A gorgeously written novel about migration, marriage, motherhood, and identity. It’s introspective, emotional, and quietly powerful. A beautifully honest story.

A great next choice for your bookclub, Rootless unabashedly makes the reader think critically about motherhood, marriage, mental health, family expectations, and more, all of which is fodder for a great book club discussion. I did feel at times that this slow burn of a novel was paced incorrectly with unnecessary details distracting from the larger thematic elements, but overall it was a very strong debut novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance electronic copy. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

I enjoyed the writing and structure of the story. A very tense slow build up with an ending that wrecked me. I literally wanted to slide down the wall when I finished this book. We start at the end and look back at how couple Efe and Sam got to this point in their marriage. A powerful and heartbreaking novel that explores love, tradition, marriage, family, parenthood, regret. It explores what happens when you loose yourself to go along with everyone else's expectations but your own. This was such an emotional journey. I loved this book even though it was absolutely heartbreaking. It will stick with me for a long while.

It's been a while since a book made me cry. The story of Efe and Sam is a beautiful slow build, from a friendship that started in their teenage years to their eventual dating and marriage. Their love for each other is realistic and quite beautiful. I loved their devotion to each other. Yes, devotion. For those of you that read the book jacket I know you are thinking, "but I read 'what happens after a marriage collapses'". Marriage is hard, but there was never any doubt as we work through the years in Efe and Sam's relationship that they really love each other. Are they flawed humans who occasionally get things wrong? You bet they are. But they continue returning to support each other. They are comforted by each other's presence. Life, family members, and even our spouses, can unknowingly place a lot of heavy expectations on us, and this is especially true for Efe. As she matures and learns who she is and what she does and doesn't want, I found myself connecting with her in profound ways. It takes a very brave woman to say 'this isn't working for me'. I highlighted many of Efe and Sam's thoughts and feelings, but decided I will not share them here as I want you to read their story and feel all the feelings. In addition to the personal growth there is an overall family theme that will remind you to look around and appreciate those who make up the 'family' in your own life.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for the DRC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Rootless is one of those books that stays with you long after you've finished it. Appiah's writing is powerful and moving, and allows the reader to experience the the complexities of motherhood, identity, and sacrifice. I enjoyed the alternating timelines and felt that it added to the depth of both Efe and Sam. I thought the larger themes surrounding identity loss, societal pressures, motherhood, and cultural expectations were well developed. I felt a personal connection to this story as a woman in her late twenties, especially because I do not fully know what I want or expect my life to look like in terms of a family just yet. It also made me reflect internally, and the writing did a great job at reminding me that you're only given one life, and your autonomy and personal choices should be the most important thing to you. I am excited to see what Appiah comes up with next!

This book was an enjoyable and well-written read that held my attention from start to finish. The author’s writing style is engaging, making it easy to connect with the story. The pacing felt just right, and the attention to detail added richness to the overall experience. I appreciated how seamlessly everything came together, showcasing the author’s skill and creativity.

The themes and tone of the book were handled with care, creating a memorable reading experience. It’s clear a lot of thought went into crafting this work, and it shows in the quality of the writing. Overall, this is a book I would recommend to readers looking for something thoughtful and well-executed. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this title—I’m looking forward to seeing more from this talented author in the future!

Life got in the way and I could not finish the book. Thanks to the publishers for the chance to read the book.

The "why" of Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah covers a lot of ground - the immigrant experience, discrimination and prejudice, cultural expectations, parental expectations, gender expectations, and parenthood. Despite the shifting timelines, the empathy that develops for Efe could have resulted in an emotional story. Then comes the ending. My reaction... Really? Really? After all that, this is how it ends? Did I really read that entire book and begin to invest in it for this?

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2024/11/rootless.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

Rootless is an heartbreaking, amazing debut on marriage and motherhood. Rootless follows Sam and Efe and their differing experience after an unplanned pregnancy. It highlights the choice of career or motherhood that mothers often have to endure and what happens when everyone doesn’t agree with your decision? The story was beautifully written and has stuck with me since reading.

WOW! I was NOT expecting all of that! This book goes ALOT deeper that any synopsis or review will give you. I'm so conflicted with my thoughts about this story but only because there really were NO winners here. Efe struggled all her life to be heard and understood, especially after surviving a tragic childhood trauma.

