In beautiful prose, Nalo Hopkinson's The Salt Roads tells how Ezili, the African goddess of love, becomes entangled in the lives of three wo...
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Oct 26, 2009
Mocha Girl
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Nalo Hopkinson's The Salt Roads centers on the spirit, Ezili's (a goddess of love and seduction) emergence in three women throughout time. The reader gets a glimpse of her in Mer, a lesbian slave woman healer, in the early 1800's on the Caribbean island of St. Domingue (Haiti) during a burial of a stillborn child. The second appearance is in the 1880's within Jeanne, a mulatto Parisian dancer and mistress to a white poet whose purse strings are controlled by his domineering mother. The third wom
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Jul 26, 2010
Katie M.
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I need two separate reviews for this book. The first review would be for the three lives narrated in alternating chapters throughout this book - of an Afro-Caribbean slave woman, the Black French mistress of Baudelaire, and a Nubian prostitute in ancient Egypt - which as others have pointed out, read more like three discrete but interwoven novellas, and are, on the whole, splendid. The second review would be for the prose-poem, stream-of-consciousness sections in between these chapters, in whi
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Feb 24, 2010
Madeline
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1. The Salt Roads is SO FRUSTRATING. Because there were a couple things I really loved about it and one or two things I hated with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. And those things seemed more significant to the book than the things I liked.
2. First of all, I love the idea of the novel. It's a powerful and layered concept for a book. There are so many angles to examine, and so many resources to mine, that the potential is enormous. It could have been remarkably affecting. It is More...
2. First of all, I love the idea of the novel. It's a powerful and layered concept for a book. There are so many angles to examine, and so many resources to mine, that the potential is enormous. It could have been remarkably affecting. It is More...
May 10, 2010
Margaret
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Mer is a plantation slave in the Caribbean, a healer who both hopes for and fears liberation. Jeanne Duval is a Paris entertainer, lover of the poet Charles Baudelaire. Thais is a prostitute in Alexandria, who journeys to Jerusalem. Weaving their stories together across centuries are their shared experiences of oppression and a mysterious spirit who moves within them, prompting their actions, living their lives, and giving them hope. Hopkinson's style is lyrical, sensual, and full of vitality, a
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Oct 02, 2008
Philly Aesthete
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Wow this book is truly trippy thus far! It's author calls this tale "speculative fiction". To me it reads like historical fiction with a generous helping of sci-fi, folklore and magical realism ala Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor (Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe) and Octavia Butler. The tale is a triptych one following 3 women of African descent in 3 different eras: an enslaved healer on a plantation in 18th century Haiti, a fair-skinned courtesan and dancer in 19th centu
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Aug 18, 2008
D
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Very complicated--as compared to her first book. This is a fascinating story where Hopkinson takes the grand master narrative of the West--the creation sotry--and recreates it in grounded in black bodies and the diasporic experience of slavery as it was created in the New World. At its deepest level? The novel seeks to answer a singuale question; What happens to the Gods and Goddesses of a people when they are displaced. If deities exisit in and of themselves but are maifested in the worship, fa
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Jun 30, 2008
Danielle
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Perhaps it is because the author is a science fiction writer...but I cannot quite put my finger on what made the book such a good read. It has the elements of magic realism, using the Haitian goddess Ezili to connect three women from three different time periods and three different places. But it's not just those three women Ezili is connecting, but everyone (we get an occasional glimpse of her floating in and out of random bodies). You are transported from one woman's story to the next...eac
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Oct 19, 2011
MJ
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I’m really glad I kept reading this, because the beginning was not exactly my cup of tea. There were a couple graphic sex scenes, and some mentions of bodily fluids, and well, I sometimes get a bit squeamish. But I persevered, and was happy that I did.
The Salt Roads consists of three main narratives that are connected via the experiences of the goddess Ezili. In Hopkinson’s tale, Ezili is brought forth one night as three slave women bury a stillborn child in the French colony of Saint More...
The Salt Roads consists of three main narratives that are connected via the experiences of the goddess Ezili. In Hopkinson’s tale, Ezili is brought forth one night as three slave women bury a stillborn child in the French colony of Saint More...
Jan 21, 2011
Titilayo
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if for no other reason than the use of the line: "No $%^^ babies" i really enjoyed this book <inside racially offensive joke>. i am a bit confused as to why the spine said SCIENCE FICTION. there was very little science about it. i reckon the author's other works are actually sci-fi; because this book was full of loa, social climbing, promisicuity, bisexuality, and revolution of the personal & societal variety. i can dig it. it was well written. the themes tied together perfectly.
