Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

256 reviews

ada_elisabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse and Racial slurs

waterbear0821's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This is a really beautiful book. It’s also brutal, but—particularly if you are a white American—don’t let that deter you. Sometimes fiction can make hard truths even more true and this book feels absolutely true. The story is told as one chapter for each character as you move generation by generation into the near present. At first it was a bit of a challenge because I felt like a was missing so much jumping over years (not to mention that it was, no spoiler warning needed I hope, incredibly violent and horrific because it’s about the slave trade). However, as I got into it, I found the generational snapshots to be very effective and more than sufficient for me to be invested in the characters. The writing is wonderful. The story is terrible and beautiful and, in the end, hopeful. Whether you know a lot or not much about the history of slavery in Africa and America and its lingering generational scars, highly recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War

amandabethrose's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

What an absolutely beautiful book. We begin with two sisters, born from the same mother but have never met, whose lives follow starkly different paths. One marries a white man and lives at the Cape Coast Castle, one is sold into slavery and imprisoned at the Castle before being sent across the Atlantic to America. Each chapter is a snapshot into the life of their descendants, alternating between the family lines.  

There is a line in the second chapter around which the story unfolds, "And in my village we have a saying about separated sisters. They are like a woman and her reflection, doomed to stay on opposite sides of the pond." Each story is a mirror of what could have been. What if they had been able to live in Ghana, what if they had been ripped away. Without giving too much away, the story does end with the threads coming together and the family saga returning full circle to where it began. 

Absolutely gorgeous prose and an excellent balance of leaving me wishing for more, while being completely satisfied with the story given.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence

reirg_dee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Vomit

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I don't have words for how incredible Homegoing is. The blurb cannot do justice to the journey it takes you on. Two Ghanaian half-sisters with divergent paths (one as a wife to a white colonizer and slaver, the other captured and sold into slavery) is only the beginning. This book follows Effia and Esi's lineage for seven generations, one line primarily in Ghana and one line primarily in the United States. It is a sizzering, raw, unflinchingly honest depiction of the experience and the legacy of the slave trade, in all its awful minutia; the creation and the evolution of the systems that still oppress black people. Truly, I've never seen a clearer depiction of generational trauma. It's incredible. That's all I can say. Cannot recommend enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Medical content and Car accident

alt05's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Yaa Gyasi has easily become one of my favorite authors with this debut novel. I was gifted this book several years ago, and for some reason could never bring myself to pick it up. I think it's because this book is about the impact of the transatlantic slave trade, and I knew it would be an emotional read for me. And, I was right. The way Gyasi breaks this story down is so unique, it requires much from the reader. This book is about 2 African girls in the early 1700s who are fathered by the same man, though only one knows her real father. The other is raised by her mother who escaped with her to be rid of the abuse she endured. It follows these 2 young women's lineage as one is married to a white, slave trader living on the gold coast, and the other is captured and sold into slavery. As the reader follows their families into the 20th century, they are intimately exposed to the toll that slavery had on both those taken and those left behind. The histories of each branch are slowly forgotten as the family moves further and further away from the women who birthed them all. Gyasi masterfully weaves together history, spirituality, and family across this multigenerational, historical novel. Her writing is emotional and moving, but also lyrical in its form. It took me several days after reading this to be able to put into words all I was feeling. This book makes you think about how much Black people have lost both materially and unseeing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War

ruaruarua's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

bek_p87's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This is a highly ambitious, deeply moving, incredibly profound saga of intergenerational trauma. This will stay with me for a long long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

scifi_rat's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-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

Plot: 5★
Prose: 4.5★
Pace: 5 ★
Concept/Execution: 5★/5★
Characters: 4.75★
Worldbuilding: 4.75★
Ending: 4.75★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Racism, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lautreamont's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.75

i loved the first 100 pages but then it started moving on soooo fast and like i get the idea behind it but i really wanted to dive more into each individual story to the point that it got a bit frustrating in the last 100 page

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Homophobia and Alcohol