Scan barcode
fischbre18's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
5.0
a must read all around
rlwertheimer's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 - loved the concept of the family connections, loved the more modern section. Had some slow parts/sections I didn't totally follow. Overall enjoyed.
nweem218's review against another edition
3.0
The names had me reeling. It was a good story but a job to keep track of people... so a bit disappointing after all the rave reviews.
mayog's review against another edition
4.0
So, the premise of the book is interesting and, for the most part, well-executed. However, I did not always believe it, particularly the cost to those involved in perpetuating oppression on their countryfolks. And, finally, I thought the ending was a bit contrived.
Still, it's worth a read as it raises the question, what cost do your future generations pay for your own injustice?
Still, it's worth a read as it raises the question, what cost do your future generations pay for your own injustice?
k8degr8's review against another edition
5.0
Amazed at how well this author could shift perspectives and voices so believably over generations and continents, from the Gold Coast of 1700's to Harlem of the 1920's to present day. The characters were rich and complex, full of both tragedy and humor. Like so many other reviewers, I'll say I was amazed that this was a first novel. This author is masterful.
The most powerful threads through this book (for me) are about storytelling and power, and of how pain, choices, fate and brokenness ripple through generations.
“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”
The story lines in Homegoing are definitely ones most Americans have been missing in our education and I wish everyone would read this novel to have a glimpse at them.
The most powerful threads through this book (for me) are about storytelling and power, and of how pain, choices, fate and brokenness ripple through generations.
“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”
The story lines in Homegoing are definitely ones most Americans have been missing in our education and I wish everyone would read this novel to have a glimpse at them.
rebecca_oneil's review against another edition
5.0
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2017: Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color.
If you know me, you know I'm proooobably too liberal with my 5-star reviews. I just love so much of what I read! The problem comes up when I read something that stands out above even my 5-star crowd. Then what? This one is in that category, so I'm putting it on my "personal hall of fame" shelf, too. What Yaa Gyasi does in 300 pages to show seven generations, two continents, and fourteen characters is simply incredible. Each of these characters -- and their time and place -- is real and unique, the defining moments of their lives described with clarity, humanity, and brevity.
This book made a well-timed follow-up to [b:The Underground Railroad|30555488|The Underground Railroad|Colson Whitehead|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493178362s/30555488.jpg|48287641], and I could see these doing well as a paired discussion. *whispers* I think I liked this one a little bit more, though. The writing is more immediate and compelling, with shades of Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver. Both books cracked open my view of American history and slavery, and should be required reading for American citizens who struggle to understand the legacy of slavery for all of us. "How could he explain to Marjorie that what he wanted to capture with his project was the feeling of time, of having been a part of something that stretched so far back, was so impossibly large, that it was easy to forget that she, and he, and everyone else, existed in it -- not apart from it, but inside of it."
Other favorite quotes:
"The need to call this thing 'good' and this thing 'bad,' this thing 'white' and this thing 'black,' was an impulse that Effia did not understand. In her village, everything was everything. Everything bore the weight of everything else."
"You want to know what weakness is? Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you. Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves."
"You cannot stick a knife in a goat and then say, Now I will remove my knife slowly, so let things be easy and clean, let there be no mess. There will always be blood."
"People think they are coming to me for advice," Mampanyin said, "but really, they come to me for permission. If you want to do something, do it."
"Maybe Beulah was seeing something more clearly on the nights she had these dreams, a little black child fighting in her sleep against an opponent she couldn't name come morning because in the light that opponent looked just like the world around her."
"We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture."
If you know me, you know I'm proooobably too liberal with my 5-star reviews. I just love so much of what I read! The problem comes up when I read something that stands out above even my 5-star crowd. Then what? This one is in that category, so I'm putting it on my "personal hall of fame" shelf, too. What Yaa Gyasi does in 300 pages to show seven generations, two continents, and fourteen characters is simply incredible. Each of these characters -- and their time and place -- is real and unique, the defining moments of their lives described with clarity, humanity, and brevity.
This book made a well-timed follow-up to [b:The Underground Railroad|30555488|The Underground Railroad|Colson Whitehead|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493178362s/30555488.jpg|48287641], and I could see these doing well as a paired discussion. *whispers* I think I liked this one a little bit more, though. The writing is more immediate and compelling, with shades of Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver. Both books cracked open my view of American history and slavery, and should be required reading for American citizens who struggle to understand the legacy of slavery for all of us. "How could he explain to Marjorie that what he wanted to capture with his project was the feeling of time, of having been a part of something that stretched so far back, was so impossibly large, that it was easy to forget that she, and he, and everyone else, existed in it -- not apart from it, but inside of it."
