4.5 stars.

I was conflicted on whether to rate this 4 or 5 stars, so I went right in the middle. This book is incredibly well-written and moving, and it even brought me to tears at the very end (if you've read it, you know why). It's really hard for me to believe that this was somehow a fictional story because it was scary how real it felt. It's sad to realize that the events in this story are based on true things that actually happened and it is a wonder that the main character survived with her sanity intact. There were heart-wrenching parts, and some scenes made me so angry (in a good way) that I screamed in frustration in the car. Thankfully nobody was with me :)

The only reason I docked off half a star was because I felt like the book fell into a sort of pattern (Aminata moves/is transported to a new place, meets and joins a group of other blacks, is used by a white man/family, etc.) and it got tedious for just a little bit. Nothing major, I'm just being nit-picky.

It was a long audiobook but the narrator was fantastic and it is absolutely worth the read or listen. I highly recommend that everybody check it out because it is an important story to be told.