The Salt Roads
First edition
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| Author | Nalo Hopkinson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Christian Clayton design by Don Puckey |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Folk tale, historical novel |
| Publisher | Warner Books |
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Publication date
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November 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 394 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 52058275 |
| 813/.54 21 | |
| LC Class | PR9199.3.H5927 S25 2003 |
The Salt Roads is a novel by Canadian-Jamaican writer Nalo Hopkinson. It has been categorized as historical fiction,speculative fiction,science fiction, and magical realism.
The novel was called "a fabulous, wonderful, inventive novel... a fine celebration of African heritage" by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Though it has been said that the novel "may have left its sci-fi/fantasy roots behind", it was nonetheless warmly received as a work that was quintessentially "Hopkinson" in many respects, not the least of which was its "re-creation of independent Black space". Hopkinson has been lauded for embracing uncommon vernaculars in her narratives, as well as melding many mythologies and cultural roots into her stories; The Salt Roads was no exception. High expectations surrounded the release of The Salt Roads after the book was identified by Warner Books as having significant crossover appeal beyond the science fiction genre, and Hopkinson went on a tour of ten cities (the biggest of her career at the time) to promote the novel.
Across the restrictions of time and space, the goddess Lasirén experiences and aids the struggles for freedom of the Ginen, the enslaved African people. The story is told through the eyes of Lasirén and the main three women whose lives become intertwined with her consciousness: Mer, an 18th-century slave and respected healer on a plantation in St. Domingue, Jeanne Duval, the 19th century Haitian actress/dancer and mistress to the French poet Baudelaire, and Thais, the fourth century prostitute-turned-saint. Each of the women is on her own life journey, and the goddess interweaves and influences their sexual, personal, and religious experiences.
When Mer, Tipingee, and Georgine go to the river to bury Georgine's stillborn child, their cries induce the '(re)birth' of Lasirén (also referred to as Ezili). As told by the goddess, she is “born from song and prayer". Later on, Lasiren will speak to Mer on the banks of the same river, and will ask Mer to find out why the salt roads are blocked. As told by Mer:
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Wikipedia