and the font is tiny, but trust me, you'll fly through this. There are times it's heart-breaking, so I had to pause and not read it for a day but I couldn't wait to get back to it. The characters are so vivid and so real. The amount of research that was put into motion is clearly evident when you're reading her harrowing journey. You can't help but feel like you went on this journey with her. The story is one of survival and also one where our main character can't call anywhere else "home." Aminata is one character to admire, that's a fact.
I'd give this a billion more stars if I could. Such an excellent book!!! I cried tears of sadness and joy all at the same time. Now I can finish watching the rest of the TV show adaptation. The writing is excellent and the story and the characters and just everything about it screams "classic."
RATING 5/5
QUOTES
“I prayed that this was a dream, but the dream would not relent.” (33)
“That, I decided, was what it meant to be a slave: your past didn't matter; in the present you were invisible and you had no claim on the future.” (215)
“I knew that it would be called United States. But I refused to speak that name. There was nothing united about a nation that said all men were created equal, but that kept my people in chains.” (349)
“It's about more than land. It's about freedom. Negroes want to make our own lives.” (411)
“I had learned that there were times when fighting was impossible, when the best thing to do was to wait and to learn.” (424)
“They did not attempt to enslave us, but nor did they set us free.” (433)
“Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all.” (461)
“Who was to blame for all this evil, and who had started it?” (473)
I couldn't put this one down. I know it seems like such a daunting read and the font is tiny, but trust me, you'll fly through this. There are times it's heart-breaking, so I had to pause and not read it for a day but I couldn't wait to get back to it. The characters are so vivid and so real. The amount of research that was put into motion is clearly evident when you're reading her harrowing journey. You can't help but feel like you went on this journey with her. The story is one of survival and also one where our main character can't call anywhere else "home." Aminata is one character to admire, that's a fact.
I'd give this a billion more stars if I could. Such an excellent book!!! I cried tears of sadness and joy all at the same time. Now I can finish watching the rest of the TV show adaptation. The writing is excellent and the story and the characters and just everything about it screams "classic."
RATING 5/5
QUOTES
“I prayed that this was a dream, but the dream would not relent.” (33)
“That, I decided, was what it meant to be a slave: your past didn't matter; in the present you were invisible and you had no claim on the future.” (215)
“I knew that it would be called United States. But I refused to speak that name. There was nothing united about a nation that said all men were created equal, but that kept my people in chains.” (349)
“It's about more than land. It's about freedom. Negroes want to make our own lives.” (411)
“I had learned that there were times when fighting was impossible, when the best thing to do was to wait and to learn.” (424)
“They did not attempt to enslave us, but nor did they set us free.” (433)
“Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all.” (461)
“Who was to blame for all this evil, and who had started it?” (473)
August 29, 2022
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
August 10, 2018
EVERYBODY PLEASE READ THIS BOOK NOW!!!!!!!!
I felt a whole range of emotions when reading this book. I can't even form a complete review to give Hill's novel justice. However, I will say that this is the type of book that demands to be read and more importantly, to reach a vast readership. It demands that you sit down and put your WHOLE heart into reading this novel. I say this because this story doesn't fully release the reader until they have hit the very last page and felt every emotion one could ever think to feel and even then, Hill's writing grips you and won't let you rest. In short, this book requires a lot out of its readers.
Case in point, when I read this book, it begged me as a reader to do so in small increments because I felt as if I was making the same painful journey into slavery that Aminata Diallo was thrust into at the mere age of eleven years old. Out of frustration and anger, I turned to Where'd You Go Bernadette to cleanse my pallet before I could continue on. The book is by no means a simple or quick read. Rushing through this book would be a HUGE mistake for any reader. I beseech everyone who reads this review to READ this book AND to spread the word, Hill's novel deserves to be the next phenomenon.
I felt a whole range of emotions when reading this book. I can't even form a complete review to give Hill's novel justice. However, I will say that this is the type of book that demands to be read and more importantly, to reach a vast readership. It demands that you sit down and put your WHOLE heart into reading this novel. I say this because this story doesn't fully release the reader until they have hit the very last page and felt every emotion one could ever think to feel and even then, Hill's writing grips you and won't let you rest. In short, this book requires a lot out of its readers.
Case in point, when I read this book, it begged me as a reader to do so in small increments because I felt as if I was making the same painful journey into slavery that Aminata Diallo was thrust into at the mere age of eleven years old. Out of frustration and anger, I turned to Where'd You Go Bernadette to cleanse my pallet before I could continue on. The book is by no means a simple or quick read. Rushing through this book would be a HUGE mistake for any reader. I beseech everyone who reads this review to READ this book AND to spread the word, Hill's novel deserves to be the next phenomenon.
October 20, 2009
My expectations were set really high for this one. It sat proudly at the top of my to-read pile with an imposing 4.40 average across close to 1400 ratings.
Now, I'm not one of those dinks who look to read popular novels (see Da Vinci Code pinheads) just so they can turn their haughty noses up on them and knock down averages), but I'm afraid my rating will knock this average down just a notch. Not because I'm a pinhead, but because
The Book of Negroes lacks what I need in a novel.
