Scan barcode
runekeon's review against another edition
5.0
An epic story of a Ghana family from the start of slavery to modern times. Just enough detail in each story to keep you wanting more but feeling the story deeply. Highly recommend this book.
mayokid's review against another edition
5.0
An outstanding book dealing with the horrific long-term effects of imperialism and colonialism. The way Gyasi has structured the novel-with all its characters and connections spanning 200 years is clever and phenomenal.
jamuckley's review against another edition
5.0
"Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi is one of the best books I've read all year. Wow! This was a genealogy of sorts starting in Ghana as a struggle between the Ashanti people inland and Fante people of the Gold Coast. It is the story of two sisters, born of one father and different mothers and how in the struggle, one is captured and sold into slavery to the British, and the other escapes and marries a British officer, Captain of the Castle in which her sister is imprisoned.
From that moment of time, the lives of these newly formed families go in dramatically different directions, one into slavery in the Deep South, and the other remaining in Ghana. Gyasi alternates between key children in the family line and how their life choices and the tragic circumstances that happen against them lead them down the path to their family's situation today.
Some of the themes of "Homegoing" include matriarchy versus patriarchy, family, religion, slavery versus imprisonment, racism, discrimination, colorism, socioeconomic status, among others. It is both a tragic and inspirational story of the Ghanaian people and the global struggle of Western civilization and the African nations that both fought the conquering whites, and garnered their favor by selling their countrymen into slavery.
While Gyasi offers no direct means for righting the wrongs and injustices of the past, her story bringing light to the horrors of slavery and the following years of prejudice and inequality shines a light on the urgent issues that endure to this day as a legacy of that dark past. When we can honestly look at that history and then see the present-day in a new light because of it, we can begin to make steps in the right direction for the future.
From that moment of time, the lives of these newly formed families go in dramatically different directions, one into slavery in the Deep South, and the other remaining in Ghana. Gyasi alternates between key children in the family line and how their life choices and the tragic circumstances that happen against them lead them down the path to their family's situation today.
Some of the themes of "Homegoing" include matriarchy versus patriarchy, family, religion, slavery versus imprisonment, racism, discrimination, colorism, socioeconomic status, among others. It is both a tragic and inspirational story of the Ghanaian people and the global struggle of Western civilization and the African nations that both fought the conquering whites, and garnered their favor by selling their countrymen into slavery.
While Gyasi offers no direct means for righting the wrongs and injustices of the past, her story bringing light to the horrors of slavery and the following years of prejudice and inequality shines a light on the urgent issues that endure to this day as a legacy of that dark past. When we can honestly look at that history and then see the present-day in a new light because of it, we can begin to make steps in the right direction for the future.
starrynews's review against another edition
4.0
The library hold list for this book got to my name shortly after I finished reading Stamped From the Beginning, and I greatly appreciate that timing. The combo was intense, but very fitting. Esi's family line in the US both captured the progress (or lack thereof) on slavery and racism over time, and also very much humanized it, showing the effects on each generation and how it influenced each descendant in turn. Effia's family line in Ghana illustrated information that I was less familiar with, depicting how the slave trade was conducted on the other side of the ocean, and what it meant for families and villages to embrace or defy participation in it. It is an intense and powerful read, and very thought-provoking.
sammerjam's review against another edition
5.0
Only word to describe this book is, EPIC! The way the characters are linked through the hundreds of years the story spans is fascinating. Highly recommend!
heidi_a's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely engrossing. This book will stay with me for a long time.
nancypolo's review against another edition
3.0
After reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, I came across this dual interview with Zadie Smith, author of another favorite book, White Teeth. Smith talks about coalition across difference, which resonates so deeply within me as something I've longed for my whole life and never quite achieved.