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Jun 16, 2010
Sara
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i really, really liked this book. if we could do half stars this would be a four and a half, for sure.
i love how well planned everything was. the story weaved between multiple points of view and multiple points in history. an african goddess kept watch over all of the characters, bringing everything together in the end.
the only thing keeping me from giving out the full five stars is the fact that it took awhile for the full story to reveal itself. just when i had starte More...
i love how well planned everything was. the story weaved between multiple points of view and multiple points in history. an african goddess kept watch over all of the characters, bringing everything together in the end.
the only thing keeping me from giving out the full five stars is the fact that it took awhile for the full story to reveal itself. just when i had starte More...
Feb 17, 2011
Jessica
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Excellent novel where Ezili, the African Goddess of love becomes entangled in the lives of three women in different eras. It explores the struggle of women holding onto their spiritual source against the backdrop of slavery. I really loved this book.
Mar 15, 2008
Kirsten
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A beautifully written novel that tells how Ezili, the African goddess of love, becomes entangled in the lives of three women. The story alternates among the bodies/minds of several women throughout time, but she resides mostly in three women: Mer, an Afro-Caribbean slave woman/midwife; Jeanne Duval, Afro-French lover of decadent Paris poet Charles Baudelaire; and Meritet, the Greek-Nubian slave/prostitute known to history as St. Mary of Egypt. It's a sweeping story, in some ways much "bigge
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Jan 05, 2012
Mspoppylove
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this right here is my girl! how very rich and deep is this book...to read something from a culture akin to my own is life affirming.
Oct 14, 2010
DM
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Enjoyable read, but sort of went nowhere towards the end. You expect the characters to accomplish something significant near the climax of a book, achieve the goals they were aiming for, and that didn't happen with this novel. The women whose stories were featured merely endured, they didn't conquer. Still, I didn't feel I wasted my time with it; I liked the characters, their strength and pride, and I loved their tales, so I would recommend it.
May 07, 2010
Elizabeth
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Ambitious, engrossing, thought-provoking.. Not always successful, but tries hard.
Aug 31, 2011
Owen
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Excellent. Loved it. Can't wait to read more by her. Highly recommended.
Sep 09, 2009
Izetta Autumn
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Where have I been? Why have I not been reading Nalo Hopkinson? I loved this book - and I am particularly impressed by the way Hopkinson weaved in African fractals, history, the story of Jeanne Duval, the dynamics of sexuality (and the marketplace of desire) and threw in science fiction fantasy into the mix. I mean its fiercely clever and well executed.
Hopkinson brings each character to life and does not shy away from difficult language, images, and relationships.
Hopkinson brings each character to life and does not shy away from difficult language, images, and relationships.
Mar 29, 2010
Liz
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Easily the best book I've read in a while. Really inspiring all around. My copy had an excellent interview with Hopkinson at the back. The woman is obviously brilliant, and a joy to read in any format.
Dec 23, 2008
Holly
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This book didn't start to get to me until I was about half way through. I was a little turned off by the sexual aspects, and initially, thought they were somewhat gratuitous. However, as the story unfolded and came together, I became more engrossed by the spiritual aspects of the character's stories. Very interesting concepts interwoven with real historical figures.
Jun 18, 2008
Katie
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I like multi-protagonist novels, and I like historical novels with a small fantasy twist, and I like magic, but none of it ever formed together into a cohesive whole - or at least, not a particularly original cohesive whole. There's sadness and originality and brilliance in here, but I felt ultimately dissatisfied.
Bodily fluid count: 6/7. Ew.
Bodily fluid count: 6/7. Ew.
Apr 03, 2011
Meerit
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I don't remember then was the last time I was so impressed with a book as I am by this one. I'm very slowly reading this as I dread what will happen to the people because I have a bad feeling about that. Also because the structure and language are very demanding, I'll need to read this a second time to truly understand. But the book is exquisite!
Aug 11, 2008
Adam
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I really liked this a lot but I think I would have been happier if the stories she connected using goddess/spirit had been three separate books. The Haitian story is definitely strong enough to stand alone and could have been it's own novel.
Feb 03, 2008
Stephen
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Cardboard characters. Toni Morrison wannabe, but poorly written. Some original ideas, but didn't manage to pull them off.
Feb 02, 2012
Lisa
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I think I enjoy having read The Salt Roads a bit more than actually reading it. The resonance left behind is powerful, and I actually liked the ending(s) more than the lead-up.
Mar 05, 2011
John
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I'll now always see Baudelaire just a little differently . . . (just the way I always think of Stein a bit differently after reading Monique Truong's THE BOOK OF SALT)