Time and again, when I read these types of novels, I can't help but hold them up to the bars that were raised by Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, or Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. Particularly A Fine Balance. That novel tore my heart apart. Mistry had developed those characters so well, that with every turmoil or setback they came up against, I hurt with them, I rooted for them,I damn near cried for them.
The slave trade is one of the truly dark stains on our history. All of those wasted lives, and families torn apart forever. How could this story of a girl sold into slavery and sent halfway around the world be anything but tragic?
While I felt for everything she had gone through, and felt for her losses, the betrayals, I didn't feel a whole lot for her.
The Book of Negroes reads like an autobiography, but this is a novel. I need novels to be rich in character development to engage me enough to care not only what is going on with them, but to care about them as if I know them.
There are rare exceptions to my rule (Brian Lumley's Necroscope series for one, and hey, if you're the type of person who will read everything from Book of Negroes to Necroscope, well, you are a kindred spirit to yours truly. Anyways...), but, by and large, strong characters are IT for me, and I found Hill to be somewhat lacking in this skill. There are some authors out there (Stephen King is one, John Irving is another)
who can paint a vivid picture of a character with the subtlest of details or quirks in the space of one paragraph, that will stick with you through the entire story. I found through this story, Aminata relays these terrible things that are happening to her, and I felt like nothing more than a bystander, albeit feeling sadness that these types of things really happened, much in the way I felt it when I learned about this in history class. I also found his prose to be just a little too simple.
Anyways, I'm rambling here and more or less repeating myself. Bottom line: I liked the story. I had hit a point with about 100 pages to go where I was anxious to move on to something else, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did.
Hill did touch me emotionally with the last few pages, so don't think that I didn't feel anything at all for Aminata. I just didn't feel it a whole lot through most of the story. There I go repeating myself again.
Okay. Good story. Thinly developed characters. Recommended for those interested in this point in history. And there were parts to the story where the plight of her people really hit me. Oh yeah, and I loved reading about what New York City was like in the late 1700s. Follow Broadway to the woods. That's rich.
Now, I'm not one of those dinks who look to read popular novels (see Da Vinci Code pinheads) just so they can turn their haughty noses up on them and knock down averages), but I'm afraid my rating will knock this average down just a notch. Not because I'm a pinhead, but because
The Book of Negroes lacks what I need in a novel.
Time and again, when I read these types of novels, I can't help but hold them up to the bars that were raised by Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, or Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. Particularly A Fine Balance. That novel tore my heart apart. Mistry had developed those characters so well, that with every turmoil or setback they came up against, I hurt with them, I rooted for them,I damn near cried for them.
The slave trade is one of the truly dark stains on our history. All of those wasted lives, and families torn apart forever. How could this story of a girl sold into slavery and sent halfway around the world be anything but tragic?
While I felt for everything she had gone through, and felt for her losses, the betrayals, I didn't feel a whole lot for her.
The Book of Negroes reads like an autobiography, but this is a novel. I need novels to be rich in character development to engage me enough to care not only what is going on with them, but to care about them as if I know them.
There are rare exceptions to my rule (Brian Lumley's Necroscope series for one, and hey, if you're the type of person who will read everything from Book of Negroes to Necroscope, well, you are a kindred spirit to yours truly. Anyways...), but, by and large, strong characters are IT for me, and I found Hill to be somewhat lacking in this skill. There are some authors out there (Stephen King is one, John Irving is another)
who can paint a vivid picture of a character with the subtlest of details or quirks in the space of one paragraph, that will stick with you through the entire story. I found through this story, Aminata relays these terrible things that are happening to her, and I felt like nothing more than a bystander, albeit feeling sadness that these types of things really happened, much in the way I felt it when I learned about this in history class. I also found his prose to be just a little too simple.
Anyways, I'm rambling here and more or less repeating myself. Bottom line: I liked the story. I had hit a point with about 100 pages to go where I was anxious to move on to something else, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did.
Hill did touch me emotionally with the last few pages, so don't think that I didn't feel anything at all for Aminata. I just didn't feel it a whole lot through most of the story. There I go repeating myself again.
Okay. Good story. Thinly developed characters. Recommended for those interested in this point in history. And there were parts to the story where the plight of her people really hit me. Oh yeah, and I loved reading about what New York City was like in the late 1700s. Follow Broadway to the woods. That's rich.
June 3, 2024
على عكس عادتي أثناء قراءة الروايات، وأنا بقرأ الرواية دي مكتبتش أي ملاحظات، محددتش أي اقتباسات أنقلها في المراجعة، مكتبتش ايه عاجبني وايه مش عاجبني، لذا مش عارفة أكتب مراجعة دلوقتي.
طيب ايه السبب؟ يمكن عشان كنت بقرأها على أساس إنها حقيقية، مش قادرة أفرق بين الحقيقة ومخيلة المؤلف، فمينفعش أقول إن الحدث المعين مش مقنع مثلًا، أو الشخصية الفلانية مش مبنية كويس، أنا بتعامل إن الكتاب دا سرد لتاريخ حقيقي، مش رواية.
