People who love you can be a weight under your neck, you just have to choose which weight to carry.
I have been speechless, shocked, and in pain after reading Rootless. Days after reading this book, I felt the same way, with a single burning question at the tip of my tongue.
“Why, Zara Appiah, why? Why did you have to do that at the end?
Rootless is a journey about womanhood, belongingness, love, tradition, family, and marriage.
Rootless is a bundle of emotions and is a book I particularly loved because the language is simple, and the storytelling is straight to the point…
I love how real-time issues and themes like body autonomy are tackled, and this book brings to bear the question of body agency.
Was Efe right to have an abortion without her husband’s consent?
It also brings to light people’s arguments for people who do not want kids. The overwhelming opinion in society is that such people will eventually grow out of the sentiment.
Efe was a grown woman; what was she growing out of?
I felt Sam was selfish. He was thinking about himself and the ideal life created in his head. He didn’t consider how Efe felt and wanted Efe to be the one to make the adjustments, not him.
I love how resilient they stood through it all; how much they remembered that they loved themselves and could fight the problem together. Efe was a body of uncertainty and fatigue borne from years of doing what everyone wanted but herself.
In addition, the Ghanaianess of this book wasn’t missing- parents who want their kids married with grandchildren and the expectations of African parents for their kids to excel at all costs.
And oh, it’s very Ghanaian for a child to have two names- an English and a native name (house name). And most times, only their grandparents call them by this native name, like the character Olive (also called Ama).
This book is top, top content, and I did not see the end coming. The author is good. Extremely good. I stan good content and storytelling any day.
Note: I listened to the audiobook alongside, and although it made me laugh, it irked me too. I don’t like it when audiobook narrators can’t get native names right. Publishers and authors need to do better in checking these things. It’s annoying and makes one feel erased and less important like you don’t matter enough for us to get your names right.
