Homegoing

by

trade paperback, 305 pages

English language

Published April 18, 2017 by Vintage Books.

ISBN:
978-1-101-97106-2
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
989489858

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5 stars (1 review)

Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.

Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation. --back cover

27 editions

reviewed Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

I feel like this is a must-read for everyone.

5 stars

This book is HEAVY. Would not recommend picking this one up if you are in an emotional state at all because this will rip you apart. Gyasi does an amazing job with writing about the Black experiences throughout history. You're following a family line through multiple generations from the beginning of slaves being sold off to the white men.

While this is a very heavy book on the emotions, it is not just trauma on display. There are a lot of heartfelt, joyful moments between family members and an underlying vein of hopefulness that you'll be able to see the family break out of the literal and metaphorical chains that they were placed in. The ending of the book was perfect and made me smile.

Cannot recommend this enough. Read this book!

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