عارفة إن دا مش صح، وإن دراسة التاريخ لها كتبها ومصادرها المعروفة، فهحاول أعرف عن تجارة العبيد من مصادر موثوقة، خاصةً إن في تفاصيل أنا بشك فيها زي إن كان فيه أفارقة بيساعدوا تجار العبيد، وشخصية "فاتيما" اللي تقريبًا الكاتب حطها عشان بس يقول إن فيه أفارقة رفضوا يساعدوا أميناتا واعتبروها واحدة من البيض!!
الرواية دي صعبة أوي، ومؤلمة، وسابت جوايا مشاعر كراهية وحقد وغضب تجاه العالم كله. كنت بتوقف عن القراءة لفترة بعد كل حدث صادم - وما أكثر الأحداث الصادمة في الرواية! - لأنها تعبتني ومش قادرة أكمل. لكن خلصتها، ووصلت للنهاية، اللي بالمناسبة نهاية حلوة ومُرضية.
رواية تستحق القراءة.
طيب ايه السبب؟ يمكن عشان كنت بقرأها على أساس إنها حقيقية، مش قادرة أفرق بين الحقيقة ومخيلة المؤلف، فمينفعش أقول إن الحدث المعين مش مقنع مثلًا، أو الشخصية الفلانية مش مبنية كويس، أنا بتعامل إن الكتاب دا سرد لتاريخ حقيقي، مش رواية.
عارفة إن دا مش صح، وإن دراسة التاريخ لها كتبها ومصادرها المعروفة، فهحاول أعرف عن تجارة العبيد من مصادر موثوقة، خاصةً إن في تفاصيل أنا بشك فيها زي إن كان فيه أفارقة بيساعدوا تجار العبيد، وشخصية "فاتيما" اللي تقريبًا الكاتب حطها عشان بس يقول إن فيه أفارقة رفضوا يساعدوا أميناتا واعتبروها واحدة من البيض!!
الرواية دي صعبة أوي، ومؤلمة، وسابت جوايا مشاعر كراهية وحقد وغضب تجاه العالم كله. كنت بتوقف عن القراءة لفترة بعد كل حدث صادم - وما أكثر الأحداث الصادمة في الرواية! - لأنها تعبتني ومش قادرة أكمل. لكن خلصتها، ووصلت للنهاية، اللي بالمناسبة نهاية حلوة ومُرضية.
رواية تستحق القراءة.
June 14, 2020
Blame is on me. I expected a lot from this story but it didn't meet them, so I am a wee bit disappointed.
June 12, 2023
They say home is where the heart is. For Aminata Diallo, our strong female protagonist, all she wanted was nothing more than to return to her home in Africa after being captured at the terrifyingly young age of 11 and sold into slavery.
Written in first person point of view, you are right there with Aminata throughout all the horrors she endures during her long life in her fight for survival. All the losses, inequality, injustices, broken promises, pain, and suffering. This isn’t a light read. It’s a tearjerker and quite agonizing. But it’s definitely worth a read. From the very first few pages, I was whisked away into Aminata’s life and mind. The writing instantly displayed strong prose and a poetic flow. I’ve read other books set in this time period revolved around slavery but never one quite like this due to its extremely personal account and attention to time period specific details in relation to actual events. This story actually starts at the origin—Africa itself, and I learned so many things I actually never knew.
One of the strongest quotes Aminata uses to describe how slavery appeared to her in Africa:
"I imagined the biggest lion of my land--as big as the lion mountain on shore, but living and breathing and hungry....the lion had already rampaged through the villages and swallowed all the people live, and was now keeping them stacked and barely breathing in the faint light of its belly."
I will be haunted for some time by the imagery and losses represented in this story. Though its focus isn’t on the sheer brutality of such traumatic scenes, you are aware they happened and the emotions themselves linger. Thankfully, Aminata doesn’t lose herself completely in these images/experiences. She’s very strong considering her young age. But even as she grows older, the very mention of the slave ships bring her right back to her capture experience. Most definitely representing what we now know as a true form of PTSD. The slave ships represent the end for so many and the beginning of a lifetime of suffering and captivity for others. They definitely stuck with me too throughout the whole story, so I can only imagine…..
What I love most though about this story is that through it all Aminata stays true to who she was born as—her name and where she came from despite even being renamed by the toubabu; she consistently holds onto that one piece of herself which seems impossible considering the trauma she has faced for an entire lifetime. During the capture, the book references adults simply losing their minds after being captured. Losing the ability to speak or follow directions. But Aminata only develops a stronger mind. Perhaps it is because she was so young when it happened? They say children are more easily resilient in that sense.
I also appreciated learning that the Book of Negroes actually existed! What a powerful piece of history. A book beaming with renewed hope and an opportunity of escape from the slavery chains of America.
"I knew that it would be called the United States. There was nothing united about a nation that said all men were created equal, but that kept my people in chains."
~ Aminata
It was also interesting to learn what effect the British Americans had on slavery even though the outcome was also disappointing and bleak. I am looking forward to watching the miniseries based on the book even though I know it will be an emotionally rough experience. The book was very well written and unforgettable.
