The Door of No Return

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The secondary characters – visible to us only within the limited viewpoint of young Offin and yet so well-sketched! You don’t just notice them, but you feel one with them because of the writing style. A special mention of Nana Mosi, Offin’s grandpa, who delights with his stories and his riddles. Austen, Ralph (January 2001). "The Slave Trade as History and Memory: Confrontations of Slaving Voyage Documents and Communal Traditions". The William and Mary Quarterly. 58 (1): 232. doi: 10.2307/2674425. JSTOR 2674425 . Retrieved 17 September 2021. The story is told through the writing of Michel Adanson- a botanist and a man whose past has never left him -in particular an expedition to Senegal in the 1750s. During his last few months of life he scribes this journey in the hope it will be found and read by his daughter so she can understand the man who didn't give her much love -as he was immersed in his world of plants and in many senses escaping the pain of the past. The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander is a powerful and stunning verse novel set in the heart of the Ashanti Kingdom in Africa in 1860. The story follows Kofi Offin, an 11-year-old boy who has an affinity with water, and especially swimming in the Offin River - his friend Ebo claims "He is like a fish in the water". Family, friends and the fireside tales of his grandfather fill his days when he's not at school - where he is bullied by his older and larger cousin, also called Kofi. When his brother announces that he has been selected to participate as a wrestler in the forthcoming Kings Festival contest between the villages of the Upper and Lower Kwanta, Kofi and his family are delighted - both pride and gold are at stake! But the outcome of the final wrestling match will have deadly consequences that will change Kofi's life forever. We bevinden ons in het begin van de 19de eeuw. Michel Adanson is bekende Franse botanicus en ligt op zijn sterfbed. Op ontroerende wijze laat hij zijn dochter Aglaé een boodschap na: een dagboek waarin hij een verborgen deel uit zijn leven vertelt: de jaren die hij in Senegal doorbracht. In tijden van Verlichting reist Adanson door Afrika. Meteen zet hij de toon met zijn menselijke visie over de "neger" - die toen nog werd beschouwd als een bezitting voor de blanke Europeaan; de slavenhandel draait nog op volle toeren... In plaats van planten en bloemen bestudeert Adanson tijdens zijn reis in Senegal de medemens... In een dorpje hoort hij het verhaal van een vrouw die zich bevrijdde van haar ketenen als slavin en vluchtte. Als bij toeval ontmoet hij die vrouw... Het is ook haar verhaal dat we lezen in deze roman. Op dit moment wordt de historische biografie een echte roman, zeker wanneer Adanson zich hecht aan die Afrikaanse vrouw...

Michel “discovery” and Maram’s story are both odysseys of legend. There are more than one harrowing near-death experiences, political intrigue between rival kingdoms, shady business practices of the Senegal Concession, and Michel’s infatuation with Maram that leads to a surprising twist of fate. Since moving to Ghana over two decades ago, Rabbi Halevi has guided newcomers through monuments of the past. Adanson's daughter, Aglaê specifically states that when she "discovered that one of her father's books was entitled FAMILIES OF PLANTS, she had remarked to herself that those plants were in truth his only family." When I decided to add this book to my TBR list...I then realized that I never documented the dates read his previous books, "The Crossover series." I read this with my youngest son during the Pandemic and immediately Adored Kwame Alexander's style of writing. Nevertheless, this book right here..."The Door of No Return" HAS OUTSHINED THEM I found the ending quite abrupt, though it is not exactly a cliffhanger. An online search revealed that this is the first of a planned trilogy, something I didn’t know while requesting the book and isn’t mentioned on Netgalley or Goodreads. So I will not hold the ending against the book, still hoping that someone marks this as part of a planned series so that readers know what they are getting and that it’s somewhat incomplete.Auch wenn das neue Werk Diops qualitativ und erzähltechnisch nicht ganz an "Nachts ist unser Blut schwarz" heranreicht, so legt der Autor doch wieder ein fundiertes und gutes Buch vor. Michel Adanson kannte ich bisher noch nicht, sodass ich durch die Lektüre erneut einiges lernen konnte. British involvement with the slave trade did not end overnight with the 1807 abolition and a more stringent abolition law followed in 1833. Slavery continued in other countries too. Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood.

That type of slavery, you were taken somewhere, you could be killed, raped or even tortured," he said.

a b Onen, Sunday (31 March 2017). "AFRICA: 4 Nations sign up On Door of Return with Accompong, Jamaica to drive Tourism with Diaspora - ATQ News". Atqnews.com . Retrieved 27 August 2017. Guests were told about their ancestors' history and given tours of Ghana's neighborhoods and beaches. They were also welcomed at President Nana Akufo-Addo's home for a reception dinner. I can understand why this book was hard for Alexander to write. There was a chapter dealing with the lower and upper Kwanta that reminded me of the moments leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. I literally held my breath throughout the rest of the book. The largest and most impactful memorial stands at the end of the Slave Route. This is the Door of No Return, a memorial arch, or gateway, built in 1995. Both sides of the arch are covered in images of enslaved men and women. The main mural on the inland-facing side depicts enchained men walking toward the sea, a ship waiting for them in the distance. On the sea-facing side, the mural shows them walking away from their homeland, a single tree in the distance representing the land that most of them would never see again. His quest had been to catalog his discovery of each living thing in what he called The Universal Encyclopedia of Naural History. The physicist seeks the elusive unified field theory: the theory of everything. The botanist seeks the thread which binds all living things.