Other favorite quotes:
"The need to call this thing 'good' and this thing 'bad,' this thing 'white' and this thing 'black,' was an impulse that Effia did not understand. In her village, everything was everything. Everything bore the weight of everything else."
"You want to know what weakness is? Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you. Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves."
"You cannot stick a knife in a goat and then say, Now I will remove my knife slowly, so let things be easy and clean, let there be no mess. There will always be blood."
"People think they are coming to me for advice," Mampanyin said, "but really, they come to me for permission. If you want to do something, do it."
"Maybe Beulah was seeing something more clearly on the nights she had these dreams, a little black child fighting in her sleep against an opponent she couldn't name come morning because in the light that opponent looked just like the world around her."
"We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture."
kingabrit's review against another edition
3.0
I can't say it was not a bit of nagging myself to read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi sometimes. It had been a solid 3-star for me for a long time, and then, in the end it elevated by half a star (that Goodreads don't have) so it ended up being a 3.5-star read. (As I don't want to spoil anything, let me just say, that the chapters "Yaw" - which was the best - and probably "Marjorie" were the ones at which I decided to raise the number of stars a bit.)
Don't misunderstand me, it is a very accessible, very readable, almost page-turner book. But in spite of what the blurb says, and what the tons of prizes and critical raves suggest, I am sorry to say, the writing is quite average. Not bad, but there is neither "exquisite language", nor "new voice" here. The author might be 'astonishingly gifted', but this novel surely does not prove it undoubtedly.
Let's be fair though. The main trouvaille of the book is, that it manages to tell the story of 8 times 2 generations (=16 people - two lines of 8 generations -, not to mention their relationships) and roughly 200 plus years in a mere 300 (!) pages, and it does so very plausibly and smoothly. The book never seems to be hurried or crowded or out of breath. In fact, we sense the chapters of each time period much longer and slower flowing than they actually are. That is not to say they are long and boring, just the opposite, they convey much much more information, history, events, characters than you'd expect from their 25-30 (or less!) pages. Again, Ms. Gyasi does an excellent job in this sense.
Also, several places Yaa Gyasi beautifully practices the 'show instead of tell' principle - which contributes to the smoothness and intriguing aspect of the novel. However, because of its larger-than-life ambition vs. restricted length, she is often forced to give us a hardly-disguised (i.e. very boiled down) 'author's message' instead of letting her characters' actions and the events play it out subtly and comfortably. It is especially evident (and honestly, quite painful for the reader's intellect) in the last chapter ("Marcus"), when it seems she wants to sum up The Message directly and clearly, just to be on the safe side. Thank goodness she did not make the two representatives of the last generation realize their common family roots by somehow discovering the identical necklaces... I was dreading this during the whole time I was reading the book, I have to admit.
Don't misunderstand me, it is a very accessible, very readable, almost page-turner book. But in spite of what the blurb says, and what the tons of prizes and critical raves suggest, I am sorry to say, the writing is quite average. Not bad, but there is neither "exquisite language", nor "new voice" here. The author might be 'astonishingly gifted', but this novel surely does not prove it undoubtedly.
Let's be fair though. The main trouvaille of the book is, that it manages to tell the story of 8 times 2 generations (=16 people - two lines of 8 generations -, not to mention their relationships) and roughly 200 plus years in a mere 300 (!) pages, and it does so very plausibly and smoothly. The book never seems to be hurried or crowded or out of breath. In fact, we sense the chapters of each time period much longer and slower flowing than they actually are. That is not to say they are long and boring, just the opposite, they convey much much more information, history, events, characters than you'd expect from their 25-30 (or less!) pages. Again, Ms. Gyasi does an excellent job in this sense.