Written in first person point of view, you are right there with Aminata throughout all the horrors she endures during her long life in her fight for survival. All the losses, inequality, injustices, broken promises, pain, and suffering. This isn’t a light read. It’s a tearjerker and quite agonizing. But it’s definitely worth a read. From the very first few pages, I was whisked away into Aminata’s life and mind. The writing instantly displayed strong prose and a poetic flow. I’ve read other books set in this time period revolved around slavery but never one quite like this due to its extremely personal account and attention to time period specific details in relation to actual events. This story actually starts at the origin—Africa itself, and I learned so many things I actually never knew.
One of the strongest quotes Aminata uses to describe how slavery appeared to her in Africa:
"I imagined the biggest lion of my land--as big as the lion mountain on shore, but living and breathing and hungry....the lion had already rampaged through the villages and swallowed all the people live, and was now keeping them stacked and barely breathing in the faint light of its belly."
I will be haunted for some time by the imagery and losses represented in this story. Though its focus isn’t on the sheer brutality of such traumatic scenes, you are aware they happened and the emotions themselves linger. Thankfully, Aminata doesn’t lose herself completely in these images/experiences. She’s very strong considering her young age. But even as she grows older, the very mention of the slave ships bring her right back to her capture experience. Most definitely representing what we now know as a true form of PTSD. The slave ships represent the end for so many and the beginning of a lifetime of suffering and captivity for others. They definitely stuck with me too throughout the whole story, so I can only imagine…..
What I love most though about this story is that through it all Aminata stays true to who she was born as—her name and where she came from despite even being renamed by the toubabu; she consistently holds onto that one piece of herself which seems impossible considering the trauma she has faced for an entire lifetime. During the capture, the book references adults simply losing their minds after being captured. Losing the ability to speak or follow directions. But Aminata only develops a stronger mind. Perhaps it is because she was so young when it happened? They say children are more easily resilient in that sense.
I also appreciated learning that the Book of Negroes actually existed! What a powerful piece of history. A book beaming with renewed hope and an opportunity of escape from the slavery chains of America.
"I knew that it would be called the United States. There was nothing united about a nation that said all men were created equal, but that kept my people in chains."
~ Aminata
It was also interesting to learn what effect the British Americans had on slavery even though the outcome was also disappointing and bleak. I am looking forward to watching the miniseries based on the book even though I know it will be an emotionally rough experience. The book was very well written and unforgettable.
February 12, 2021
My family is anti conditions-of-blacks-in-the-American-south type of literature. I was taught to avoid being "one of those black people who obsess over slavery" and focus on our future. Being born in Canada and growing up in an East African/West Indian family, there was a belief that the American slave experience was somehow not "our" experience. With that said, the only reason I read this book is because the author is from Canada. Shallow, but true.
The story is told in retrospect through the eyes of the main character, Aminata. Her character is complex. She is a strong woman, yet she worries about her appearance and acceptance, at times she questions herself, she feels tenderness for her loved ones, she feels fear and sadness. To her benefit (and at times to her detriment), she is assertive throughout her journey. Despite loss, violation, and overt and covert attempts to "put her in her place" she remains dignified. I loved the way all of the characters were portrayed. White doesn't necessarily mean bad/enemy. Black doesn't necessarily mean good/friend. And then there are the people in between (Jewish, Mulatto) trying to find a balance between being an insider and outsider.
The novel covers about a 50ish year period. It explains some of the historical connections between the roles of Africa, USA, Canada, Europe, (with a touch of the West Indies) in the slave trade. But it also addresses some issues that persist to this day (defining cultural and religious identity, relations between minority groups). Because the book was so expansive, there are points in the story towards the end that seem rushed in terms of character/plot development. However, this works on some level because the circumstances in the plot suggest that Aminata herself may have been rushed towards the end of writing her story....but I could also be making excuses for the author because I like the book. This is actually the first book I have read about the slave trade, but it will definitely not be my last.
The story is told in retrospect through the eyes of the main character, Aminata. Her character is complex. She is a strong woman, yet she worries about her appearance and acceptance, at times she questions herself, she feels tenderness for her loved ones, she feels fear and sadness. To her benefit (and at times to her detriment), she is assertive throughout her journey. Despite loss, violation, and overt and covert attempts to "put her in her place" she remains dignified. I loved the way all of the characters were portrayed. White doesn't necessarily mean bad/enemy. Black doesn't necessarily mean good/friend. And then there are the people in between (Jewish, Mulatto) trying to find a balance between being an insider and outsider.
The novel covers about a 50ish year period. It explains some of the historical connections between the roles of Africa, USA, Canada, Europe, (with a touch of the West Indies) in the slave trade. But it also addresses some issues that persist to this day (defining cultural and religious identity, relations between minority groups). Because the book was so expansive, there are points in the story towards the end that seem rushed in terms of character/plot development. However, this works on some level because the circumstances in the plot suggest that Aminata herself may have been rushed towards the end of writing her story....but I could also be making excuses for the author because I like the book. This is actually the first book I have read about the slave trade, but it will definitely not be my last.
January 10, 2019
I loved this book from the beginning. Read it for book club and so glad I did. The novel tells the story of a young girl stolen from her village in Africa to be sold into slavery. As an old woman she is recounting the story of her life. This is where our story begins.
Aminata is sold to several masters and then finally gains her freedom. She is part of a large exodus from the US by the British who had promised them freedom if they fought for the British or helped them in any way during the revolutionary war. They are taken to Nova Scotia only to once again encounter prejudice and no jobs, land or opportunity to form a good life.
