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A review by melodys_library
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
5.0
Gyasi created something sorrowful, yet beautiful, with this one.
The novel is broken down into 14 chapters - each chapter told from the perspective of the next generation, from West Africa to the United States. The scope is vast - traversing thousands of years and the Atlantic Ocean, exploring themes of slavery, segregation, racism. The scope is so vast that I wound up having to draw myself a family tree as I read, tracing the lineage of the two half sisters through the generations, and forming the connection at the end.
I have one complaint: I don’t think the stones were really significant in this story, save for the fact that the narrator used them as a tangible reminder for the reader about all the past links. Unfortunately, this was the novel’s downfall. A truly great work wouldn’t be so broken up that an author should have to force connections; but I give her the benefit of the doubt given the “novel in short stories” format.
The novel is broken down into 14 chapters - each chapter told from the perspective of the next generation, from West Africa to the United States. The scope is vast - traversing thousands of years and the Atlantic Ocean, exploring themes of slavery, segregation, racism. The scope is so vast that I wound up having to draw myself a family tree as I read, tracing the lineage of the two half sisters through the generations, and forming the connection at the end.
I have one complaint: I don’t think the stones were really significant in this story, save for the fact that the narrator used them as a tangible reminder for the reader about all the past links. Unfortunately, this was the novel’s downfall. A truly great work wouldn’t be so broken up that an author should have to force connections; but I give her the benefit of the doubt given the “novel in short stories” format.