Sam, bless his heart, had his life all planned out and most times only see what he wanted to see but I still think he had his wife and daughter's best interest at heart. I did not doubt for a second that he didn't love his wife, though his actions towards her needs could've easily been perceived as selfish.

This is a really great book. Of all the things that you could take away from these characters, two things that stayed with me are how the pressure of family expectations can lead to your demise and how motherhood or the act of mothering looks different for everyone. Who is anyone to judge, not knowing another mother's story? Her history? Her needs?

I think of Efe's mother and I wonder if she would've handled her relationship with Efe differently, had she know how things would end. And THE END!? I was NOT ready for that ending!

Wow! This one was so complex, so many layers. Marriage, parenting, cultural traditions and family expectations, sacrifices. I urge you to read this and determine for yourself whose side you'll fall on.

Beautiful debut, so sorry I took so long to read it!

Rootless is an unflinching portrait of how layered expectations – cultural, familial, gendered – can manifest in someone like Efe. Her acquiescence and slow reclamation of her own desire felt so intimately relatable. I appreciated Appiah's stark look at the weight of academic, career, and family milestones and how they played out onto, against, and finally between Efe. Her desire for bodily autonomy is valid, and it was a painful but I think truthful representation of how bodies with uteruses can be reduced to their reproductive capabilities.

Some hiccups in my reading included the heavy-handed repeat in every chapter title of a countdown to Some Big Occurrence. Not to mention the disappointment of choosing that event itself, in a true jumping-the-shark turn of events. Also, for a story supposedly "about" motherhood, we spend an awfully large portion of the book on Efe's life before becoming a parent, and that pacing could have been more condensed. Another pattern that took me out of the moment was the constant flow of third person limited to omniscient POV. Some chapters kept to Efe or Sam's POV, some were delimited by special breaks, and sometimes there was no notice at all besides the start of the next sentence. It made me pull up out of the flow and have to examine from above, "wait, who am I reading as now"? The last part that felt out of place were recurring references to self-harm and disordered eating, without delving more into those issues or providing any real resolution of them at all.

Besides those blips, I thoroughly enjoyed this heartbreaking debut, and I'll probably read the next thing Appiah graces us with.

Rootless
Krystle Zara Appiah
Random House Publishing Group
March 6, 2023

Sam rushed home to discover his wife, Eve, had left. In a panic, he called the babysitter, relieved to learn Olivia is there, blissfully unaware her mother has run away. Sam frantically calls her cell phone, with no luck; only reaching her voice mail. He wonders what happened? What did he miss? Why did she leave the country without notice? Why is she at Serwaa’s house?

Appiah’s novel, Rootless, is a love story propelled by life aspirations of Sam and Eve. Can they make it work? Read on to find out.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Exploring Family, Identity, and Sacrifice

Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah is a provocative debut novel centred on the complexities of marriage, family, and self-identity. It follows the life of Efe, a Ghanaian woman living in the UK, and her husband Sam. Their seemingly stable life is upended when Efe leaves for Ghana, abandoning Sam and their daughter.

Rootless excels in its exploration of complex themes and character development. The strengths of the novel lie in its emotional authenticity and the depth of its characters. However, the heavy emotional weight of the story and its exploration of difficult subjects may be challenging for some readers. Despite this, Rootless is a powerful and thought-provoking read that offers a deep dive into the human experience, making it a significant addition to contemporary literary fiction.

In conclusion, Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah is a compelling novel that tackles important themes with sensitivity and depth. It is a must-read for those interested in stories about personal growth, cultural identity, and the intricacies of family life.

This novel tackles heavy themes of mental health, pregnancy, and marital struggles, set against a timeline-hopping narrative structure. While the pregnancy-focused scenes unexpectedly stood out, the character development felt inconsistent, particularly for Efe and her husband Sam. The book's strengths lie in its portrayal of invisible mental health struggles and societal expectations. However, pacing issues, abrupt transitions between timelines, and an unsatisfying ending detracted from the overall experience. Readers sensitive to topics of childbearing and self-harm should approach with caution. Despite its flaws, the story offers a raw look at the complexities of relationships and personal identity, though it may not resonate with all readers due to its uneven execution.