I grew up in a working class neighborhood very much like Ms. Smith's in London. It was possible to tour the world in our small neighborhood just off Duke Street in Alexandria, VA. We were Italian, Korean, Pakistani, Indian, Greek, North West African, Salvadorian, Mexican, Black American, and the other people who called themselves White. Our parents did not have cookouts, or Tupperware parties. As kids we played on the streets for hours together, but rarely did we go into each other's homes. There are three birthday parties I remember being asked to, or asking others to be a part of--one of which was my eighth.
There was no community organizing on South Gordon Street, Vermont or Usher Avenue, or South French Street. We were piled together in a series of blocks by circumstance. The only time our community banded together as a neighborhood was to protest tractor trailers that drove down South Gordon to the industrial park on Wheeler Avenue. The adults were afraid children would be hurt. All we knew is that our parents expected us to end up somewhere else... eventually. As children we were making the best of it, playing together and not worrying about anything. I haven't felt that freedom in years.
In this interview, activist Adrienne Maree Brown is quoted, "All Community organizing is speculative fiction. You have to imagine the world you are trying to build into."
I mourn the opportunity that we held as children, but were not taught to appreciate. No one who knew me and played with me before the age of fourteen, on those four humble streets, knows me now, except for my mother and brother. I know that is not a unique circumstance, but it defines a loneliness and an inability to achieve a sense of belonging I still crave.
On Saturday I attended the Unity March in Berryville. It is what many hope will be a fruitful beginning to real change. In a world where color still bleeds across a harsh divide between success and failure to thrive, we must reimagine. Perhaps children playing on streets together hold more than just a jump rope. They hold the possibility that All Lives Will Matter. This won't happen until #BlackLivesMatter
I grew up in a working class neighborhood very much like Ms. Smith's in London. It was possible to tour the world in our small neighborhood just off Duke Street in Alexandria, VA. We were Italian, Korean, Pakistani, Indian, Greek, North West African, Salvadorian, Mexican, Black American, and the other people who called themselves White. Our parents did not have cookouts, or Tupperware parties. As kids we played on the streets for hours together, but rarely did we go into each other's homes. There are three birthday parties I remember being asked to, or asking others to be a part of--one of which was my eighth.
There was no community organizing on South Gordon Street, Vermont or Usher Avenue, or South French Street. We were piled together in a series of blocks by circumstance. The only time our community banded together as a neighborhood was to protest tractor trailers that drove down South Gordon to the industrial park on Wheeler Avenue. The adults were afraid children would be hurt. All we knew is that our parents expected us to end up somewhere else... eventually. As children we were making the best of it, playing together and not worrying about anything. I haven't felt that freedom in years.
In this interview, activist Adrienne Maree Brown is quoted, "All Community organizing is speculative fiction. You have to imagine the world you are trying to build into."
I mourn the opportunity that we held as children, but were not taught to appreciate. No one who knew me and played with me before the age of fourteen, on those four humble streets, knows me now, except for my mother and brother. I know that is not a unique circumstance, but it defines a loneliness and an inability to achieve a sense of belonging I still crave.
On Saturday I attended the Unity March in Berryville. It is what many hope will be a fruitful beginning to real change. In a world where color still bleeds across a harsh divide between success and failure to thrive, we must reimagine. Perhaps children playing on streets together hold more than just a jump rope. They hold the possibility that All Lives Will Matter. This won't happen until #BlackLivesMatter
yaw's review against another edition
5.0
Phenomenal
I could write a book about how good this novel is. It just covered so much history in such a personal way that I’m really dumbfounded. Some of it can be tough to get through simply because of the subject matter, but it is well worth all the praise it is getting. But the writing was magnificent. It read like with the fluidity of a movie; a lot of significant phrasing throughout. Really a lovely and wonderful work of fiction. I was sad to get to the end!
I could write a book about how good this novel is. It just covered so much history in such a personal way that I’m really dumbfounded. Some of it can be tough to get through simply because of the subject matter, but it is well worth all the praise it is getting. But the writing was magnificent. It read like with the fluidity of a movie; a lot of significant phrasing throughout. Really a lovely and wonderful work of fiction. I was sad to get to the end!
annawhite2260's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0