Also, several places Yaa Gyasi beautifully practices the 'show instead of tell' principle - which contributes to the smoothness and intriguing aspect of the novel. However, because of its larger-than-life ambition vs. restricted length, she is often forced to give us a hardly-disguised (i.e. very boiled down) 'author's message' instead of letting her characters' actions and the events play it out subtly and comfortably. It is especially evident (and honestly, quite painful for the reader's intellect) in the last chapter ("Marcus"), when it seems she wants to sum up The Message directly and clearly, just to be on the safe side. Thank goodness she did not make the two representatives of the last generation realize their common family roots by somehow discovering the identical necklaces... I was dreading this during the whole time I was reading the book, I have to admit.
emily_jade_reads's review against another edition
4.0
What an impressive novel, spanning centuries, detailing the lives of seven generations of one family against a backdrop of true historical events. This novel manages to cover a vast amount of history, as well as give a personal perspective to many historical events in such few pages.
Homegoing begins with two sisters, Effia and Esi, born in 18th century Ghana, whose lives go in two very different directions as one becomes the wife of a slave trader and the other is sold into slavery and taken to America. Each chapter moves onto a new character from a new generation, alternating between Effia and Esi’s descendants. The research required to paint out so many locations in different time periods in such rich detail is mind-blowing.
The story covers the tribal wars in Ghana, the British colonisation of the Gold Coast, the transatlantic slave trade, the Fugitive Slave Act, the American Civil War, Jim Crow laws and segregation and so much more. The writing was and captivating and the stories were interesting and insightful, although often heart-breaking.
Unfortunately, the unique structure of the novel is also the only negative aspect. I feel like with many of the stories, just as I was beginning to connect with the character, the story moved hands into a new narrator. With each story there was a small adjustment to the new voice and the new setting that was sometimes a bit jarring and frustrating. This novel does feel a bit more like a collection of short stories at times and, as with most short story collections, some are better than others. I found the earlier chapters to be the most outstanding.
Overall, this is a very impressive novel that I found equally entertaining and interesting. Although difficult to read at times, with some very violent scenes, it illustrated some parts of Ghanian and American history that I wasn’t that informed about it. The human perspective to these events gave a personal connection, with the exquisite details making the stories highly immersive. I highly recommend this stunning debut.
Homegoing begins with two sisters, Effia and Esi, born in 18th century Ghana, whose lives go in two very different directions as one becomes the wife of a slave trader and the other is sold into slavery and taken to America. Each chapter moves onto a new character from a new generation, alternating between Effia and Esi’s descendants. The research required to paint out so many locations in different time periods in such rich detail is mind-blowing.
The story covers the tribal wars in Ghana, the British colonisation of the Gold Coast, the transatlantic slave trade, the Fugitive Slave Act, the American Civil War, Jim Crow laws and segregation and so much more. The writing was and captivating and the stories were interesting and insightful, although often heart-breaking.
Unfortunately, the unique structure of the novel is also the only negative aspect. I feel like with many of the stories, just as I was beginning to connect with the character, the story moved hands into a new narrator. With each story there was a small adjustment to the new voice and the new setting that was sometimes a bit jarring and frustrating. This novel does feel a bit more like a collection of short stories at times and, as with most short story collections, some are better than others. I found the earlier chapters to be the most outstanding.
Overall, this is a very impressive novel that I found equally entertaining and interesting. Although difficult to read at times, with some very violent scenes, it illustrated some parts of Ghanian and American history that I wasn’t that informed about it. The human perspective to these events gave a personal connection, with the exquisite details making the stories highly immersive. I highly recommend this stunning debut.
memorymaven's review against another edition
2.0
I honestly just could not get into this book. I don't know if it was because of the format (it felt like a book of short stories) or what, but I struggled to finish it. The author did have an interesting voice, and I understand the story the she is telling, but I never felt connected to any of the characters. The ending felt predictable and because I never connected to any of the other characters, ultimately I did not feel invested in the culmination of the story. I know many people who love this book though...I think it just wasn't my cup of tea.
cyberbosanka's review against another edition
4.0
Knjigu „Povratak kući“ autorice Yaa Gyasi (kojoj je ovo prva knjiga) sam izabrala zbog dobrih kritika na Goodreadsu i zbog Afrike. Nisam čitala puno knjiga sa radnjom na ovom kontinentu, a kako meni knjige između ostalog služe i da proputujem drugim predjelima i vremenima, ova se činila idealnom. Cijeli osvrt pročitajte na http://cyberbosanka.me/povratak-kuci-yaa-gyuasi-iskrena-prica-o-istoriji-porodici-sa-zanimljivim-likovima/