The Book of Negroes: A Novel (Movie Tie-in Editions) Paperback – January 12, 2015

There are some books you don't feel qualified to review. Here am I, a middle aged, Australian woman who, although I have faced gender discrimination in my life, have never remotely dealt with anything like the challenges faced by our heroine, Animata Diallo.Yet, I felt strongly connected to her. Her love of language, her dignity, her spirit and love of family - all these things I can relate to. To me, she was a strangely modern character, well ahead of her time, strong, outspoken, reflective but not once during the book did I feel that Lawrence Hill portrayed her unrealistically. On a side note, I find that the fact that Hill penned his protagonist as female is interesting in itself - he certainly "captures" the female psyche well!Lawrence Hill has done his homework and, in doing so, has educated and enlightened me. I had little knowledge of the African Slave trade. Sure, I knew that people were captured from different language groups, bound together and shipped to wherever they would fetch the highest price whilst facing unspeakable cruelties and indignities, but that was about it. I didn't know anything about daily life on the plantations, the Book of Negroes, the shipment of Loyalists to Nova Scotia and other destinations, the establishment of Sierra Leone. I had seen Slaves as wretched people and, undoubtedly they were but I hadn't realised the extent to which they were able to form communities, comfort and nurture each other and tenuously keep in touch with others through the underground "fishnet" system. To say that they often triumphed over adversity would be an understatement.Yet, their losses and the humiliations inflicted on them were mind numbing. On considering what Animata lost, gained back, lost again, all the while enduring uninagineable hardship, it was difficult to see her surviving and yet she did - magnificently so. At the risk of spoiling other readers' enjoyment of her story, I will only say that her survival is only one of the uplifting events in this book of sorrows.The writing is spectacular but never inaccessible. Lawrence Hill tells this epic tale simply. Written in the first person and in a narrative style (both styles I usually steer clear of), it is never dry or dull and doesn't intimidate the reader. And his writing is poetic. How could you not cry when you read something like "Englishmen do love to bury one thing so completely in another that the two can only be separated by force: peanuts in candy, indigo in glass, Africans in irons"?I did have a couple of minor issues with the ending of the story - it was a bit "neat" for me and felt a bit rushed (as if Hill had a publishing deadline to meet or something) but those issues didn't diminish my overall reading experience one little bit!In summary, to those readers who long to read something of substance, READ THIS BOOK. You will learn so much about the lives of the slaves ripped from their homelands and those born into slavery. You will also be uplifted by the resilience of the human spirit and what it's capable of accomplishing. But you won't just learn - you will also get to read a well researched, well written, rollicking good book! And those are few and far between!

This is a book that personalises the horrific history of the slave trade through the eyes of an inspirational, driven and larger than life character. I found myself being educated on the origins of the slave trade - I never knew that it began with Africans enslaving other Africans - and the role of the US and the UK in the horrors that followed. It's hard in 2011 to believe that so many people were treated worse than animals but this novel brings this to life in a wonderfully readable and descriptive manner. The Book of Negroes doesn't preach but it's remarkably easy to become enraged at what these people had to endure in order to make money for others.But it is all told by way of one woman's story making the whole thing easy to follow and allows one to unravel the complicated history of slavery by means of a touching and vivid narrative. While the protagonist is one of fiction all the events are unfortunately real.I learned so much about Africa, the US, Canada and ultimately the amazing story of the foundation of the capital of Sierra Leon, Freetown. All in all, a page turning, riveting and touching story.I found myself in a former slave fort on the coast of Ghana shortly after reading this book and found that experience all the more moving after reading The Book of Negroes. It's so difficult in modern times to try to comprehend the lives of those who have gone before us - this novel succeeds enormously in bringing the tragic experiences of the African people to a level that you can begin to start to attempt to comprehend.A beautiful, touching gem of a book.