I liked the way the story was narrated. Backwards until today, told from Sam's or Efe's perspective. When I first saw the pink book cover, I thought this would be a light, maybe funny story. It is not. Efe is a difficult, unsure person, with switching moods and always on the edge of a depression. She needs to be alone from time to time, to recover and refill her energy. This is why taking care of her newborn child 24/7 is so exhausting for her. She never had the dream to be a mother. Sam, her best friend since youth and now her husband, has always dreamt of a family. He has difficulties to understand why Efe is acting like she does. Exploring their relationship from youth to adult was an interesting character study. I suffered a lot with both of them. At the same time, I could relate to Efe who did not know if her home country was now Ghana or the UK. Why do you have to choose between two countries? For me, this was a very interesting and strong emotional read about a relationship in the diaspora and the expectations for mothers.

Thank you Ballantine Books for the gifted e-ARC.

The innate need to fulfill everyone’s else’s dreams before our own. Infuriating. Just listen to us when we say we won’t want something and decide if you can live with that, If you can’t you got to go. Don’t force me to confirm to your lifestyle because it will never work long term.

There I seriously something wrong with the world that perpetuates the need for mothers to be there, to catch every moment while father subsequently can…stop that shit! We are expected to bend, accommodate EVERYONE, drop everything and yet don’t get the same courtesy! It’s like pulling fucking teeth!!!

By far the MOST triggering book I’ve read in a while. What struck out the most for me is the way, men, Sam in particular set rules and expectations and learner to weaponize Efe’s mother and generational expectations against her all while never setting the same expectations for himself.

There’s always this assumption that women will do it , women will make it happen and we do BUT it’s not right and I find that we have to fight against that every single day.

“You didn’t even ask me” - THIS!!!!!

I wonder why we do that…measure our worth by how much pain we can endure” BABY!!! Oh my god, rootless was absolutely heartbreaking to read. I hated how familial traditions and familial expectations were weaponized against Efe. Sam wasn’t strong enough to see how much she was breaking. Motherhood IS HARD. I felt like Sam also weaponized Maame against Efe too. They pushed her into a lifestyle she didn’t imagine for herself and before we hear she was an adult and could make different decisions. COULD SHE REALLY??? She tried that a second time around, she FINALLY choose herself and was shunned for it.

I was not expecting the ending at all and my heart is absolutely torn…😣

And I don’t quite know what to say about this one other than - READ IT- and somehow if we’re not careful, we weaponize the things we do and don’t see against the ones we love. We miss the opportunity to help them, to SEE THEM.

This was a difficult book to read. I think my mindframe was not in the mood so subsequently I really did not like the characters. I think the writing was good but the story disturbed me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher

In a Nutshell: Supposed to be a story about a ‘British-Ghanaian marriage in crisis’. Turned out to be a story about two self-centered individuals who don’t know what marriage or parenthood means. Shallow unlikeable characters and jumpy plot development make this a ‘rootless’ novel, struggling to discover where it belongs. This is an outlier review.

Wow, Rootless really took me on an emotional rollercoaster!

The story starts with a bang, throwing you right into the crisis of Efe and Sam's marriage. Their seemingly perfect facade crumbles when Efe vanishes, leaving behind a confused husband and a bewildered child.

Appiah does a fantastic job of developing both Efe and Sam as characters. We see their past as high school sweethearts, their hopes and dreams for the future, and how those dreams have morphed (or even curdled) over time. I especially connected with Efe's struggle to find her own identity as a British-Ghanaian woman caught between cultures and expectations.

The book tackles some tough subjects - societal pressures around motherhood, cultural clashes, and the complexities of love and sacrifice. It doesn't shy away from messy emotions, and I found myself both frustrated and empathetic towards Efe and Sam throughout the story.

While the beginning grabbed me immediately, the middle section felt a bit slow at times. However, the suspense builds again as the mystery of Efe's disappearance unfolds. The ending left me satisfied, yet pondering the characters' futures.

Overall, Rootless is a powerful debut novel that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys character-driven literary fiction with a touch of mystery.