Eventually they are offered a trip back to Africa to found a new colony. She takes this opportunity and tries to find her home village. She goes through many trials and hardships but always hangs on to her "true self". she is finally rewarded with passage to London and an opportunity to tell her story.
I would highly recommend this book, it is very well written with descriptions of Aminata that made me feel as though I knew her.
***All time favorite novel with great heart and a revelation about the British and slavery that I had never known existed***
Aminata is sold to several masters and then finally gains her freedom. She is part of a large exodus from the US by the British who had promised them freedom if they fought for the British or helped them in any way during the revolutionary war. They are taken to Nova Scotia only to once again encounter prejudice and no jobs, land or opportunity to form a good life.
Eventually they are offered a trip back to Africa to found a new colony. She takes this opportunity and tries to find her home village. She goes through many trials and hardships but always hangs on to her "true self". she is finally rewarded with passage to London and an opportunity to tell her story.
I would highly recommend this book, it is very well written with descriptions of Aminata that made me feel as though I knew her.
***All time favorite novel with great heart and a revelation about the British and slavery that I had never known existed***
January 19, 2021
لو طلب مني احد الاصدقاء ان اقترح عليه رواية فمن المؤكد ان كتاب الزنوج ستكون احد اهم خياراتي , السرد هنا متعة قصوى و عذوبة خالصة , الكلمات تجري فوق اللسان والعقل لتمتلك خيال القارئ فلا يجد مفر سوى ان يكون شاهد و جزء من القصة , وبالرغم من ان الموضوع يحتمل كثيرا من المأساة الا ان القصة بعيدة عن ابتزاز المشاعر بالصور المعلبة بل فيها جوهر المعاناة و المأساة وحتى لو كنت من قساة القلوب مثلي سأضمن لك البكاء مرة على الاقل , هذه الرواية أفضل ما قرأته او شاهدته عن زمان العبودية الاسود , بل الابيض , فاحيانا يكون اللون الابيض اشد بغضا
February 10, 2017
This book was obviously sad and depressing given the topic, but it was also fascinating. There was so much history I was unfamiliar with, especially about slavery in Nova Scotia and and the return of ex-slaves to Sierra Leone. At times, the main character seemed a bit improbable and the ending was particularly improbable, but she was a great vehicle for seeing and understanding slavery in a number of contexts and also understanding that "undoing" the damage done is very complicated.
June 11, 2021
Never has a book pained me so much or put me through so many emotions before than this one. One that languished on the TBR mountain for years. I kept ordering the audio, returning, ordering....a vicious cycle. Then finally I pushed it and started the audio.
No story on slavery is an easy read. Someone Knows My Name tells the life story of Aminata Diallo, who as a small child was kidnapped by slave traders with her mother in Africa. Her mother didn't get that chance to leave Africa as she was killed. And so began the misery of this small child. You watch her grow as she is taken to South Carolina where she is bought by a horrible man to work on his indigo plantation. The story weaves in historical facts, such as ultimately Aminata works with British to write down all the names of the slaves who helped the British fight the rebels, ultimately gaining their freedom, and being placed on boats to far away lands (Nova Scotia, Britain, Africa, etc.). This became known as The Book of Negroes (the title of the book outside the US).
I was obsessed with hearing the story. I put the audio on my phone and carried it with me everywhere so I could hear what happens. It's a lengthy story, over 18 hours in audio. But that didn't stop me. I loved it and was thinking this is a 5 star read for me. It's horrible the things that Aminata went through, but she was strong, a fighter. Then, something happened and it completely changed my direction. I thought REALLY, now why would you throw that it there other than to tug on my heart strings when it's really not needed. So much bad has happened to this woman and now this. But I thought OK, I'll see what happens next. But then it was more gloom and doom and just more bad things kept happening and I started to hate this book. I didn't care what happened and started to utter under my breath 'of course this happened'. Around 4+ hours left I couldn't stand it. I started fast forwarding and yup, let's throw more bad her way. I'm going with a 3 as I loved most of the book, the narrator was AMAZING, but when an author just piles on more and more and more I just loose interest. Had this book been trimmed down (and cut a bunch of misery out) it would have been better (IMO). It was made into a tv movie which I did seek out to get....but not now. Many love this story and I'm sure I'm being super picky. I'll just say I've read it.
No story on slavery is an easy read. Someone Knows My Name tells the life story of Aminata Diallo, who as a small child was kidnapped by slave traders with her mother in Africa. Her mother didn't get that chance to leave Africa as she was killed. And so began the misery of this small child. You watch her grow as she is taken to South Carolina where she is bought by a horrible man to work on his indigo plantation. The story weaves in historical facts, such as ultimately Aminata works with British to write down all the names of the slaves who helped the British fight the rebels, ultimately gaining their freedom, and being placed on boats to far away lands (Nova Scotia, Britain, Africa, etc.). This became known as The Book of Negroes (the title of the book outside the US).
