I tried watching the Roots mini-series when I was 13. I thought I was being cultured carrying the 6 video tapes out of the Estacada library. I was after all going to learn the story behind this intimidating book. But at 2 hours a piece, I never made it past Kunta Kinte's first experience being beaten.
So finally at 22, I'm getting around to it. And the book is nothing like I thought it would be. I loved some of the people, hated some others, got confused by the flow of the book where a chicken fight would sometimes take 4 chapters but the entire civil war was covered in 2. I've struggled with this text for 3 months, and it was only reading the end last night that I understood everything. This is a familial autobiography by Haley. It's paced by what information was available. The characters aren't characters at all. It's all in some way or another true.
I will not be trying to read Roots again, not for a very long time at least. But for all the ignoring it on my bookshelf for 3 years, carrying it to Europe, reading one chapter at a time and then having to reward myself, I'm glad this saga is in my head.
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