What readers think of Someone Knows My Name, plus links to write your own review.

I really enjoyed this book. A historical fiction novel that was easy to read as well as intriguing. A great insight into the slave trade as well. The writer did a great job of making you feel like you were experiencing Aminata's life as it was happening. I will definitely pass the book along.

This book was engaging from the very beginning and I could not put it down. The character development, descriptions and plot were all extraordinary and although long it was well-paced. It is impossible not be drawn in by the main character and narrator, Aminata.

This book provides a fresh perspective on the horrors of slavery and prejudice. Knowing historical facts is so different than reading someone's first hand account of those events (even if in the context of historical fiction). Some characters stay with you long after the book is over and Aminata is one who I won't forget.

Hill's book is a powerful story of Aminata Diallo's struggle from her young girlhood to very later life. It is a superb tale which will keep you reading, from her abduction in a remote African village, to South Carolina, to Nova Scotia, to Sierra Leone to London ..... always trying to keep her identity and finding her way back to HER culture!

I truly enjoyed this horrific journey...a woman's view of her struggle every day of her life. It would be a fantastic book for a book club to discuss, especially one containing women! It could be considered comparable to "Roots"... only I identified more with this book. The strength of the human spirit is amazingly portrayed here with fabulous descriptive language ...... you will the "there" with Aminata when reading!!

The story of Aminata Diallo chronicles not only her capture as a child in Africa, but also her subsequent search for freedom in many unforeseen places and circumstances. As events unfold, Hill highlights a little known chapter of American and Canadian history inspired by The Book of Negroes: a real document describing blacks who, as a reward for their service to the King, retreated from the Thirteen Colonies to Nova Scotia after the Revolutionary War.

Although the characters are fictional, they have tangible roots in research that provide an intensely personal, sometimes visceral, look at real events. As a result, the fates of Aminata, her family and friends become increasingly important. Balancing the inevitable cruelties of slavery are the courage, will, compassion, and humor that breathe life into the tale. Too graphic for younger readers, the unflinching truths of the book seem both appropriate and compelling for anyone who is old enough to digest the evening news and survive to watch again. I finished the book quickly to discover the final circumstances of an indomitable woman and was not disappointed. When I read the last words, I closed the book with a thump and a smile

After a few chapters, I expected to see a novel I had seen before, that of "Roots" by Alex Haley, but I was very wrong and was soon riveted to the life story of Aminata Diallo.

What made this book enjoyable was the unpredictability of the story line, the believable maturation of Aminata's psyche from child-like innocence to the wisdom of experience, and finally an epic that is beautifully told.

This would be a wonderful book for any book club as there are a number of issues, besides slavery, which would make for a lively discussion.

How can one not be intrigued with a book whose first sentence reads,"I seem to have trouble dying."? This historical fiction novel of a young African child educates one to the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade in a painful raw voice. What was remarkable to me is how well this male author was able to give authenticity to a female child's voice and her transition to a woman. Indeed, the novel had wonderful melodic sections, well developed and distinct voices, superb storytelling and dramatic tension. I read the 486 page book in two days. Needless to say, sleep was unimportant when reading such a masterpiece!

This is an absorbing, powerful novel that transports the reader to a distant time and place with an ease that is truly amazing. Hill’s intelligent and resourceful narrator, Aminata Diallo, has a wonderfully clear, strong voice. Her tale is just as much about the power of kindness and optimism as it is about the destructiveness of hatred and selfishness. It would be an excellent book club selection.

Wow! How can I describe this book with just so few words! A female version of Roots? An African counterpart to Memoirs of a Geisha? Or maybe not compare it at all but rather recognize it for what it is on it's own; a truly epic historical gem. Someone Knows My Name is an important book about the West African slave trade and a young slave girl named Meena.
Built around the British military document, or 'Book of Negroes' that was written during the time of the Revolutionary War to track the negroes that were being relocated to Nova Scotia, it is both haunting and inspiring. We follow Meena as her adventures take us from West Africa, to South Carolina, to New York, to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. Meena herself is certainly a strong and fascinating character.

As far as bookclubs; what book club doesn't like a novel that's both historical and cultural, and is narrated by a compelling and determined protagonist.
I am grateful to have had a chance to read and review this spectacular novel.