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Blonde Roots (Hardcover)

by Bernardine Evaristo (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

RRP:	�17.99
Price:	�13.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton; First Edition edition (31 Jul 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0241143853
ISBN-13: 978-0241143858
Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 271,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'A hugely imaginative tale that invites important debates, challenging fundamental perceptions of race, culture and history.'

Review

`Novelists are irresistably drawn to the `what if' game. But it has seldom been done on the scale of Bernardine Evaristo's astonishing new novel which takes one of the great horrors of history and turns it on its head. ...Evaristo is a poet and the novel is full of playful anachronisms, many of them based around language and emotions that sound decidedly 20th century. But it's also a satire, almost Swiftian in its imaginative leaps, in which humour and suffering are effortlessly intermingled. ...This brilliant novel will fulfil her purpose of making readers view the transatlantic slave trade with fresh eyes.'

`'Writers messing around with history is nothing new, but the way that Evaristo entirely inverts the story of slavery is mesmerising. She has imagined the world with linguistic flourishes, creating a tale that is satirical as well as moving.'

'I thought this was an absolutely amazing book...a reminder of what great literature is about.'
Dreda Say Mitchell, Critic

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alex Haley would be proud, 2 Sep 2008

By	Mr. S. Vibert (london) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a big fan of Alex Haley's roots and therefore was curious to see how Evaristo would adapt it. This is a very well written book, with very clever observations and it manages to touch on very sensitive racial subject without ever souding racist. It is very funny but not for the faint hearted, as it depicts the horrors of slavery. Love it.

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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blonde Roots is brilliant!, 4 Aug 2008

By	D. M. Shannon "David France" (London) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This really is a wonderful book. If a better one is published this year, I'll be amazed. It's got everything: a story that builds and builds so that you can't wait to know what happens next; characters so vividly realised that you feel you know each of them personally and care desperately about what happens to them; an incredible amount of humour, even though its subject matter is far from trivial; and an awareness and understanding of how people behave that challenges and changes how you think. A book about slavery that is funny, lively, makes you cry and provides a completely different slant on what being "black" and "white" actually means - I never thought it could or would be written!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pause for thought - but when?, 11 Jun 2009

By	S. J. Binnie - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Blonde Roots (Paperback)

This book flips the slave trade on its head and really makes you question how anyone could have bought the propaganda that enabled white traders to sleep at night with sweet dreams. The way that the slaves are perceived as having no feelings so that, when they are physically punished, their owners can watch them shed "crocodile tears", is shocking.

This is a fantastic book and provides great food for thought. I loved the way english words and place names were given an African twist (the tube stations were fun to work out).

The only issue is that it isn't clear what era this is set in as there are several conflicting indicators. A great read though.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating idea - mixed execution...disappointed.
Brilliant idea which starts strongly. However it suffers from a lack of follow-through and seems to lose steam about a third of the way through the novel. Read more

Published 24 days ago by DaisyBelle

5.0 out of 5 stars Brave and spellbinding work
I read this book in two sittings as I found it so hard to put it down. Not only does it have a thrilling story line, it is also devastating and subversive in the most compelling... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Mrs. Kemide Olaperi Lawson

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow
Have you ever heard of a book you really wanted? The topic wasn't one that you were especially drawn to and it wasn't the usual type of thing you read, but something about it... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Anna

5.0 out of 5 stars Blond Roots
Blonde Roots turns the reader upside down and inside out while tipping reality over. Bernadine Evaristo creates a believable world where the Ambossans of Aphrika are the slave... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Valerie John

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant subversive book: slavery upside down
Blonde Roots is a daring and shocking book. The premise is simple. What if it had been Africans who enslaved Europeans for 400 years, and not the other way around? Read more

Published 13 months ago by Mark Meynell

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly imaginative
I came to this book with a sense of anticipation after reading Bernardine Evaristo's previous works, especially 'Emperor's Babe'. Read more

Published 14 months ago by J. Ross

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, shocking, bursting with life
I just finished this novel, which surprised me throughout with its brilliantly inventive satire and its vivid, fresh-off-the-page life. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Literature lover

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