I had read this book during my college days.  It had caused much heartburning and pain. When I read it again, it could bring that pain and burning sensation all over again.

The person who is trying to trace his family history and who traces it back to 7 generations and 2 different continents and 2 different religions has done a remarkable job. The story telling is tight and fast in the first half. Then, as Kunta Kinte leaves the scene and his daughter and grand children take over, you can kind of figure out the plot and where the story is going.

The way the story unfolds is also remarkable. I was wondering about many things of the story. The way the women were supposedly treated in the Juffure village in Gambia, Africa. How they did manhood training. The village elders sitting together the giving judgements. All are very similar to what has been happening in India.

One almost longs to find out what happened to the Kunta Kinte's family post Kunta was captured by the toubobs. One wishes to find out. And, that is the success of the story.

I got interested in my family history and genealogy after reading the story. In fact, the book seemed to have a similar effect on many people who have read when it was released.

Haley got into many troubles post he became an icon for writing the story. There were defamation suits. There were plagiarism suits which he agreed and accepted and also settled out of court. There are lots of evidences that Haley's story may not be completely founded on facts. There are evidences and researches done to show that Haley's genealogy itself is not really related to Gambia.

Yet, the story's power lingers on. The power of how the story has been told and what a struggle the blacks had to undergo has been told and told very powerfully.

What a story.