Amazing, beautifully written story about slavery and the slave trade in the 13 Colonies, Africa and Britain, and one woman's struggle to be free. It was easy to get transported and lost in the story, which should make anyone stop and think. A must-read for all, but particularly white Americans like myself. This one will stay with me for quite some time.

This was another book that was difficult to rate. It was a powerful story, one that was hard to read in parts but necessary. It needs to be told and needs to be read by as many people as possible. At the same time, while the author did a great job setting down the events of the narrator's life, I didn't feel like he captured her emotions as well. There were some deeply traumatic things that happened to the narrator but I didn't feel the emotions when I read those parts. At the same time, the book was already over 450 pages so it's probably hard to strike a balance between telling the what of the story and capturing the right emotions without making the book go on forever.

'Someone Knows my Name' by Lawrence Hill is a book about slavery in the historical context of the American Revolution as experienced by a fictional heroine, Aminata Diallo. The story is without any flourishes or overwrought politics. It is written in plain language with heartbreaking clarity.

In order to examine the "peculiar institution" of slavery, the author developed her character Aminata as someone of extraordinary abilities and very lucky in possessing skills which improved her chances of survival. She moves to several key locations in Africa and North America. Some readers might find Aminata's spunk unusual for someone who suffers so much so early, but I have known spunky survivors who lived through horrible wars as children, such as kids from Yugoslavia. I found Aminata believable and of a strong personality easy to love. I learned much I did not know about the capture and transportation of Africans destined to be slaves.

I, too, have all of the usual repugnance and horror people feel today about slavery. I'm aware slavery existed all over the world in the millennia before America became a country. The ancient Greeks often were Roman slaves, and I've read stories about ancient Mesopotamian, Indian and Asian slavery. Slavery continues today as well, but fortunately it is officially illegal everywhere. I think slavery had and has many faces.

We use different, less incendiary words to describe working conditions from the past and now to describe slavery conditions because slavery clearly describes an immoral condition. Until workers have complete situational freedom of choice where to work, and earn a fair wage for their labor, and have recourse to pursue punishment for mistreatment by employers in courts of law all over the world, slavery can be said to exist no matter what words economists and politicians try to hide worker abuse under.

I wonder if the extraordinarily horrendous and obscene lethal conditions onboard the ships used in the transportation of African slaves in the 18th century came from the distance of the transportation and not because it was unusual to transport slaves by ship in that sardine-packaged manner. Slave transportation must have been a normal logistical problem all over the world in all cultures. In thinking about it, slave ship transport must have been institutionalized by all commercial businesses on every continent. However African slaves had to be delivered to North and South America across oceans that took two months to cross, not a few days or weeks as would have been the case in most other lands. It's disgusting, but I think it might have been only stupidity in using a customary and traditional methodology of transportation that caused the excessive agony of African slaves.

No wonder the British abolitionists were successful first in stopping transportation of kidnapped Africans because of the sardine-style of transporting people for slavery, which was obviously cruel and killed, before outlawing slavery itself. If transport technology of the day had been better, or the speed of innovation faster, would we still have legal slavery today? We know people generally suck at doing the moral thing before giving up profits, right?

Everyone should read this book. It is about the slave trade and slavery in general, and I learned much that I did not know before. As the book is extremely detailed, there are definitely sections that are quite emotional and difficult to read. How on EARTH could human beings do such things to each other? Awful, just awful.

The main character, Aminata is kidnapped from her village in Sierra Leone and transported to America. Sullivan's Island to be exact, then on to Charleston. While I generally enjoy reading books that take place in Charleston, this one certainly told the truth about the terrible history of "Charles Towne". The descriptions were quite interesting, but definitely not all positive or pleasant.

Yet the book overall does not finish on a sour note. It ends with England voting to make the slave trade illegal, and describes the abolitionist movement.

I have always been curious about the origins of the Black population of Nova Scotia and Canada, this easily readable tome answers my curiosity. If you are a fan of historical fiction, and particularly interested in the history of slavery in England and North America, you will probably greatly enjoy this book. I had difficulty with the lack of evolution of the main character whose charm seems to be wholly found in that she is independent and well read. She goes through a kind hell yet remains exactly the same person she was at the outset of the book even though we meet her as a young child. I found every other black character in this novel more interesting than the protagonist.

Wow. This book is an important must read.

a heavy but beautiful story, another necessary read. a really excellent vehicle for learning about this time in history. felt it dragged a little in the last book but very much worth the read.

This was my FAVORITE so far this year!

I enjoyed the storytelling and the full life exploration of Aminata. I particularly respect Hill for making it very clear which pieces of history he "bent" for the purpose of the story.

I was looking for a book as my choice for our coming year's book club. I decided to choose a book by a Canadian author as Canada is my country of birth and I want to honor that. I have read many Canadian authors but I wanted to go outside that list of authors. Not exactly sure how I Googled it but this book came up fairly close to the top of the list of results. What serendipity! With much of the news now focused on the Black Lives Matter movement, it is a good time to reflect on how we got here. I have read my share of books regarding slavery in the US; however, in the present I have just read this book and it shines. The heroine, Aminata Diallo, is so compelling - it is impossible to not feel her pain and be absolutely infuriated about her treatment, even by "good" white people.