Winner of the NBCC's John Leonard First Book Prize
A New York Times 2016 Notable Book
One of Oprah’s 10 Favorite Books of 2016
NPR's Debut Novel of the Year
One of Buzzfeed's Best Fiction Books Of 2016
One of Time's Top 10 Novels of 2016
“Homegoing is an inspiration.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates
The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.
Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.
"Homegoing" is less a novel (as it says on the cover) than a connected series of short stories covering two lines of ancestors stemming from one single woman: Maame, from Ghana.
Book content warnings: slavery rape n slur abuse (domestic and in so many other ways) cr*pple slur
I've never read anything like this. It covers three hundred years, beginning in Ghana, and splitting to become an American story as well. Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, are Maame's daughters who live in two different villages in Ghana. And that's where their stories diverge. Esi is sold as a slave and shipped to America, while Effia stays in Ghana.
Esi's children are born into slavery in America, and her line continues through the Civil War, jazz clubs, dope houses, coal mines, etc., right up to contemporary America. And Effia's ancestors in Ghana deal with wars between the Fante and Asante nations--not to mention all the while struggling with British colonization.
I'm not going to lie, this book was ... heavy. Hard to read during several parts (maybe most of the book?), but it was ultimately worth it. Will I read it again? Maybe not, but I don't regret reading it.
Every character is uniquely interesting, flawed, real, and compelling. Even when I disliked someone, I still wanted to read more about their story. Yaa Gyasi is an incredible character writer. Each character is also somehow connected to every person that came before them, somehow haunted, maybe. One line of the ancestry with fire, one line with water. And at the end, they meet together in the Most satisfying way!
This is the shortest review ever, and I told you maybe nothing of my actual opinions on it, but that's okay. It took me a couple days to even write this much. It wasn't even the "heaviest" of books, but I can't really gather my thoughts here. The writing is wonderful, and the whole book is constructed in a beautiful, impactful way. I guess that's enough.
