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Homegoing Kindle Edition
"Homegoing is an inspiration." —Ta-Nehisi Coates
An unforgettable New York Times bestseller of exceptional scope and sweeping vision that traces the descendants of two sisters across three hundred years in Ghana and America.
A riveting kaleidoscopic debut novel and the beginning of a major career: Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing is a novel about race, history, ancestry, love and time, charting the course of two sisters torn apart in 18th century Africa through to the present day.
Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonist, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising "half-caste" children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the Empire. Her sister, Esi, will be imprisoned beneath Effia in the Castle's women's dungeon, before being shipped off on a boat bound for America, where she will be sold into slavery.
Stretching from the tribal wars of Ghana to slavery and Civil War in America, from the coal mines in the north to the Great Migration to the streets of 20th century Harlem, Yaa Gyasi has written a modern masterpiece, a novel that moves through histories and geographies and—with outstanding economy and force—captures the intricacies of the troubled yet hopeful human spirit.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBond Street Books
- Publication dateJune 7, 2016
- File size5668 KB
- “We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”Highlighted by 12,282 Kindle readers
- The need to call this thing “good” and this thing “bad,” this thing “white” and this thing “black,” was an impulse that Effia did not understand. In her village, everything was everything. Everything bore the weight of everything else.Highlighted by 7,857 Kindle readers
- Forgiveness was an act done after the fact, a piece of the bad deed’s future. And if you point the people’s eye to the future, they might not see what is being done to hurt them in the present.Highlighted by 7,566 Kindle readers
- It was the way most people lived their lives, on upper levels, not stopping to peer underneath.Highlighted by 4,042 Kindle readers
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Review
A New York Times Bestseller
International Bestseller
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize for Outstanding First Book
Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction
Finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction
Runner-up of the 2017 Dayton Literary Peace Prize in fiction
Longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize
Nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
A New York Times Notable Book
A Washington Post Notable Book
A Time Top Novel
An Oprah Favorite Book
A Globe and Mail Best Book
A Guardian Best Book
A National Post Best Book
A CBC Best Book
An Entertainment Weekly Best Book
A Buzzfeed Best Book
A BBC Best Book
An Esquire Best Book
An Atlantic Best Book
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book
An NPR Best Book
A Harper's Bazaar Best Book
An Elle Best Book
A Paste Magazine Best Book
A Jezebel Best Book
An A.V. Club Favorite Book
A British GQ Best Book
A Popsugar Best Book
A Financial Times Best Book
"It's impossible not to admire the ambition and scope of Homegoing, and thanks to Ms. Gyasi's instinctive storytelling gifts, the book leaves the reader with a visceral understanding of both the savage realities of slavery and the emotional damage that is handed down, over the centuries, from mothers to daughters, fathers to sons. At its best, the novel makes us experience the horrors of slavery on an intimate, personal level; by its conclusion, the characters' tales of loss and resilience have acquired an inexorable and cumulative emotional weight." ―Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Book Review
"Gyasi's characters are so fully realized, so elegantly carved—very often I found myself longing to hear more. . . . I think I needed to read a book like this to remember what is possible. I think I needed to remember what happens when you pair a gifted literary mind to an epic task. Homegoing is an inspiration." —Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me
"A blazing success. . . . The sum of Homegoing's parts is remarkable, a panoramic portrait of the slave trade and its reverberations, told through the travails of one family that carries the scars of that legacy. . . . Gyasi's characters may be fictional, but their stories are representative of a range of experience that is all too real and difficult to uncover. Terrible things happen to them; they're constantly cleaved apart, and in the process, cut off from their own stories. In her ambitious and sweeping novel, Gyasi has made these lost stories a little more visible." —Los Angeles Times
