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Someone Knows My Name

Lawrence Hill

Why we're reading this: I finished this book within 5 days. A very powerful book about slavery, from Africa, to Aminata's journey…more
[close] I finished this book within 5 days. A very powerful book about slavery, from Africa, to Aminata's journey in the ship, to the plantation where she's doomed. I shed tears while reading this book. A very very good read. This book is also known as The Book of Negroes in the UK.

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Mar 04, 2011 Julie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Aminata Diallo was born in Bayo, an African village, in the mid-1700's. There she lived with her loving parents until she was 11 years old. Then her whole world shattered. She was taken away, forced to walk for days across the land, loaded onto a ship, and sold into slavery in America. In 1802, she is in London writing her life story at the request of Abolitionists who feel she can help their cause.

Lawrence Hill brings Aminata to life in Someone Knows My Name (known also as The Book of Negros), Aminata Diallo was born in Bayo, an African village, in the mid-1700's. There she lived with her loving parents until she was 11 years old. Then her whole world shattered. She was taken away, forced to walk for days across the land, loaded onto a ship, and sold into slavery in America. In 1802, she is in London writing her life story at the request of Abolitionists who feel she can help their cause.

Lawrence Hill brings Aminata to life in Someone Knows My Name (known also as The Book of Negros), telling a story that is at once fascinating and shocking. Her journey captivated me from the start. When she's a child in Bayo, we see how she was brought up in the village, learning her mother's trade and her father's religion. It feels like we are right next to her as she is marched across Africa, experiencing atrocities that are hard to even imagine. And then when she is in America, Hill showed how she became acclimated to the environment, learning the languages and the cultural norms of the slaves and the slave owners.

What I loved about this story is that Hill showed us Aminata, her environments and her interactions with others; he didn't tell the story. He brought us into her world and let her show us things as she experienced them. Her thoughts and perspective seem more realistic than many of the other books I've read from the perspective of a slave. Someone Knows My Name is unique in that it's about slavery during the Revolutionary War, rather than the Civil War. And we are able to be with Aminata from the time she is taken from her village until she is an old woman who has made it out of America.

While it's obvious who the good guys and bad guys are in this situation, Hill doesn't demonize the slave owners and people who contribute to the slave trade. He shares their side of the story as well. I love the fact that one of Aminata's owners is actually a Jewish man who is struggling to fit into society himself. It's truly amazing how many different aspects of this time and situation Hill is able to cover in this novel.

I highly recommend Someone Knows My Name to anyone who enjoys literary fiction or historical fiction. It would make an amazing discussion for a book club as well. If you have it on your shelf, don't wait two years to read it as I did. Read it now! ...more

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Sep 24, 2009 Amy Wright rated it really liked it

I have only just begun this book and I cannot put it down. The author is an icredible storyteller. The story so far is very difficult to read because of what happens and I am sure there are worse things to come. The story is a constant reminder of how I will never understand how one human being can be so indifferent and cruel to another. My hope is that with books like this people will see that what was done in the past should never be repeated.

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Nov 17, 2011 Padgy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, historical-fiction, 2013

This book by Lawrence Hill is one that will stay with me always. His protagonist, Amanita was a strong woman character, which I always like in a book. The story of her life as a young child of eleven taken from her village into the slave trade up to the time she was an older woman was so well written. Lawrence was able to bring her character to life in such a believable way. I learned a lot I didn't know through his historical accounts. Human nature is not always a pretty picture and this is one ...more

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May 26, 2012 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: frontgatebookclub

What would it be like to be sold into slavery in the 1700's and shipped to the not yet created United States? That is the story of Amiata in this poigneant story of her life. I highly recommend it. ...more

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