Reviews tagging 'Death'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

178 reviews

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Sexism, War, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Body horror, Blood, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Minor: Bullying

linhsreadinghour's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Beautiful beautiful historical fiction novel that follows the descendants of two sisters and how the decisions of each family member impacted the next. The writing was gorgeous and hooked me right in. Despite following each character for one chapter each time, Yaa Gyasi doesn’t fail to explore the intricacies and conflicts of their own lives, whilst weaving in the historical context and significance of the time period. Stunning book and so illuminating as a non-black person. Will become a classic in the future no doubt, a must read for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, War, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Drug use, Death, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Rape

chuck3791's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad

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

4.0

A pretty great about inherited trauma. Worthwhile but I will definitely not be reading it again and would only recommend with heavy caution

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Death, Slavery, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Rape, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Addiction, and Grief

serenspace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Addiction, and Slavery

This book is structured in an intricate, fleeting way that relayed entire lifetimes in twenty pages or less. It took a few chapters to get used to the generational jumps and the unfinished stories that preceeded them, but what Gyasi chooses to tell us and what she chooses to leave behind is carefully selected to convey the primary themes of grief, history as a map and generational trauma. Each member of this family has a rich inner life that carries the weight of the Gold Coast all the way to present day America, each significant in their own right and as part of this intricate story. Gyasi's voice is, as always, reflective, a perfect conveyor for such a grand history. She has an immense talent for building an image of the world as a collective effort, more than any one person can bring to it.

crybabybea's review against another edition

reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Torture, Drug use, Misogyny, Slavery, Colonisation, Death of parent, Murder, Classism, Racism, Sexual content, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, War, Confinement, Excrement, Grief, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Child death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

aamie's review against another edition

4.5

I really liked it!! Pretty dark but sooo interesting. I feel like I learned so much about Ghana and the history of their people and in America too. I really like how the stories intertwined but I do wish we got to see more of their lives then the little snapshots we get especially for the people in the later generations. I thought it was really well written and some of the imagery and feelings evoked were horrific but handled with a lot of care and poetry. Majorie and the Old Woman 😭😭😭✨✨🫶  SAM AND NESS! KOJO AND ANNA 😭 every storyline just had so much heartbreak and pain and suffering and you just feel so much humanity for them. Good book!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Addiction, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, and Torture

mdal26's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Police brutality, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Slavery, Trafficking, Death, Child death, Physical abuse, Dementia, Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Hate crime, Addiction, and Grief

noahsingh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad

4.25

Enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book: 
- Love a family/generational story.
-Colonial resistance storylines were really interesting.
-Felt like I heard some perspectives I hadn't heard before, and learnt some historical stuff about the exploitation of black people post-slavery I hadn't heard about before. 

Ending was a lil disappointing to me tho,

in the sense that I wish Marjorie had been aware of her families past a bit more through Akua and therefore somehow able to recognise Marcus as familiy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Racism, Colonisation, Hate crime, Excrement, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Death, Gore, Drug abuse, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, War, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Infertility, Pregnancy, Suicide, Alcohol, Child death, and Infidelity

vexbatch's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

A captivating look at the effects of slavery through generations. I absolutely adore the alternating perspectives between two branches of this same family tree, each two chapters moving us forward a generation. I could not put this book down; the stories were captivating (to repeat myself) and just urge you forward through the years.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Addiction, Racism, Confinement, Slavery, and Rape

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug use, Colonisation, Excrement, Death, and Pregnancy

Minor: War

takarakei's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

"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 your self, 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.” 

This is not my typical kind of read, but I did think it was well done for the most part. Particularly the beginning stories were very lush and I think there's some extremely important perspectives to be gained by reading this book. As the quote says - there are many sides of history to be told and many perspectives are often left out. Towards the ending few stories I was a tad less engaged with, perhaps these were more familiar stories to me and that's why? Having the family tree at the front was very integral to be aware of how people were related. For sure an important read!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Death, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Drug use, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Excrement