Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

198 reviews

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

bookdrunkard78's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Slavery

Minor: Alcohol, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, and Drug use

badgergatan's review against another edition

Unfortunately a touch too dark for my tastes, and a plot structure that’s difficult to follow. I may revisit it someday - this was far enough beyond my typical comfort zone that I wasn’t quite ready for itZ

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Slavery, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Racism

Moderate: Infertility, Domestic abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

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

mjverrall's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Drug use, Slavery, Racism, Addiction, Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Child abuse

addi_m's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual violence, War, Slavery, Mental illness, Death of parent, Abandonment, Addiction, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual content, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Child death

snipinfool's review

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

Homegoing followed the lives of two half-sisters, raised in different villages, whose lives took very different paths. One sister, Effia, was married off to an Englishman who oversaw the slave trade in the Gold Coast (later called Ghana). She lived in a castle-like dwelling and wanted for little. Her sister, Esi, was captured and imprisoned in the dungeon of Effia’s home. Esi was sent to America, where she was enslaved. The story followed Effia’s and Esi’s families through 300 years of time and demonstrated how the sisters’ lives shaped the six generations that followed. 

This story grabbed my attention from the beginning. Both matriarch’s stories were compelling. Noting how slavery affected each generation took the reader through a full range of emotions. Yaa Gyasi did an excellent job of conveying the struggle and pain felt by the characters in her book. My favorite character was H. A lessor man would have likely broken when faced with the hardships of H’s life. I could imagine H coming home after working in the coal mines in Alabama. I could see in my mind the coal dust clinging to his clothing, skin, and hair and could imagine his want to be as far from it as he could be. I especially liked the ending. Sometimes life has a way of putting people in one’s life that need to be there. This was an excellent story and I would recommend it to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Drug abuse, and Slavery

Moderate: Trafficking and Kidnapping

geraldineleyendo's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

An absolute gem -  It changed something inside of me and it's a book I mourned when it ended! One of the most beautiful threads I've seen, Yaa Gyasi is a genius doing a sort of "worldbuilding" focused almost exclusively on people. She created a portal to the intergenerational Black experience and how time changes everything while it also doesn't. Every story felt like a super powerful vignette, not only emotionally charged but genuinely interesting and funny at times. I am desperate to go to Ghana after reading this book, I feel SO grateful this story (or more like - "these stories" in plural, because there are many!) found me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content