Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

53 reviews

a_alves00's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Torture, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and War

catwhisperer's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Excrement, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Abandonment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Trafficking, Vomit, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

3.5

✨ Thrifted ✨

The content warnings are below. 

My friend recommended this to me, and she has some great finds so I was excited for this one.

I read the reviews earlier on though, and someone wrote that it was challenging to invest in the stories because they would get very interesting, and then move onto the next POV very quickly, and I completely agree 🥺 
The stories were gorgeous and heartbreaking but I never felt like I got to know any of the characters only because we were going too quickly.

It’s a very luxurious perspective that I have though, I am aware of this 😳

All in all, I thought this book was beautiful and I really especially enjoyed Marjorie’s story at the end 🥹 I loved Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom more so am glad to have tried her first novel ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Classism, Colonisation, Slavery, Torture, Racism, and Rape

mondovertigo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• 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: Rape, Slavery, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Excrement, Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Confinement, Child death, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

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

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

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

124smilehd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

It was cool to see how two half-sisters and their descendants' lives are changed due to the slave trade, where one family benefited from it and the other was a victim of it. Both families faced their own hardships and I loved the constant reference to fire within the novel. It was almost 5 stars for me but I just wanted a little bit more from each character, as each chapter was a different characters perspective, although the previous generation are still mentioned and involved. The stone played less of an important part than I thought it would as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Colonisation, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Addiction, and Confinement

lizclark81's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.25

A powerful read about the generational trauma of slavery in West Africa and the United States. Cleverly structured around multiple characters in different time periods, Gyasi weaves together a narrative that manages to touch on many important issues in history. A little heavy-handed at times, IMO, but a well-crafted first novel with serious themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, and Slavery

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Colonisation, and Torture

mx_sunshine's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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: Addiction, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Bullying, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Car accident and Suicide

erin52's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Trafficking, War, Racial slurs, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Addiction, Child abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Slavery, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, and Genocide

thereadhersrecap's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Queen Yaa Gyasi! 

I can't believe this book was her debut novel! The writing was spectacular. She has a way of transporting you out of your body and into the characters mind. The characterization was the best and meat of the book and Gyasi nailed it. 

The novel follows two ancestry lines of Ghanian children as the embark on separate but destined journeys. Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, born to different villages in the 18th century lead two very different lives. One is married off to an Englishman and lives in the castle on the shore, the other is imprisoned beneath her and sold into the slave trade where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. We see each character navigate historical events such as The Civil War, The Great Migration, Jim Crow, Harlem and heroin.

The books is told through a series of chapters dedicated to on individual of the ancestry. Although each chapter looks at a new character's life, Gyasi still presents a complete and cohesive story. 

Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you. Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves."

The portrait of slavery is one I will never understand, but with books like these it truly helps to paint a picture of the atrocities African's withstood. It's frustrates me that this part of American history is just a blurb in the history books.  Gyasi shows the impact slavery plays on everyone spanning generations, robbing families of spouses, killing, and structuring the world at an unfair advantage. 

“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.”

This book will stay with me forever. 


CW: abandonment, addiction, death, classism, colonization, confinement, drug abuse, forced institutionalization, hate crime, physical abuse, police brutality, racism, religious bigotry, violence, torture, sexual assault

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Torture