"Homegoing is assured and propulsive, feeling as inevitable as time itself in its pacing, each chapter delving deep into the life of one man or woman, reeling through lives burned by histories both global and domestic. . . . Homegoing is in a league of its own, contemporary and complex and astoundingly assured. . . . With Homegoing, Gyasi arrives, already a major and inspiring literary talent." —Toronto Star
"Yaa Gyasi's much-anticipated novel lives up to the hype. . . . [Homegoing is a] dazzling and much-anticipated debut. . . . At 27, Gyasi is already a consummate craftsperson, ferrying us to and fro across the Atlantic with ease. . . . Homegoing is a footbridge across the Atlantic—proof that blood is thicker than wide water, confirmation that, yes indeed, we can go home again." ―Maclean’s
"Ambitious, but Gyasi pulls it off. . . . Such a powerful debut." —The Globe and Mail
"Homegoing, Gyasi's debut novel, is a work of remarkable intimacy and scope that introduces a writer whose artistry and ambitions are equally matched." ―National Post
"Homegoing [is a] hypnotic debut novel by Yaa Gyasi, a stirringly gifted young writer. . . . The great, aching gift of the novel is that it offers, in its own way, the very thing that enslavement denied its descendants: the possibility of imagining the connection between the broken threads of their origins." ―Isabel Wilkerson, The New York Times
"[A] rich debut novel. . . . [Gyasi is] asking us to consider the tangled chains of moral responsibility that hang on our history. This is one of the many issues that Homegoing explores so powerfully. . . . The 18th-century chapters resonate with the tones of legend, while the contemporary chapters shine with clear-eyed realism. And somehow all this takes place in the miraculous efficiency of just 300 pages. . . . Truly captivating." ―Ron Charles, The Washington Post
"Epic. . . . Astonishing. . . . Page-turning." —Entertainment Weekly
"Like Zadie Smith and Diana Evans and Nigel Shriver before her, Yaa Gyasi has delivered what will probably be my favourite book of 2016. . . . Extraordinary. . . . She writes so vividly that you carry every character along with you as you meet the next—their history, their tragedy, their hope, all of it coursing through, multiplied by generation. Homegoing is a beautiful achievement. . . . It's essential. It's the work of a major new voice in women's literature." —Elaine Lui, co-host of The Social
"The most powerful debut novel of 2016. . . . Carrying on in the tradition of her foremothers—like Toni Morrison, Edwidge Danticat, Assia Djebar and Bessie Head—Gyasi has created a marvelous work of fiction that both embraces and re-writes history." —Paste Magazine
"Homegoing is stunning. . . . Weaving together multiple perspectives, Gyasi's powerful novel is fire and water, black and white, broken and whole—a tremendous feat." —Winnipeg Free Press
"Tremendous. . . . Homegoingbrims with complex emotions and insights about the human condition. It is essential reading from a young writer whose stellar instincts, sturdy craftsmanship and penetrating wisdom seem likely to continue apace—much to our good fortune as readers." ―San Francisco Chronicle
"[Homegoing is] exuberantly large-canvas, taking on the biggest American themes—race and sex, history and identity—with fresh perspective. . . . [Toni Morrison's] influence is palpable in Gyasi's historicity and lyricism. . . . What is uniquely Gyasi's is her ability to connect it so explicitly to the present day: No novel has better illustrated the way in which racism became institutionalized in this country." ―Vogue
"A first novel that brims with compassion. . . . [A] sprawling epic. . . . Meshing the streets of Harlem and the Gold Coast of Ghana in the pages of one novel is a remarkable achievement. . . . In Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi has given rare and heroic voice to the missing and suppressed." ―NPR Books
"Rich, epic. . . . Each chapter is tightly plotted, and there are suspenseful, even spectacular climaxes." —Christian Lorentzen, New York Magazine
"Gripping." —Wall Street Journal
"A memorable epic of changing families and changing nations." —Chicago Tribune
"Remarkable. . . . Compelling. . . . Powerful." —Boston Globe
"Homegoing is an epic novel in every sense of the word. . . . A stunning, unforgettable account of family, history, and racism, Homegoing is an ambitious work that lives up to the hype." —Buzzfeed
"Stunning. . . . [Homegoing] may just be one of the richest, most rewarding reads of 2016." —Elle
"Homegoing is a remarkable feat—a novel at once epic and intimate, capturing the moral weight of history as it bears down on individual struggles, hopes, and fears. A tremendous debut." —Phil Klay, National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment
"Exceptionally engaging. . . . Homegoing is one hell of a book . . . the writing is so damn good. . . . I recommend Homegoing without reservation. Definitely a must read for 2016." —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist
"Moving and haunting, Homegoing is a compelling story that takes us further along the road of understanding who we are." —British GQ
"Homegoing is stunning—a truly heartbreaking work of literary genius." —Bustle
"Gyasi's amazing debut offers an unforgettable, page-turning look at the histories of Ghana and America, as the author traces a single bloodline across seven generations. . . . Gyasi writes each narrative with remarkable freshness and subtlety. A marvelous novel." ―Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The arrival of a major new voice in American literature." —Poets & Writers
"Unique. . . . Striking." —The Huffington Post
"Dazzling." —Mother Jones
"A promising debut that's awake to emotional, political and cultural tensions across time and continents." —Kirkus Reviews
"[A] commanding debut . . . [that] will stay with you long after you've finished reading. When people talk about all the things fiction can teach its readers, they're talking about books like this." —Marie Claire
"One of the most fantastic books I've read in a long time. . . . You cry and you laugh as you're reading it. . . . A beautiful story" —Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show and New York Times bestselling author of Born a Crime
"A deeply empathetic novel. . . . An affecting examination of the soul-destroying and lingering effects of slavery." —Financial Times
"Gyasi is an unshowy writer, with moments of real authority. She gives voice to suppressed stories, and that feels hugely important. . . . [Homegoing] certainly deserves our attention." —The Sunday Times (UK)
"Bewitching. . . . Just as un-put-down-able as The Girl on the Train. With twisty surprises at every bend, this haunting tale of sisters, betrayal and the murky waters of our memories will stay with you long after you turn the last page." —Popsugar
"I stayed up until four in the morning one night because I simply could not put it down." —Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & The Six via Elle
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The night effia otcher was born into the musky heat of Fanteland, a fire raged through the woods just outside her father’s compound. It moved quickly, tearing a path for days. It lived off the air; it slept in caves and hid in trees; it burned, up and through, unconcerned with what wreckage it left behind, until it reached an Asante village. There, it disappeared, becoming one with the night.
Effia’s father, Cobbe Otcher, left his first wife, Baaba, with the new baby so that he might survey the damage to his yams, that most precious crop known far and wide to sustain families. Cobbe had lost seven yams, and he felt each loss as a blow to his own family. He knew then that the memory of the fire that burned, then fled, would haunt him, his children, and his children’s children for as long as the line continued. When he came back into Baaba’s hut to find Effia, the child of the night’s fire, shrieking into the air, he looked at his wife and said, “We will never again speak of what happened today.”
The villagers began to say that the baby was born of the fire, that this was the reason Baaba had no milk. Effia was nursed by Cobbe’s second wife, who had just given birth to a son three months before. Effia would not latch on, and when she did, her sharp gums would tear at the flesh around the woman’s nipples until she became afraid to feed the baby. Because of this, Effia grew thinner, skin on small birdlike bones, with a large black hole of a mouth that expelled a hungry cry which could be heard throughout the village, even on the days Baaba did her best to smother it, covering the baby’s lips with the rough palm of her left hand.
“Love her,” Cobbe commanded, as though love were as simple an act as lifting food up from an iron plate and past one’s lips. At night, Baaba dreamed of leaving the baby in the dark forest so that the god Nyame could do with her as he pleased.
Effia grew older. The summer after her third birthday, Baaba had her first son. The boy’s name was Fiifi, and he was so fat that sometimes, when Baaba wasn’t looking, Effia would roll him along the ground like a ball. The first day that Baaba let Effia hold him, she accidentally dropped him. The baby bounced on his buttocks, landed on his stomach, and looked up at everyone in the room, confused as to whether or not he should cry. He decided against it, but Baaba, who had been stirring banku, lifted her stirring stick and beat Effia across her bare back. Each time the stick lifted off the girl’s body, it would leave behind hot, sticky pieces of banku that burned into her flesh. By the time Baaba had finished, Effia was covered with sores, screaming and crying. From the floor, rolling this way and that on his belly, Fiifi looked at Effia with his saucer eyes but made no noise.
