The Salt Roads

This book struck me as well-researched, and the characters are sharp and clear and differentiated from each other. The focus is on female characters, specifically black females, but there are plenty of male characters who are also well drawn and interesting. Some of the characters are slaves, some are prostitutes, one is an exotic dancer. All are in bad situations and must make ongoing lousy decisions about their poor quality of life. I felt bad for these women, that their lives sucked so bad, and I wanted them to climb above their situations and get into better circumstances. Didn't happen, though. Even the gods who are dedicated to these women experience misery, loss, and failures. There are no winners, only various degrees of losers. This became a bit hard to take, especially in the last eighty pages or so, when the heat is on, and if anyone is going to succeed at life, it's now or never. What bothered me about these stories is that I know the book is true to the lives of literally millions of women throughout history. By the time I finished the book I felt literally angry about the poor lives of the women and the fact that their men for the most part cannot help them much. Everyone in this book is crushed by social and economic realities that are larger than they are, and no one escapes. Some of the characters die, some of them experience temporary relief but then go right back into the meat grinder, and all end up beaten and defeated by their lives.For a long time I didn't like the fact that there isn't really a plot to this book, but by the end I decided it was a character study rather than a plot. Pick half a dozen women in history and follow the trajectories of their lives and show them smashed by the poor quality of their possibilities, and give women in modern times reason to be grateful that those days are long past us. In a weird way this is a feel-good novel; we can see how bad prior generations had it, and revel in the expanded opportunities for women of color today. I am a middle-aged white guy, so this was new territory for me, and I'm glad I took the journey. I certainly HOPE women of color have it better today than these women had it back then. I am inclined to try another book by his same author, hopefully something with a different story structure and story arc. I recommend this book to other white guys; it'll be an eye-opener, unless you read a lot of this kind of thing. Thanks, Nalo, for an unforgettable journey with interesting characters.

I'll leave the lengthy plot and style reviews to others. I simply feel compelled to come on here and state publicly that I was only a small number of pages into this book when the hairs started to stand up on my arms as it dawned on me that I had stumbled my way into a book written with uncommon genius. I read a lot of books, even a lot of good books, but I may only get maybe one a year like this in which I feel myself in the presence of true greatness. I didn't just enjoy this book; I'm grateful that I got to read it.

I've read this book twice, and found it powerful on so many levels. I won't summarize the story--that has already been done in other reviews--but want to say that what particularly moved me is the worlds Hopkinson chose to represent in her story, and how vividly drawn they are. Because I'm particularly interested in Haitian history and Vodou, I was thrilled with the sections set in Haiti, and fascinated by the way this writer wove in Vodou references. In fact, Ezili is a character here, and while I had some quibbles with her as a character, I was pleased to see that clearly this writer either already was quite familiar with Vodou, or did her research well. She also clearly knew Haitian history well, and I have to assume that the other sections (one based in France with the main character of Jeanne Duval, Baudelaire's mistress, and another in Egypt) were as well researched. I was particularly moved by Mer's story (in Haiti), and at first was frustrated everytime Jeanne Duval's story interrupted, but I wasn't far in before I also became intrigued by her story, which was also compellingly written, moving, and even bawdy. The historic detail is wonderful in this book, but that would be of little interest if Hopkinson wasn't able to create compelling, sympathetic characters, but she does, and she does it so well!I was a little less taken with the part set in Egypt, but honestly, I believe that is a structural problem rather an issue of characterization. We don't get Thais story until about halfway through the book, and it's a jolt to suddenly go back in time and get another point of view character late in the book. I think the three strands and three narrators should have been woven together from the beginning.A word on Ezili, who is not a goddess (Vodou is monotheistic), but is a lwa (similar to a saint). Another reviewer had some problems with her portrayal. I did not, and I am a student/practitioner of the faith. There was, in fact, some lwa who were "born" during the Haitian revolution, and I believe Ezili ze roug is one of these (sometimes called Ezili of the red eyes). Also, while it wasn't entirely convincing to me, the way Ezili was floating through space and time and occasionally entered the bodies of some of the characters was an interesting take on the possession state, and the way Vodouisants believe lwa can interact with this world through possession. So I didn't feel it was disrespectful at all, and in fact, it made me think even more about possession states and the way the lwa interact with the world.One thing: I don't really think of this novel as fantasy. Magical realism perhaps? I'd compare it to books by another favorite author of mine, Jeannette Winterson. Her books are not considered fantasy (though many fantastic things happen, and in The Passion, for example, we have a main character with webbed feet), and yet have fantastic elements and a strong sense of historical detail. I find this book to be similar, and readers who do not usually read fantasy may still enjoy it.Finally, as a woman of color and avid reader of speculative fiction, I do thirst to see more diversity in novels. So this book, with main characters who were of African descent, and many of whom were also queer, was such a breath of fresh air to me! All this and a (fairly) accurate representation of vodou too? Amazing! Thank you, Nalo Hopkinson!

Wonderful storytelling, almost more like story weaving since there are multiple lives intersecting. The author really gets a reader into the heads and hearts of the characters. I love the historical references and characters as well as the reimagining/reinterpretation of historical events. I had a bit of difficulty on occasion with POV shifts, but there is such depth and beautiful writing here I couldn't even dock it a star for that. I will definitely be checking out more of Hopkinson's work

I felt every emotion as I read this book. I cannot describe it, you must experience it for yourself. Truly, I felt honored to enter into this world for a few hours and listen.

There's something to be said about Caribbean authors and the way they tell a story. I don't know what it is, but it's here in the way Hopkinson weaves these three narratives together. It's a good novel and a must-read.

Book was intriguing with characters that draw you into their lives immediately. I enjoyed the historicity of the subjects and the authors language enriched my vocabulary and painted the story.

What a passionate, unique writer.

Not as great as her other works ' brown girl in the ring' is a masterpiece. Whilst not trying to give the plot away, would have loved to read more of the character Mer.

An incredible book. The language, the hyper-reality of bodies and embodied experience, the foregrounding of queer relationships -- just amazing and wonderful and harrowing and brilliant.The one knock against it was that I felt Meritet's narrative diffused the effect of the other two -- that it started too late in the book and unbalanced things. I can think of any number of reasons to justify its inclusion, but I felt the execution -- especially when compared to the immense success of Mer and Jeanne's respective threads -- was lacking, and I think it would've been a stronger book without it, possibly, for all that I loved Meritet herself.