Homegoing in Crazy Challenge Connection

Mar 24, 2018 Claire rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: precinct-81

There are books and there are great books. This one is of the last category.
The impressive story follows the descendants of two half sisters from their origins in Africa, picking one descendant in each generation. The novel spans 300 years, set both in Ghana and the US.
Each descendant gets his/her own small story, a short look in her/his life.
As a whole the novel is not a collection of short stories, but forms a fascinating mosaic which describes the living conditions the different generations ...more

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Aug 29, 2016 Martha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: would-read-again, needs-trigger-warning, 2017-yorwoc, read-2017, fiction, read-women-17, read-women-world, bipoc-authors-black

Yaw nodded..."This is the problem with history. We cannot know that which we were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves...We must rely upon the words of others...We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story...you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth?"

This deservedly hyped-up novel begins with half sisters Effia and Esi; two women who never meet, but whose destinie

Yaw nodded..."This is the problem with history. We cannot know that which we were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves...We must rely upon the words of others...We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story...you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth?"

This deservedly hyped-up novel begins with half sisters Effia and Esi; two women who never meet, but whose destinies intertwine all the way down from the early days of slavery to modern-day Ghana and America. One sister's family tree takes us down through the history of the Fante and Asante tribal wars; while the other's travels through the slavery in the southern states, the Great Migration and the racial segregation of the USA. Themes of displacement, inheritance and mysticism run through this beautiful feat of storytelling.

One of my favourite elements of this book was the format. Gyasi's intention to move through history via one family isn't just a theme; each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the sisters' descendants; moving down a generation each time, with no voice repeated. This format allows a rich tapestry of characters to come alive; no one had to compete with each other to be the "main character", as each is the hero (and sometimes the villain) in their own story. The only book I've read before with that format is The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, and I loved that one just as much for its complex characters. This format really helps to drive home the idea of displacement and searching for home; the opening events are like dominoes down the family tree, each story sparking a new direction for the next character.

The only problem I had was that in providing a family tree at the start of the book to aid us in remembering whose line we are going down with each chapter, it spoiled some of the early plot points around which characters married each other, which was a shame. Each new character has been mentioned in a previous chapter, so it is possible to figure out where you are without using that family tree if you've got a good memory - I would recommend trying this if you can.

James hadn't understood this when he was younger. When the legal slave exportation had ended and the illegal one had begun, but he understood now.. The British had no intention of leaving Africa, even once the slave trade had ended. They owned the Castle, and, though they had yet to speak it aloud, they intended to own the land as well.

I appreciated the early chapters for the history around how the slave trade existed as part of tribal wars, and how the British exploited that. The slavery novels I have read have largely picked up from when the enslaved people were already in the USA, so I was glad to be able to tie some of this into the history of my own country (which is conveniently not talked about on the history curriculum). Gyasi also showed her skill in portraying the role of the African tribes in slavery without suggesting blame or letting the 'white man' off the hook.

There should be a mild trigger warning for sexual violence in this; I say mild because the scenes were short and not too graphic, so I didn't find myself triggered, even though the subject of the events in itself would be considered horrifying. It might also be that I expected it from a novel that examines slavery so was not taken by surprise.
...more

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Jun 29, 2016 Olivermagnus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, 2016, usa, contemporary, historical-fiction, africa

This novel spans 300 years and examines two branches of a Ghanaian family, one who remains in Ghana and one who ends up in America. Effia and Esi are two half sisters who have never met and who live on opposite sides of the country. Effia is forced to marry a slave captain and lives fairly comfortably in Cape Coast Castle, where slaves are housed in filth and squalor in the dungeons below. Esi is one of those slaves and is eventually shipped to America and sold there. The book follows their offs ...more

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Jun 30, 2020 BookishStitcher rated it really liked it

This book was really well done. It's very interestingly put together because it tells the story of two lines of a family over 300 yrs. Since it's covering so much time, instead of one long novel with one single plot the story is instead told in several short stories that are tied together with one single thread throughout them all. I've owned this book for awhile, but put off reading it because I knew the content was going to be very heart breaking and I was right. ...more

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Dec 13, 2016 Leslie Ann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 4-to-5-stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I lived in Kumasi , Ghana for 2 years while in the Peace Corps. I loved hearing all the familiar words like obruni, palm wine , Accra and Cape Coast and many others. Having lived in the Ashanti region it was wonderful to visit again. I loved how the story was told from the Ghanaian and US ancestry point a view. A powerful debut novel. A must read!

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Mar 20, 2018 Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, favorites, historical, africa, slavery

Amazing Read!

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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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