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A review by lilcookie
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
5.0
How do we return home? Especially if home is a place of trauma, or you don't know where home is? How do we find ourselves in the midst of the past, present and future of? Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing answers these questions while asking more and left me reflecting on my own relationship (or lack thereof) with those who had come before me.
I absolutely love historical fiction books that traverse across time, and this novel is easily a masterpiecein this genre. By following the descendants of two Ghanian half-sisters whose lives both begin on the African continent but diverge as Esi is sold into slavery in the United States and Effia is married to a white Englishman, she crafts stories and experiences that resonate deeply. This book is filled with so many stories that could flourish into novels of their own, but these snapshots are enough to communicate Gyasi's point. The power of ancestry, stories of families across time and space, and generational traumas and victories are incredible. In ways difficult to articulate, reading this book described some of my feelings as an African-American person with no substantial knowledge of my origins on the African continent. Disconnected, but also connected by the bonds and family ties that were created in the midst/aftermath of slavery. It's a nuanced experience that Gyasi approached without judgment or pity, just recognition.
I highly recommend reading this novel. There is violence, pain and suffering of all types, and reading the experiences of colonization in Ghana and racism in the United States over time can be taxing on any person, so I took breaks. The novel was still worth it each time I returned.
I absolutely love historical fiction books that traverse across time, and this novel is easily a masterpiecein this genre. By following the descendants of two Ghanian half-sisters whose lives both begin on the African continent but diverge as Esi is sold into slavery in the United States and Effia is married to a white Englishman, she crafts stories and experiences that resonate deeply. This book is filled with so many stories that could flourish into novels of their own, but these snapshots are enough to communicate Gyasi's point. The power of ancestry, stories of families across time and space, and generational traumas and victories are incredible. In ways difficult to articulate, reading this book described some of my feelings as an African-American person with no substantial knowledge of my origins on the African continent. Disconnected, but also connected by the bonds and family ties that were created in the midst/aftermath of slavery. It's a nuanced experience that Gyasi approached without judgment or pity, just recognition.
Spoiler
The physical representation of the stone being passed down also helps emphasize this natural connection with one's predecessors, but also how the many forces surrounding our lives can sever those connections just as easily.I highly recommend reading this novel. There is violence, pain and suffering of all types, and reading the experiences of colonization in Ghana and racism in the United States over time can be taxing on any person, so I took breaks. The novel was still worth it each time I returned.