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What Members Thought
Wow. I'm a bit stunned by what a wonderful book this is ... I am amazed at with Yaa Gyasi has created with this novel. Truly amazed. This book is a masterpiece.
The story is rather simple - it's the story of two sisters and what happens to each of their families. One will marry a white man, a British official who lives in the upper part of the Cape Coast Castle. The other sister finds herself in the lower dungeons of the same castle but is sold as a slave and transported to the American South. T ...more
The story is rather simple - it's the story of two sisters and what happens to each of their families. One will marry a white man, a British official who lives in the upper part of the Cape Coast Castle. The other sister finds herself in the lower dungeons of the same castle but is sold as a slave and transported to the American South. T ...more
Homegoing is a treasure. Never mind the beautiful, fluid writing. The characters are the gift; so real and human, their lives cannot be called fiction. The novel traces the descendants of half-sisters Effia and Esi, two women in 18th century Ghana. One sold to slavery, the other marries a slaver. Two branches of the same tree, their families form roots in different continents. Gyasi follows each generation, weaving stories of love, loyalty, power, family, duty, race, abuse, sorrow, and hope.
I wa ...more
I wa ...more
Feminist Book Club - June 2020
#Homegoing
Hands down, this is my new favorite book of the year! This was an amazing read. Think fictional Roots but much more realistic portrayal of the slave trade and colonialism than Roots ever was. This is a moving story that spans generations. It begins at the start of the slave trade in Ghana and ends up in the US post civil rights era. It is amazing how the characters and families were intertwined. The sorrow, the beauty, the forces that shaped generations are simply unbelievable! I canno ...more
Hands down, this is my new favorite book of the year! This was an amazing read. Think fictional Roots but much more realistic portrayal of the slave trade and colonialism than Roots ever was. This is a moving story that spans generations. It begins at the start of the slave trade in Ghana and ends up in the US post civil rights era. It is amazing how the characters and families were intertwined. The sorrow, the beauty, the forces that shaped generations are simply unbelievable! I canno ...more
"History is storytelling."
This book floored me. I went in skeptically because I don't typically love the books that everyone loves but THIS book deserves all the hype - especially because it's still being super hyped three years after it was published. And here's why:
🎖️It's beautifully written
🎖️It's stories are expertly woven together
🎖️You learn without feeling like you're learning
🎖️It's how history should be taught because "history is storytelling."
In school (at least for me) when we "learne ...more
This book floored me. I went in skeptically because I don't typically love the books that everyone loves but THIS book deserves all the hype - especially because it's still being super hyped three years after it was published. And here's why:
🎖️It's beautifully written
🎖️It's stories are expertly woven together
🎖️You learn without feeling like you're learning
🎖️It's how history should be taught because "history is storytelling."
In school (at least for me) when we "learne ...more
4.5 stars.
Homegoing tells the story of several generations of a family, beginning with a pair of half-sisters in Ghana . Effia marries a white colonial and lives in Cape Coast Castle. Meanwhile her sister Esi is in the dungeons below the castle awaiting her sale and shipment to the Americas. The novel follows Effia and Esi's families through the generations. Each chapter jumps to the next generation where we meet one of Effia's descendants and one of Esi's descendants, all the way to present-da ...more
Homegoing tells the story of several generations of a family, beginning with a pair of half-sisters in Ghana . Effia marries a white colonial and lives in Cape Coast Castle. Meanwhile her sister Esi is in the dungeons below the castle awaiting her sale and shipment to the Americas. The novel follows Effia and Esi's families through the generations. Each chapter jumps to the next generation where we meet one of Effia's descendants and one of Esi's descendants, all the way to present-da ...more
Wrote a little review about this one on my blog: https://simoneandherbooks.wordpress.c...
A remarkable read. I loved every single word of this book. I don’t think I’ve come across a novel like this in a really long time. ...more
A remarkable read. I loved every single word of this book. I don’t think I’ve come across a novel like this in a really long time. ...more
3.8) "Hell was a place of remembering, each beautiful moment passed through the mind’s eye until it fell to the ground like a rotten mango, perfectly useless, uselessly perfect."
-Homegoing
Tough read, but good. Two half-sisters with lives that take drastically seperate paths - one married to a white slaver, the other sold into slavery herself-- and the stories of their families that follow behind them. I really like multi-generational tales - this one felt a little abrupt at times, only getting ...more
-Homegoing
Tough read, but good. Two half-sisters with lives that take drastically seperate paths - one married to a white slaver, the other sold into slavery herself-- and the stories of their families that follow behind them. I really like multi-generational tales - this one felt a little abrupt at times, only getting ...more
Apr 27, 2017
Meagan
marked it as started-to-read-but-didn-t-finish
I really struggled with this because of the switch from character to character in each chapter. It's a major strength of the novel, but it is like starting a new book with each chapter. Once you were into the chapter, it was engrossing and she made you connect and feel for the characters incredibly quickly.
...more
Review to come, but for now just wow.
Nov 13, 2016
Breanne Gibson
marked it as to-read
Jan 01, 2017
Erica
marked it as to-read
Aug 17, 2020
Susanna
marked it as to-read
Jul 18, 2020
Mary Parker
marked it as to-read
Aug 20, 2025
Sara Foran
added it
Mar 05, 2017
Ashley
marked it as to-read
Jan 17, 2016
Megan
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
family,
fiction,
new-york,
race,
1920s,
marriage,
racism,
marital-issues,
debut-novel,
multiple-pov
Sep 05, 2018
Jackie
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
literary-fiction,
2018-reads
Aug 18, 2016
Melissa Stebbins
marked it as to-read