I was obsessed with hearing the story. I put the audio on my phone and carried it with me everywhere so I could hear what happens. It's a lengthy story, over 18 hours in audio. But that didn't stop me. I loved it and was thinking this is a 5 star read for me. It's horrible the things that Aminata went through, but she was strong, a fighter. Then, something happened and it completely changed my direction. I thought REALLY, now why would you throw that it there other than to tug on my heart strings when it's really not needed. So much bad has happened to this woman and now this. But I thought OK, I'll see what happens next. But then it was more gloom and doom and just more bad things kept happening and I started to hate this book. I didn't care what happened and started to utter under my breath 'of course this happened'. Around 4+ hours left I couldn't stand it. I started fast forwarding and yup, let's throw more bad her way. I'm going with a 3 as I loved most of the book, the narrator was AMAZING, but when an author just piles on more and more and more I just loose interest. Had this book been trimmed down (and cut a bunch of misery out) it would have been better (IMO). It was made into a tv movie which I did seek out to get....but not now. Many love this story and I'm sure I'm being super picky. I'll just say I've read it.
March 28, 2010
I chanced upon this novel in a rather random way. I was invited to discuss my own forthcoming book at a book club and the book club were reading The Book of Negroes for March. I'd heard of the novel but didn't have immediate plans to read it. In the end I read the entire huge tome (it's about 500 pages) in just two or three days. I actually could not stop reading it.
I learnt a lot from this book. I learned a lot about my own family history. I am half Sierra Leonean and the Sierra Leonean half of my family hails from Freetown. I know that they arrived in Freetown after becoming Maroons in Jamaica and then being expelled from Jamaica and sent to Nova Scotia. Apparently they were actually born in Africa, then enslaved and then they returned to Africa - via Sierra Leone - all in the space of one lifetime. So my ancestors' journey may well have had much in common with that of Aminatta Diallo, the protag in The Book of Negroes.
One of the other things I learned from The Book of Negroes is that I'm a sucker for the epic, melodramatic saga-type novel! I fell deeply in love with this book and although it has faults, I was so smitten that the faults didn't matter to me.
To thoroughly enjoy this novel you need to be able to suspend disbelief. Our heroine possesses extraordinary, almost supernatural luck and charm. Despite being enslaved, she manages to avoid ever being whipped or otherwise physically punished despite the fact that she is incredibly outspoken. Every time an evil slave-owner feels inclined to rape her or beat her or otherwise humiliate her, she always manages to escape just in the nick of time. She is raped on one occasion, by a disgusting slave-owner, but she miraculously bounces back and seems unscathed by the rape. I got the sense that the writer, Lawrence Hill, adored his protagonist so much that he just couldn't bear to let the very worst elements of slavery befall her. That said, he does 'go there' sometimes. The description of Aminatta's passage from her idyllic village in Mali to the slave ship and beyond is so visceral and disturbing that I had to keep closing the book and taking a break to pull myself together. I felt I was there and it was emotionally draining but insightful.
Never before has a work of fiction made slavery feel quite so vivid and relatable. When I closed the book I had a renewed respect for the bravery of my ancestors who had made this same journey as captives from Africa to America (and, in their case, back to Africa again). Aminatta describes the African captives who survived the Middle Passage (or strived to survive it) as heroes and I completely agree with her.
I learnt a lot from this book. I learned a lot about my own family history. I am half Sierra Leonean and the Sierra Leonean half of my family hails from Freetown. I know that they arrived in Freetown after becoming Maroons in Jamaica and then being expelled from Jamaica and sent to Nova Scotia. Apparently they were actually born in Africa, then enslaved and then they returned to Africa - via Sierra Leone - all in the space of one lifetime. So my ancestors' journey may well have had much in common with that of Aminatta Diallo, the protag in The Book of Negroes.
One of the other things I learned from The Book of Negroes is that I'm a sucker for the epic, melodramatic saga-type novel! I fell deeply in love with this book and although it has faults, I was so smitten that the faults didn't matter to me.
To thoroughly enjoy this novel you need to be able to suspend disbelief. Our heroine possesses extraordinary, almost supernatural luck and charm. Despite being enslaved, she manages to avoid ever being whipped or otherwise physically punished despite the fact that she is incredibly outspoken. Every time an evil slave-owner feels inclined to rape her or beat her or otherwise humiliate her, she always manages to escape just in the nick of time. She is raped on one occasion, by a disgusting slave-owner, but she miraculously bounces back and seems unscathed by the rape. I got the sense that the writer, Lawrence Hill, adored his protagonist so much that he just couldn't bear to let the very worst elements of slavery befall her. That said, he does 'go there' sometimes. The description of Aminatta's passage from her idyllic village in Mali to the slave ship and beyond is so visceral and disturbing that I had to keep closing the book and taking a break to pull myself together. I felt I was there and it was emotionally draining but insightful.
Never before has a work of fiction made slavery feel quite so vivid and relatable. When I closed the book I had a renewed respect for the bravery of my ancestors who had made this same journey as captives from Africa to America (and, in their case, back to Africa again). Aminatta describes the African captives who survived the Middle Passage (or strived to survive it) as heroes and I completely agree with her.
August 21, 2009
Update (2):
This just in from BOOK NEWS -
"Lawrence Hill's bestselling novel The Book of Negroes is set to be adapted for film thanks to a chance meeting in a Toronto bookstore."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/a...
