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Homegoing

Yaa Gyasi

Start date: February 5, 2023

Finish date: March 1, 2023

Discussion: Country and Territories

Why we're reading this: Countries/Territories = Ghana

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
[close] Countries/Territories = Ghana

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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Country and Territories

A Dangerous Place (March 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 1 post · 7 views

last updated Mar 04, 2023 01:57PM

Homegoing (February 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 3 posts · 18 views

last updated Feb 06, 2023 01:39PM

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What Members Thought

Oct 16, 2017 Cheryl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: africa, fiction, slave-narratives

She smelled the sea-salt wind as it touched the hairs in her nose, felt the bark of a palm tree as sharp as a scratch, saw the deep, deep red of the clay that was all around them.

Screams pierce the night air as humans are pulled from their hiding places between tree branches. Dogs bark in the quiet of midnight. Nothing but forest for miles. The world is dead; it exists in parallel reality, for the bestial treatment of humans is accepted as the norm. All because of money and power, the act of fre She smelled the sea-salt wind as it touched the hairs in her nose, felt the bark of a palm tree as sharp as a scratch, saw the deep, deep red of the clay that was all around them.

Screams pierce the night air as humans are pulled from their hiding places between tree branches. Dogs bark in the quiet of midnight. Nothing but forest for miles. The world is dead; it exists in parallel reality, for the bestial treatment of humans is accepted as the norm. All because of money and power, the act of freely inhaling is not allowed. People are held hostage in their own homes, on their native land. An African culture introduced to capitalism and imperialism betrays its own. Tribal wars run amuck. Mistakes are recycled for decades, for generations, across oceans. Today those mistakes abound.

She tried to remember the Twi that Esi used to speak to her. Tried to still her mind until all that was left was the thin, stern line of her mother's lips, lips that used to usher out words of love in a tongue that Ness could no longer quite grasp. Phrases and words would come to her, mismatched or lopsided, wrong.

It was such a pleasure to read a book with abundantly crisp, clear writing. These stories are linked stories that possibly started as a short story collection. What I enjoyed most was the capture of what could have been the thoughts and visceral reaction of slaves, even though it was a struggle at times to remember how each newly introduced character was connected to the next. The stories do not flourish into a continued whole because this is the real world of slavery, the explanation for why Africa is so fragmented, so colonized, why black people around the world are so divided. Traversing generations, cultures, and time, the second half takes an unexpected leap, from the historical 1490s to Kwame Nkrumah's reign, to Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk. This novel is an example of the interconnectedness of the world, and it will force any reader to consider the effects of history upon the present. It is melancholy, thought-provoking, and lyrical, plus a good excuse to escape into lost time. ...more

38 likes · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2017 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 5-stars, historical-stories, 2017

This is an excellent book and I love the way it follows 2 separate but related generations from the 18th century to today. It is about two half sisters born in Ghana in the 18th century. One sister marries an Englishman and lives in the castle there. Her unknown half sister was stolen to be sold as a slave and eventually shipped to America and also for a time lived in the dungeon beneath the castle. The story tracks their lives and the children they have. It goes back and forth from each sister' ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2018 Raven (Fatima) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Beautiful, impressive and sweeping novel. The story spanned across generations, centuries, and continents. As I was reading this book, I was reminded of how much the past is present and how we're steeped in it every day, whether we realize it or not. ...more

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Aug 07, 2017 Kate rated it it was ok · review of another edition

2.5/5

I liked the first 50 pages, the last 50 pages, and bits and pieces in between, but there were many portions that just didn't capture me and I found myself getting lost. ...more

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