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This was a hard book to finish, but a worthy book nonetheless. I won't say that at times I was no longer completely interested in it, but I buried that and continued on. My problem being that I felt it was very redundant and that I was rereading"key" points numerous times. The book is about slavery in Africa and is quite raw in this novel. The main character is moved to different masters throughout the novel and endures different horrors, yet had a certain strength to her that is admirable. She is forced to do unthinkable things and watch her family be split apart. She has friends that leave her without the option of opting out and is stolen a long waited on freedom already when her mistress passes away and she is sent elsewhere, but not to freedom. She made choices that were absolutely gut-wrenching and that she thought would make life better for her children in the end that were hard to read about, and endures beatings over situations she had no control over. The story is told is Sila's voice as she remembers childhood memories as well as memories throughout her life that depicted just why she turned out the way she did, rightfully so. There were many times that she would have "conversations" with her deceased children that I felt was not needed to reveal her as the tortured soul she felt to be. I feel that if this would have been broken up into two separate books it would have made it a more enjoyable read for me. Throughout the book Sila has a lot of conversations within her own mind as well and it got a bit too lengthy for me. It did have a lasting impact on me that made me want to know more about the obstacles and hardships that people endured in that time period, so overall I enjoyed the content.

Latoshia