Attention-grabbing, informative, saddening, and thought-provoking, this book is worth owning and also learning French to read it. The author has spunion is so many different perspectives, but never actually leaves you hanging, except at the end where there is a cliffhanger. From the ancestor worshiping Africans perspective, to the newly converted Islamic Africans perspective, to the despised mixed race children, who don't get a perspective actually, to a couple of the European slave owners perspectives, she has really done a wonderful job of spinning in various points of view and the cultural descriptions and perspectives are amazing. ( )