Update:
"The Book of Negroes" by Lawrence Hill tops Amazon.ca books list for the week ending June 16, 2009
Larry's extensive research and plain great story-telling are only two of the reasons why it was Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; the winner of The Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; went on to become a #1 National Bestseller; and was most recently not only the winner of Canada Reads, but was declared the readers' choice -- by a landslide.
I read this book as soon as it hit the shelves, but was not writing reviews, to speak of, at that time. If the above awards are not reason enough to pick up this book, there are many reviews that have already been written.
It goes without saying that, especially in Canada, but also in The United States (Title: Someone Knows My Name), this is quite likely the most high-profile book out there today. I personally, cannot recommend it highly enough.
A final note: Larry says in BOOK BLOGS, re: Why I am not allowed to use my book title:
When I began touring with the novel in some of the major US cities, literary African-Americans kept approaching me and telling me it was a good thing indeed that the title had changed, because they would never have touched the book with its Canadian title.
February 8, 2016
I can't believe I never rated this book.
Iris if you are reading this, Lisi and I both read this together years ago.
It's soooo gripping. Possible to put down... sooooo heartbreaking.
The author, Lawrence Hill, has a new book our...( I'm in the middle of hiking -audiobook listening to another book...stopped to use the girls room- check mail -- and just discover his new book.
It's called "The Illegal"....
But I can't recommend this book highly enough. Warning though...you'll be 'spent' when finished!!!
Iris if you are reading this, Lisi and I both read this together years ago.
It's soooo gripping. Possible to put down... sooooo heartbreaking.
The author, Lawrence Hill, has a new book our...( I'm in the middle of hiking -audiobook listening to another book...stopped to use the girls room- check mail -- and just discover his new book.
It's called "The Illegal"....
But I can't recommend this book highly enough. Warning though...you'll be 'spent' when finished!!!
February 21, 2016
This is the story of Aminata, stolen from her homeland in Africa and taken into slavery in America on the cusp of the Revolutionary War. Just heart wrenching what she endured, and she was actually one of the lucky ones. Known as Mina, she easily learned languages and how to read, which helped her survive from one owner to the next, from one town to the next, from one country to the next, and from one continent to the next. All she wanted was to have a family and to some day return to her homeland. She meets some abolitionists who ask her to tell her story to some very influential people. She does this but we all know that a century later slavery still existed. I like to think that stories such as hers had some influence in the beginning of changes to come. Except for consistently pronouncing wonder as wander, and strength as shtrength, the narrator was excellent. 5 stars because honestly, it is an amazing, accomplished story. Read it.
September 23, 2020
I didn't realize Aminata was a real person in history until I had already started the book.
This historical fiction hits hard.
Her story is emotionally stirring and quite intense.
I recommend this to anyone looking for an accurate portrayal of the impossible things that slaves (females especially) had to grapple with throughout their lives.
***Take note that any and all triggers you can think of will be found in this book.***
This historical fiction hits hard.
Her story is emotionally stirring and quite intense.
I recommend this to anyone looking for an accurate portrayal of the impossible things that slaves (females especially) had to grapple with throughout their lives.
***Take note that any and all triggers you can think of will be found in this book.***
March 25, 2009
What an amazing book! The protagonist is spectacular - I don't think that I have ever identified so completely with a character in slavery. The author incorporates historical events which were new to me - always a plus. The story was so compelling and so true to human behavior. No group was all good or all bad, just human. I am just dazzled by this superb work.
August 11, 2016
There isn't enough space to fill all the accolades Lawrence Hill deserves with Someone Knows My Name!! Captivating in every way with a story line that grabs you from the first sentence and ends with you thinking....Awesome!! A book I won't forget and one that is a on my top, top favorites!!!
April 26, 2019
This slave narrative was a hard book to read and I kept putting it down because of its depressing nature, and because I felt the story was told in a dry, exacting, even punishing tone. But finish it I did, and I feel like I am a better person for what I gained in knowledge, understanding and the appreciation of my many blessings. Well researched historical fiction, it is the amazing story of a fictional 11-year-old African girl stolen from her family and sold into slavery. The incidents are taken from actual events. It tells of her horrendous journey from Africa to South Carolina, to New York where she eventually gains her freedom, to Nova Scotia where there was an actual community for freed black slaves, to London, then back to Africa, and again to London where she is instrumental in helping to secure freedom and rights for the Negro people there. The title for the book comes from the ledger that the British used to record "loyal" slaves who were set free and sent to a black settlement Nova Scotia where they were welcome until an economic collapse brought about the first white attack on a black settlement. I felt the "happy" ending was a bit unrealistic and too contrived. I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and would specifically like to learn more about slavery and Black history.
