Reading Response for "Blonde Roots"

“Blonde Roots" by Bernardine Evaristo is an interesting book because the whole idea of the book is to show the effects of slavery and what differences and similarities there would be if there was a change in culture or decisions, such as rather than Europeans enslaving Africans it is the other way around. The author writes the book with few differences in terms of expansion throughout the world (such as discovering America) but with certain emphasized differences too. Throughout the story, the author considers the issue of the effects of slavery and parodies our culture in relation to the effects of slavery.

The story seems more focused on the details and the culture surrounding the main character than her problems and story. However, the main character(Doris/Omorenemwara)’s story was created to resemble history (with some differences), so it is not quite close enough to reality to be historical fiction. In the book, justice is not quite served, although it has been mostly resolved by Doris herself, because after depending on many others to attempt to reach freedom and go back home to her family, she and some friends were able to escape a plantation, although not the way that she wanted to escape and was only able to escape to the mountains.

The justice that is served is in a way that I expected. Doris first attempts to escape from the previous place she was working  and then realized, when she was caught, that the way she could actually escape had to be dependent on just herself in order to not be caught. Omorenemwara (Doris) was unable to escape slavery in the way she wanted, but there was some resolution for her. No justice was served for the majority of the friends, both those who had come with her away from the plantation and to those who had stayed. In the book, the fate of her friends is stated at the very end of the book. The majority of them die soon after she leaves or are subjected to torture by the plantation owners.

The story is definitely meant to make the reader feel uncomfortable because it describes the awful brutalities of the past in a new way and makes the reader think more deeply about an awful time and how much of how we still act today is affected by it. Such as at one point in the book the author mentions that one of the main character's initials are KKK, which, means nothing in that reality but in this one, has other meanings. Also, the book emphasizes the popular trends and what is considered beautiful in that world, which can be very different than those of today because the society in power's culture was spread across the world, like in reality, but in the book, there is a different view of beautiful, because it is not based off of European culture, but instead, that of Africa.
In conclusion, the story focuses on a past issue and makes one think about the past and how it really is shaping the present more than we like to think. Justice is served in the book, 

although in a seemingly incomplete way, perhaps to show how reality is sort of similar and that there are some issues that were caused by this time period and the events within it, such as racism or ideals in today’s culture that should perhaps be changed.