Roots vs Song of Solomon: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: African American families, Afro-Americans, African Americans, Family, Fiction
Roots
“Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte.”
Roots is a novel written by Alex Haley and published in 1976. It portrays the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and…
vs
Song of Solomon
Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Song of Solomon is the quickest read — about 6 hours vs 8 for Roots.
- Roots has the widest readership — 166305 ratings behind its score.
Scores by source
| Roots | Song of Solomon | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.5 (166305) | 4.3 (283) |
| Hardcover | 4.2 (71) | 4.2 (183) |
| Google Books | — | 3.5 (17) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (117) | 4.5 (453) |
Reception
| Roots | Song of Solomon | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 166305 | 453 |
| Editions | 63 | 60 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 115536 | 740 |
| Reading it now | 3274 | 10 |
| Written reviews | 4826 | 13 |
| Wikipedia attention | 30030 | 11994 |
| Pages | 476 | 353 |