I wanted to love Blonde Roots so severely because I read Mr. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo, and that book evoked so many emotions from me. I just knew that a book about slavery, even from a different perspective, would do the same, but I was wrong. The premise of 'Whyte Europanes' kidnapped and enslaved by 'Black Aphrikans' in a surreal world that is only slightly parallel to modern slavery as we know it. Every moment of injustice and heartache is inverted; this world adopts multiple historical periods that would pain the hearts of any reader, but what unfolded was a story that did no such.

Doris, a young Europane, kidnaped from her home and brought to this strange new world via the middle passage, now faces her new life as a slave. Torn away from her family and everything that she knows, stripped of her language and her culture, she begins her new life as best she can. From the moment I met Doris, I could not connect with her. I did not feel the loss and sadness for her, and I believe that is because Evaristo spent so much time describing this world she created that she lost track of developing her characters. She glimpsed over crucial moments in Doris's life, like the selling of her children that was an opportunity to weave a tale of the gut-wrenching pain that a slave felt when their child has been ripped from their hands and sold.

There were a lot of golden opportunities that were lost. Even when Doris reconnected with her family and was preparing to escape to freedom, it happened so quickly. I didn't feel the excitement I should have for Doris; I wanted to read more about the complex reconnection and what the dynamics meant and felt like to Doris outside of her staying up all night and talking to her newfound family member. I felt the same about her owners and their families. Ultimately I rooted for Doris because I wanted her freedom; I wanted her to be free but, sadly, what I wanted the most was not in this book. I wanted to feel emotion and connections reading this and that I did not find.