Someone Knows My Name
by:
Lawrence Hill (author)
"Wonderfully written...as in the slave narratives that inspired it, language is power."—Nancy Kline, New York Times Book ReviewKidnapped as a child from Africa, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe...
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"Wonderfully written...as in the slave narratives that inspired it, language is power."—Nancy Kline, New York Times Book ReviewKidnapped as a child from Africa, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship and prejudice there prompt her to follow her heart back to Africa, then on to London, where she bears witness to the injustices of slavery and its toll on her life and a whole people. It is a story that no listener, and no reader, will ever forget. Reading group guide included.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780393333091 (0393333094)
Publish date: 2008-11-17
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Pages no: 486
Edition language: English
Normally, for me a five star book is one that I rush through and can't put down. Not in this case, Aminata had to be savoured. She stands for the many Africans who were abducted from their homes, treated like animals, killed, raped, sold, escaped, recaptured, freed and lied to. It is a miracle that...
I feel as though I learned a great deal reading this wonderful novel. I have never known much about the specifics of the slave trade, or about slavery in the U.S., and Hill, with his extensive research, has managed to make it clear how very complex and nuanced the whole thing was, with multiple agen...
Borrowed from the Library The first thing to say about this work is that the writing is beautiful and has a sparse lyricism. The evocations of nature are incredible, as the account of the storm on page 160 shows: “The weather grew warmer and more humid…The heat reminded me of home, but the dam...
Aminata Diallo is the kind of character that will stay in my heart for a long time!
Naïve, belittled, broken, persistent, tenacious, courageous, determined, empowered. You pick how you want to describe this woman because in my eyes, she embodied all of them. I absolutely loved this book and will forever remember it. I enjoyed that it wasn't the typical "slave" novel. I thought...
8 years ago
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