Cobbe came home to find his other wives attending to Effia’s wounds and understood immediately what had happened. He and Baaba fought well into the night. Effia could hear them through the thin walls of the hut where she lay on the floor, drifting in and out of a feverish sleep. In her dream, Cobbe was a lion and Baaba was a tree. The lion plucked the tree from the ground where it stood and slammed it back down. The tree stretched its branches in protest, and the lion ripped them off, one by one. The tree, horizontal, began to cry red ants that traveled down the thin cracks between its bark. The ants pooled on the soft earth around the top of the tree trunk.
And so the cycle began. Baaba beat Effia. Cobbe beat Baaba. By the time Effia had reached age ten, she could recite a history of the scars on her body. The summer of 1764, when Baaba broke yams across her back. The spring of 1767, when Baaba bashed her left foot with a rock, breaking her big toe so that it now always pointed away from the other toes. For each scar on Effia’s body, there was a companion scar on Baaba’s, but that didn’t stop mother from beating daughter, father from beating mother.
Matters were only made worse by Effia’s blossoming beauty. When she was twelve, her breasts arrived, two lumps that sprung from her chest, as soft as mango flesh. The men of the village knew that first blood would soon follow, and they waited for the chance to ask Baaba and Cobbe for her hand. The gifts started. One man tapped palm wine better than anyone else in the village, but another’s fishing nets were never empty. Cobbe’s family feasted off Effia’s burgeoning womanhood. Their bellies, their hands, were never empty.
In 1775, Adwoa Aidoo became the first girl of the village to be proposed to by one of the British soldiers. She was light-skinned and sharp-tongued. In the mornings, after she had bathed, she rubbed shea butter all over her body, underneath her breasts and between her legs. Effia didn’t know her well, but she had seen her naked one day when Baaba sent her to carry palm oil to the girl’s hut. Her skin was slick and shiny, her hair regal.
The first time the white man came, Adwoa’s mother asked Effia’s parents to show him around the village while Adwoa prepared herself for him.
“Can I come?” Effia asked, running after her parents as they walked. She heard Baaba’s “no” in one ear and Cobbe’s “yes” in the other. Her father’s ear won, and soon Effia was standing before the first white man she had ever seen.
“He is happy to meet you,” the translator said as the white man held his hand out to Effia. She didn’t accept it. Instead, she hid behind her father’s leg and watched him.
He wore a coat that had shiny gold buttons down the middle; it strained against his paunch. His face was red, as though his neck were a stump on fire. He was fat all over and sweating huge droplets from his forehead and above his bare lips. Effia started to think of him as a rain cloud: sallow and wet and shapeless.
“Please, he would like to see the village,” the translator said, and they all began to walk.
They stopped first by Effia’s own compound. “This is where we live,” Effia told the white man, and he smiled at her dumbly, his green eyes hidden in fog.
He didn’t understand. Even after his translator spoke to him, he didn’t understand.
Cobbe held Effia’s hand as he and Baaba led the white man through the compound. “Here, in this village,” Cobbe said, “each wife has her own hut. This is the hut she shares with her children. When it is her husband’s night to be with her, he goes to her in her hut.”
The white man’s eyes grew clearer as the translation was given, and suddenly Effia realized that he was seeing through new eyes. The mud of her hut’s walls, the straw of the roof, he could finally see them.
They continued on through the village, showing the white man the town square, the small fishing boats formed from hollowed-out tree trunks that the men carried with them when they walked the few miles down to the coast. Effia forced herself to see things through new eyes, too. She smelled the sea-salt wind as it touched the hairs in her nose, felt the bark of a palm tree as sharp as a scratch, saw the deep, deep red of the clay that was all around them.
“Baaba,” Effia asked once the men had walked farther ahead of them, “why will Adwoa marry this man?”
“Because her mother says so.”
A few weeks later, the white man came back to pay respects to Adwoa’s mother, and Effia and all of the other villagers gathered around to see what he would offer. There was the bride price of fifteen pounds. There were goods he’d brought with him from the Castle, carried on the backs of Asantes. Cobbe made Effia stand behind him as they watched the servants come in with fabric, millet, gold, and iron.
When they walked back to their compound, Cobbe pulled Effia aside, letting his wives and other children walk in front of them.
