Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Roots

  • By: Alex Haley
  • Narrated by: Avery Brooks
  • Length: 30 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (536 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Roots cover art

Roots

By: Alex Haley
Narrated by: Avery Brooks
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Uncle Tom's Cabin cover art
The Autobiography of Malcolm X cover art
Twelve Years a Slave cover art
The Color Purple cover art
Inside the Gas Chambers cover art
Mindhunter cover art
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl cover art
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary Edition cover art
The Indigo Girl cover art
North and South cover art
Around the Way Girl cover art
We Hope for Better Things cover art
Kindred cover art
The Winds of War cover art
Mao's Last Dancer cover art
Sackett's Land: The Sacketts cover art

Summary

Tracing his ancestory through six generations - slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lawyers and architects - back to Africa, Alex Haley discovered a sixteen-year-old youth, Kunta Kinte. It was this young man, who had been torn from his homeland and and in torment and anguish brought to the slave markets of the New World, who held the key to Haley's deep and distant past.

©2011 Alex Hayley (P)2011 Random House Audio Go

More from the same

Author

Narrator

What listeners say about Roots

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    467
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    436
  • 4 Stars
    35
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    420
  • 4 Stars
    47
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing

This book had too be one of the best I have ever experienced, a story truly heart tugging, it really gets to the heart of slavery and the experiences of the generations. The whole story is the tales told from one generation to the next and I believe that Alex Haley did his best to keep the story true whilst county in the gaps.



The tv series is good and I do not feel like I have missed out on any of the experience of the book by having listened to it here on audible, in fact this is the first book I have listened to on here and I am now hooked.



Truly amazing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

absolutely loved this production.

quite possibly the best audio book I have ever had. don't hesitate to buy. fantastic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I WATCHED ROOTS THE SERIES,MANY YEARS AGO ON TV..

Would you consider the audio edition of Roots to be better than the print version?

IT IS A VERY GOOD VERSION OF THE BOOK, HAVING READ THE BOOK AND WATCHED THE TV SERIES, I CAN SAY THAT I'VE REALLY ENJOYED LISTENING TO THIS STORY. THE AUDIO VERSION HAS SO MUCH MORE INFORMATION THAN THE TELEVISION SERIES. I CAN REALLY RECOMEND ROOTS TO ANYONE WHO HAS AN INTEREST IN THIS KIND OF HISTORY. IT IS VERY SAD IN PARTS, BUT THERE IS ALSO HUMOUR,AS YOU FOLLOW THE LIVES OF THE CHARACTERS THROUGHOUT THE STORY.
WHAT MORE CAN I SAY? IT IS A REALLY GOOD LISTEN, I LISTENED TO ROOTS OVER SEVERAL DAYS. WHEN CLEANING, BAKING, IRONING ETC.IT TOOK ME AWAY TO THE TIME AND PLACE, WHERE THIS STORY BEGAN.

What did you like best about this story?

THAT THERE WAS SO MUCH MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TIME BEFORE, AND AFTER KUNTA KINTE WAS CAPUTURED.

Have you listened to any of Avery Brooks’s other performances? How does this one compare?

NO BUT I WOULD IF IT WAS ANYTHING LIKE THIS ONE.

Any additional comments?

IN MY OPINION ROOTS IS A MUST LISTEN.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Bucket list read.

If you want to rejoice at the human spirit listen and thank your lucky stars it wasn't you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Roots... Amazing

What made the experience of listening to Roots the most enjoyable?

The flow of the story through the different transitions of time. Well written and 100 x better than the TV series. Well narrated and the best book I have listened too by a long shot. A must read and a very realistic and well researched view on the transatlantic slave trade.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Roots

This is the most powerful book I have read to date, third time reading and it still shocks , surprises and inspires me.
The world we live in is because of the many who suffered and they should never be forgotten .
Great story, great read and a great book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely incredible - a must read / listen for all

After the awful racist protests in Virginia USA in autumn 2017 I started trying to learn more about the American Civil War - something we don’t learn about in England. This led me to the Ken Burns documentaries and from there I jumped to Lalita Tademy’s book Cane River - a must read too. From there I discovered Roots. Somehow I missed the Roots mini-series in the 80’s (despite the fact I am a 70’s child) I have no idea how!!

Anyway, once I started listening I was spellbound. I’d tell people about this amazing book and they’d all say “ahh yes - Kunta Kinte!?!” And I’d wonder how they knew!

Listening to this boom has been magical. The narrator is one of the best I have heard. The myriad accents and nationalities he is able to represent with authenticity is really impressive and also believable. I can’t believe 30+ hours has gone so quickly and so enjoyably.

I feel I have educated myself a little bit more, but I’ve also been indulged with such a magnificent (and true) story. The last couple of chapters where Alex Haley talks about his research are the icing on the cake.

Buy this book and listen to it. You owe it to yourself.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

What a pleasure to listen to. The Narrator is superb. The story is heart breaking and heart warming.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Intensive family saga

I remember Roots as a TV drama. This book is the story upon which that was based. We start with a boy in his village, in Africa and follow in detail his life. Whilst this wasn't the dramatic start I expected, what the author did was to show ordinary life for the boy. Later when his life changes I better appreciated how different things were for him. Although at the time I felt this section was overly long. The story then continues chronologically through 7 generations from when the boy is forced to leave his village for a life of slavery. At times I found it hard to settle into a new section as we left behind characters and followed the next generation. Also I felt if this was written today, it would have a different structure with flashbacks and other techniques. However the story is interesting and engaging. The narrator has a serious tone and clear voice throughout. I cannot comment on the pronunciation of the African names but he offered consistency. It was 30 hours well spent and a book I recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awe inspiring book

Completely gripping book. Reading it from a white privileged viewpoint has been so educational. I’m learning how History has deeply affected the current situation and how I must change and become even more supportive of ‘black lives matter’. Very emotional concepts faced. Thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful