A review by marissaheffler
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was incredibly well written and moving. Using chapters to separate the snapshots of individual stories was really helpful in keeping the pace of the book and preventing any chapter from being too emotionally difficult to get through. Gyasi did an incredible job of capturing a moment in a characters life while sharing enough context to be meaningful and enough specificity to put you exactly in the key moments. Following the generations and seeing how previous events showed up in later chapters was a really cool way to illustrate the impact of our ancestry on our lives in both visible and unconscious ways - it made me think about the chain of past and future we’re all living in. 

Content wise, it was interesting to read about the experience of those in Ghana both during and after the slave trade. This is not a perspective that is usually centered or that I have had much exposure to. Pairing it with the peers in America was a really powerful way to highlight the branching impact of this system throughout the generations.  
(~6 hr read, physical book)
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