This is not a book to enjoy, but learn from. It was suggested to me by a Canadian friend prior to a visit to the Atlantic provinces. I'm very glad to have read it. I don't think I ever really understood what it means to be a slave until now. It is also a bit of history that is new to me and I was very surprised by it. I believe it would be a good book for a high school reading project. Lots of things are here to be learned and discussed. We visited some of the sites described in the book and found them much more meaningful. I have not seen the movie, but doubt that it can do the story justice. My only criticism is the expression of the former slaves that "freedom" means no one to tell you what to do. We who have always enjoyed "freedom" know that even someone who has never been enslaved has many limitations on what they can and cannot do. We chafe at them on occasion, but find that we have to live with them and this seems unacknowledged by the characters who gain their freedom and are treated not too differently from their white counterparts.

I found this book fascinating and horrifying all at the same time. Although it is a work of fiction it does not shy away from any of the atrocities that happened to a whole nation of people. It is very well written and drew me in. I felt all of Aminata's pain and travelled with her every step of the way. It illustrates the ignorance and greed of people at that time in history. Left me with a sense of shame on behalf of my ancecsters. Much can be learnt about slavery and enslaved people from this book. Inspired me to go on to further research. Highly recomend.

Since reading, this has become my favourite book ever. Thank you Amazon for suggesting this book based on my purchases and truly appreciate the level of detail you put into your service. Regarding the book, it gives incredible, yet sometimes horrifying, accounts of what happened from the moment someone is taken into slavery, to the experience of the ships journey from Africa to America and the struggles of living on a plantation. To add, there are more twists and turns which makes the book a continuous page turner. I recommend that everyone should read this book, you will not be disappointed.

After watching the first couple of episodes of 'Somebody Knows My Name' I decided to download this book. The book is so much more detailed and as captivating as the series. This really opened my eyes to the horrors of the Slave Trade and brought to life the misery the captives endured. Aminita Diallo was the perfect protagonist for the novel and the story told through her eyes made it all the more relatable. I also love how her perceptive changes as she matures through the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in history both social and political.

A powerful historical account of an incredible woman's journey, from being captured at the age of 12,from her family and tribe to slavers, to a life of toil and opression for survival. Lawrence Hill presents Aminata, the most powerful literary heroin I have seen created . Based on historical factual events of what thousands of Africans endured less than three centuries ago, with no choice. This follows Aminatas painful journey from captivity in the mid 1700s , to her final days as an older lady helping abultionists in London in 1802. The narrative, voice and senses brought on by this Canadian writer is unique. This is a tragic and mesmerising novel which nearly brought tears to my eyes. An incredible womans travels for survival , written in the first person, spanning five decades as she travels across lands and oceans as a 11 year old girl slave to South Carolina - USA where she endures life as a slave she moves to New York, then eventually over the boarder to Nova Scotia Canada to become a free woman. Her desperation to return to Africa is some what fulfilled with more tragedies. This has been the most sattisfying novel I have read this decade, I noticed it recently as the illustrated edition at a book shop around Young Street area Toronto and was drawn to it and had to download it to my Kindle , its my best ever Kindle choice . I'll definitely be reading other Hill novels but no it'll be tough to find one to match The Book of Negroes.

THIS book really lived up to its reputation for me. I loved it and could not put it down. I read it in two sittings and devoured every single word.The reader knows, by reading the jacket, what this book is about, and it does not disappoint.While it gives a fictional account of one woman's survival as a slave, from her home in Africa as a child, through America, back to Africa and then to England, it makes it easy for the reader to imagine the lives of the real slaves and what they had to endure. Not just the physical brutality but the emotional and mental torment inflicted upon these people who are first stolen from their homes by their own race, and then kept enslaved by white masters from a country and culture totally alien to their own. To keep them 'in their place' they are often separated from husbands and other family members (if they have been able to stay with them thus far), but the worst act by far of these slave owners is the removal of children from their mothers. How many adults are there in the world today whose grandmother or great-grandmother had her baby wrenched away from her. The tragedy has reached down through generation after generation.Like me, you may think you know a lot about this subject, but I still found a couple of things to surprise me, most especially the role of the British in the so-called 'repatriation' of thousands of slaves. It's a part of British history that deserves to be taught in schools.Very well written. I give it the highest recommendation.