“Do you understand what just happened?” he asked her. In the distance, Baaba slipped her hand into Fiifi’s. Effia’s brother had just turned eleven, but he could already climb up the trunk of a palm tree using nothing but his bare hands and feet for support.
“The white man came to take Adwoa away,” Effia said.
Her father nodded. “The white men live in the Cape Coast Castle. There, they trade goods with our people.”
“Like iron and millet?”
Her father put his hand on her shoulder and kissed the top of her forehead, but when he pulled away the look in his eyes was troubled and distant. “Yes, we get iron and millet, but we must give them things in return. That man came from Cape Coast to marry Adwoa, and there will be more like him who will come and take our daughters away. But you, my own, I have bigger plans for you than to live as a white man’s wife. You will marry a man of our village.”
Baaba turned around just then, and Effia caught her eyes. Baaba scowled. Effia looked at her father to see if he had noticed, but Cobbe did not say a word.
Effia knew who her choice for husband would be, and she dearly hoped her parents would choose the same man. Abeeku Badu was next in line to be the village chief. He was tall, with skin like the pit of an avocado and large hands with long, slender fingers that he waved around like lightning bolts every time he spoke. He had visited their compound four times in the last month, and later that week, he and Effia were to share a meal together.
Abeeku brought a goat. His servants carried yams and fish and palm wine. Baaba and the other wives stoked their fires and heated the oil. The air smelled rich.
That morning, Baaba had plaited Effia’s hair. Two long braids on either side of her center part. They made her look like a ram, strong, willful. Effia had oiled her naked body and put gold in her ears. She sat across from Abeeku as they ate, pleased as he stole appreciative glances.
“Were you at Adwoa’s ceremony?” Baaba asked once all of the men had been served and the women finally began to eat.
“Yes, I was there, but only briefly. It is a shame Adwoa will be leaving the village. She would have made a good wife.”
“Will you work for the British when you become chief?” Effia asked. Cobbe and Baaba sent her sharp looks, and she lowered her head, but she lifted it to find Abeeku smiling.
“We work with the British, Effia, not for them. That is the meaning of trade. When I am chief, we will continue as we have, facilitating trade with the Asantes and the British.”
Effia nodded. She wasn’t exactly sure what this meant, but she could tell from her parents’ looks that it was best to keep her mouth shut. Abeeku Badu was the first man they had brought to meet her. Effia wanted desperately for him to want her, but she did not yet know what kind of man he was, what kind of woman he required. In her hut, Effia could ask her father and Fiifi anything she wanted. It was Baaba who practiced silence and preferred the same from Effia, Baaba who had slapped her for asking why she did not take her to be blessed as all the other mothers did for their daughters. It was only when Effia didn’t speak or question, when she made herself small, that she could feel Baaba’s love, or something like it. Maybe this was what Abeeku wanted too.
Abeeku finished eating. He shook hands with everyone in the family, and stopped by Effia’s mother. “You will let me know when she is ready,” he said.
Baaba clutched a hand to her chest and nodded soberly. Cobbe and the other men saw Abeeku off as the rest of the family waved.
That night, Baaba woke Effia up while she was sleeping on the floor of their hut. Effia felt the warmth of her mother’s breath against her ear as she spoke. “When your blood comes, Effia, you must hide it. You must tell me and no one else,” she said. “Do you understand?” She handed Effia palm fronds that she had turned into soft, rolled sheets. “Place these inside of you, and check them every day. When they turn red, you must tell me.”
Effia looked at the palm fronds, held in Baaba’s outstretched hands. She didn’t take them at first, but when she looked up again there was something like desperation in her mother’s eyes. And because the look had softened Baaba’s face somehow, and because Effia also knew desperation, that fruit of longing, she did as she was told. Every day, Effia checked for red, but the palm fronds came out greenish-white as always. In the spring, the chief of the village grew ill, and everyone watched Abeeku carefully to see if he was ready for the task. He married two women in those months, Arekua the Wise, and Millicent, the half-caste daughter of a Fante woman and a British soldier. The soldier had died from fever, leaving his wife and two children much wealth to do with as they pleased. Effia prayed for the day all of the villagers would call her Effia the Beauty, as Abeeku called her on the rare occasions when he was permitted to speak to her.