It made me appreciate all the wonderful blessings I have in my life. Overall, this was a great book
It made me appreciate all the wonderful blessings I have in my life. Overall, this was a great book
March 27, 2009
I found it absorbing; I found it readable. I wanted to like it more than I actually did. If any of Horatio Alger's characters had been born African and sold into slavery, Aminita Diallo might be its preincarnation. It's hard to say that any slave is fortunate, yet Aminita, compared to those around her, keeps drawing to an inside straight only to be dealt the right card. Hollywood should love it. Maybe plausibility is not the most important element in historical fiction. The story "feels good" from beginning to end in spite of the sordid background; our hero manages to rise above it, to persevere against all odds, and drink from the Holy Grail in the final chapter. She becomes a mix of Indiana Jones, Roy Rogers and Gandalf, a fine role model for underprivileged 21st century youth. But even as I was drawn into the mythos of accomplishment and social triumph, I kept objecting that the slave trade was not a literary romance but a real time irony and tragedy. In much the same way Horatio Alger sold a dream to oppressed workers, Lawrence Hill uses Aminita to revises a horrific chapter of human history just enough to give hope to a generation so far removed from it, the truth might be met with disbelief. But does that end justify the fiction?
June 4, 2020
العلامة الكاملة في الأدب وبجدارة...
سرد رائع وسلس ونص مح��م يأخذك لعالم أخر لا يمكنك الا ان ترفع القبعة له..
يأخذنا لورانس هيل في رحلة من المعاناة الألم يشوبها قليل من الأمل مع بطلة روايته أميناتا دياللو منذ اختطافها من افريقيا كعبدة وتعرضها لجميع أنواع العذابات والفظاعات والانتهاكات وفقدانها كل شيء تقريبا ومرورها بالولايات المتحدة وحتى وصولها لبريطانيا..اميناتا دياللو البطلة الخارقة وقدرة رهيبة على تحمل الألم بكل انواعه والتمسك بشتى خيوط الأمل لم تترك نفسها للكراهية حتى لا تدمر ما تبقى منها، تمنت العودة للوطن ولكن أي وطن بالفعل ولم يبق منه أحد.
قيل على لسان بطلة الرواية "إذا كانت السماء بهذا الكمال فلماذا الأرض بهذا الظلم؟"
والاجابة واضحة كما عرفتها الملائكة منذ قديم الاذل وحكمة الله تعالى فيها، انه الانسان الذي أفسد وأنهك الارض وأنهك نفسه واقرانه، ما الذي يجعل شخص ما يعذب ويستعبد شخص اخر لمجرد اختلافه في لون بشرته، تعذيب نفسي جسدي وجنسي وانتهاك لحرية الانسان وتملك قراراته وتوجيهه بدون اعتبار لمكنون نفس الاخر.
الذل الذي يجعلك تقرأ هذا الحوار وتحدث نفسك بغرابة الامر عندما يعرض عليك ان تجرب لمن ستكون عبدا:
". عندما يرفع المحافظون اخر مراسيهم.. سترين ان الامريكيين هم الافضل.. انـت لم تعطهم حقهم مرة-"
". سآخذ فرصتي مع البريطانيين-"
الغريب ايضا ان من ساعد تجار العبيد من البريطانيين هم افارقة من نفس جنس من يسمون بالعبيد.
عندما ثار الامريكيون على البريطانيين شعرت بالتخلف عندما عرفت الأسباب فالأمريكيين يريدون الحرية لهم بدون وصاية بريطانية وهم أنفسهم الامريكيون فعلوا ما فعلوا بالهنود الحمر ويسألون عن حريتهم في ارض لم تكن ملكهم من الأصل ويسألون عن تحرر من وصاية وهم يستعبدون بشرا لاختلاف لونهم.
في النهاية رواية ممتعة من الدرجة الأولى وتستحق ال 5 نجوووم
مــــقتطفات من الرواية:
"اذن..لماذا هو عبد؟"
"امك جارية..تكونين جارية..ابوكى عبد..تكونين جارية..اى دم زنجى فيكى..تكونين جارية بكل وضوح."
"ويسمحون لى بمغادرة المستعمرات الثلاث عشرة.اعرف ان اسما سيكون الولايات المتحدة.ولكننى ارفض ان انطق هذا الاسم.لا اتحاد في امة تقول ان الرجال جميعا خلقوا متساوين،ومع ذلك تبقى على اهلى في القيود"
April 28, 2023
A Canadian best-seller, and destined to be a classic in Canadian literature (even before it was made into a miniseries). When people fled slavery in the United States, many followed the famous "underground railroad" and arrived in Canada.
I grew up in Nova Scotia (the setting for much of the book) and yet I learned a lot about the history of the province from this novel.
There is always a delicate mixture in historical fiction, the balance between the personal and the political, and Hill here is enormously successful in achieving that balance. He makes it look effortless!
I grew up in Nova Scotia (the setting for much of the book) and yet I learned a lot about the history of the province from this novel.
There is always a delicate mixture in historical fiction, the balance between the personal and the political, and Hill here is enormously successful in achieving that balance. He makes it look effortless!
March 4, 2024
This novel builds on remarkably detailed research into the world of enslaved people in the 1700s. Then it fills in the universe of personal experience with close to the greatest performance of empathetic imagination I've ever seen. I'm really glad to have read it.
March 2, 2019
إنها رواية كتبت بدماء كل من ماتوا في سبيل الحرية ، إنها رواية أظهرت كيف أن بني الإنسان هم الأكثر حيوانية ؟
أعظم ما قرأت ، كمن في أقل ما دفعت
أعظم ما قرأت ، كمن في أقل ما دفعت
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