Book Review - Someone Knows My Name

It wasn't until I was discussing what I was reading with someone else that I learned that the title of this book varies depending on where it is published.  In the United States (and I believe Australia and New Zealand) it is called Someone Knows My Name.  In Canada, the book is known as The Book of Negroes.   As soon as I had this information, I was curious as to the why Lawrence Hill used two different titles as well as discovering which title was a better name for the book.

Early on in my reading, Someone Knows My Name was the clear front runner.  As Aminata Diallo describes being stolen from her parents at the tender age of eleven, and marched with others from her homeland to the coast of Africa as part of the slave trade, she writes about hearing someone she had befriended on the journey exclaim upon seeing her upon the slave ship how good it felt to be see "someone who knows my name."  The inhumanity of slavery is often portrayed through beatings, branding, and rape but to thoughtfully include a moment when a man laments the theft of his identity is a powerful lesson that the cruelty of slavery is not limited to physical abuse.   This is something Aminiata realizes at a very early age and eventually has to teach to powerful men and women from England as an old woman.

The name Book of Negroes doesn't surface until after Aminata leaves her first experience as a slave in South Carolina and New York to join a group of men and women heading to Nova Scotia, Canada, who have earned their "freedom" by serving behind British lines during the Revolutionary War.  The Book of Negroes is an actual historical document, of which copies can be seen in several libraries in both the US and Canada, listing the names, descriptions and backgrounds of those former slaves who traveled to Canada with the promise of land and better opportunities.  Because Aminata was noticed by several people throughout her life as being highly intelligent, she had learned to read and write and, in the novel (not in actual history), was asked to work as a scribe to create The Book of Negroes.  As she did this, and listened to the various stories of those who, like her, longed for freedom, she mentioned how enlightening it was to understand that her story was no more horrific nor unusual than anyone elses.  Each and every slave's story was extraordinary in how they became a slave to how they found themselves there, in New York, seeking a better existence.  At this point, The Book of Negroes title surged ahead of its competitor.

The story continues on, however.  Not really plot driven, unless you count Aminata's quest for freedom a plot, in which case there is never really a central conflict or climax, but several repeated throughout the novel, the real potency of Someone Knows My Name is its believability.  I believed each page of the book.  I loved Aminata.  Not because she was perfect but because she felt real.  By some standards, her experience as a slave was not nearly as terrible as others due to the fact that her ability to read and write afforded her opportunities and experiences, not to mention respect from both the white and black communities, that most would never have.  But Aminata's own grace and eloquence highlighted why there is no such thing as above-average bondage.

In the end, Someone Knows My Name wins out because this is an individual story about what it means to be human.  With its historical depth, remarkable characterization and significant moral weight, this is a book I consider a benefit to literature.  I'm certainly glad to have read it.