I suspect that most people of my generation saw the TV miniseries "Roots", the biggest television event of 1977. However, I had never read the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alex Haley upon which the series was based. When I was buying books to take down to Mexico so that I would have plenty of reading material, "Roots" was one of the books I picked out. That is what I am reading now.
It is an enormous book, nearly nine hundred pages long. It's been over forty years since I saw the miniseries, and my memories of it are rather vague. I don't remember that the TV show spent much time on Kunta Kinte's years in Africa. However, I have already read over 170 pages, and so far, Kunta Kinte is still a free adolescent living in his Mandinka village near the Gambia River. The novel begins with his birth and continues through his childhood and youth. The story details the rigors of his manhood training which he passes. There is frequent talk about the "toubob", the white slave traders. It is believed that the captives are taken across the sea to be eaten by the cannibal whites. I suspect that within the next few chapters, Kunta Kinte will be captured and shipped to America.
Although I am enjoying the book, I will probably put it aside next month when I travel to Europe. I will pick out something smaller and lighter as reading material for my trip.
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