Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

36 reviews

musewithxara's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Hate crime, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Drug abuse

georgiesutton's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Death, Genocide, Grief, Infertility, and Slavery

achingallover's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

wooow what an incredible feat of a book. so many great lines that made me stop to revel at how good it was. this is an emotional book to get through but so insightful. really made me think about how connected we are to our ancestors. it also made me contemplate about how the branches of our families lead such different journeys that the next person you meet could come from the same bloodline as you. it's especially painful to know that many african americans don't have that opportunity. but the ending i found so beautiful, especially with the symbolism. so many different, colorful characters and stories that kept me engaged the whole time. how yaa managed to do that in exactly 300 pages, i do not know!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, and Vomit

jayisreading's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I commend Yaa Gyasi for taking such a fresh approach to storytelling with Homegoing. It was an incredibly ambitious task, but one she handled phenomenally and with care to create two captivating intergenerational stories. The book starts with a split in a family lineage in present-day Ghana during the eighteenth century with two half-sisters, Effia and Esi. Homegoing, and it’s haunting, especially because it lingers in an unexpected way. Despite coming from the same mother, Effia and Esi never knew each other and led entirely different lives; one being married off to a British slave trader, while in the dungeons below, the other was enslaved and sent to the United States. From this point on and across seven generations, we get a chapter that gives a glimpse of each descendant’s life, often during significant moments in history (such as the Great Migration).

What was most powerful about Homegoing was the afterlives of every character playing a role in shaping their lineage. Through this, we see the repercussions of slavery and colonialism, resulting in the intergenerational trauma that would haunt for centuries (and, frankly, continue to haunt). The word “homegoing” marks death, but also a return to home. Gyasi pushes the reader to contemplate what shapes Black life and death, as well as what “home” means for the forcibly displaced. (There’s also a whole thing we can get into about Orlando Patterson’s “social death,” but that’s a literal essay waiting to happen.)

Homegoing is raw and emotional. While some may not be thrilled that each chapter are essentially like vignettes, I find that this approach precisely captures what Gyasi wants the reader to experience: a haunting full of unresolved ache.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Infertility, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

loraora's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual violence, Slavery, Rape, Violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Mental illness

Minor: Child death and Infertility