“Doris is a young English peasant kidnapped by African slavers, who ship her across the Atlantic. So begins this action-packed, though uneven, tale of white slavery and black imperialism by Bernardine Evaristo. Already a critical hit in the UK, Blonde Roots comes out stateside on January 22. While Blonde Roots tells a fast-paced story, often with bits of inspired satire, it suffers from several basic problems. Probably the most obvious is that Evaristo can’t seem to decide if she’s writing an alternate history or just a satire. Doing either is a tall order: There’s a potential for oversimplified allegory in any story that offers such a basic historical switcheroo.”