Millicent’s mother had been given a new name by her white husband. She was a plump, fleshy woman with teeth that twinkled against the dark night of her skin. She had decided to move out of the Castle and into the village once her husband died. Because the white men could not leave money in their wills to their Fante wives and children, they left it to other soldiers and friends, and those friends paid the wives. Millicent’s mother had been given enough money for a new start and a piece of land. She and Millicent would often come visit Effia and Baaba, for, as she said, they would soon be a part of the same family.
Millicent was the lightest-skinned woman Effia had ever seen. Her black hair reached down to the middle of her back and her eyes were tinged with green. She rarely smiled, and she spoke with a husky voice and a strange Fante accent.
“What was it like in the Castle?” Baaba asked Millicent’s mother one day while the four women were sitting to a snack of groundnuts and bananas.
“It was fine, fine. They take care of you, oh, these men! It is like they have never been with a woman before. I don’t know what their British wives were doing. I tell you, my husband looked at me like I was water and he was fire, and every night he had to be put out.”
The women laughed. Millicent slipped Effia a smile, and Effia wanted to ask her what it was like with Abeeku, but she did not dare.
Baaba leaned in close to Millicent’s mother, but still Effia could hear, “And they pay a good bride price, eh?”
“Enh, I tell you, my husband paid my mother ten pounds, and that was fifteen years ago! To be sure, my sister, the money is good, but I for one am glad my daughter has married a Fante. Even if a soldier offered to pay twenty pounds, she would not get to be the wife of a chief. And what’s worse, she would have to live in the Castle, far from me. No, no, it is better to marry a man of the village so that your daughters can stay close to you.”
Baaba nodded and turned toward Effia, who quickly looked away. That night, just two days after her fifteenth birthday, the blood came. It was not the powerful rush of the ocean waves that Effia had expected it to be, but rather a simple trickle, rain dripping, drop by drop, from the same spot of a hut’s roof. She cleaned herself off and waited for her father to leave Baaba so that she could tell her.
“Baaba,” she said, showing her the palm fronds painted red.
“I have gotten my blood.”
Baaba placed a hand over her lips.
“Who else knows?”
“No one,” Effia said.
“You will keep it that way. Do you understand? When anyone asks you if you have become a woman yet, you will answer no.”
Effia nodded. She turned to leave, but a question was burning hot coals in the pit of her stomach.
“Why?” she finally asked.
Baaba reached into Effia’s mouth and pulled out her tongue, pinching the tip with her sharp fingernails.
“Who are you that you think you can question me, enh? If you do not do as I say, I will make sure you never speak again.” She released Effia’s tongue, and for the rest of the night, Effia tasted her own blood.
Product details
- ASIN : B01CWZFDM0
- Publisher : Bond Street Books (June 7, 2016)
- Publication date : June 7, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 5668 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 306 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0241242738
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,017 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author
Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. Her debut novel, Homegoing, was awarded the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for best first book, the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first book of fiction, the National Book Foundation’s “5 under 35” honors for 2016, and the American Book Award. She lives in Brooklyn.
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Customers find the book glorious, stunning, and well-done. They also describe the storytelling as good, fascinating, and complex. Readers praise the prose as beautifully written and easy to read. They describe the subject matter as relevant and important. They find the characters compelling and connect with them. Additionally, they mention the emotional content is heartbreaking, poignant, and tender.
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Customers find the book glorious, stunning, and rich. They describe it as masterful, literary, and sweeping in scope. Readers also mention the book is powerful, engaging, and eye-opening about the struggles black people have faced.
"This novel, Gyasi's first, is absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking...." Read more
"...This book was the perfect length, composition, style, everything...." Read more
"...I just found the book so powerful on so many levels, from compelling characters that you cared about to a broader picture of the horrors of slavery..." Read more
"Very eye opening about (a few) of the struggles black folks have faced in America over the past three decades as well as what their counterparts..." Read more
Customers find the storytelling good, fascinating, and masterful. They describe the book as an extraordinary, complex novel told over generations of two families. Readers also say the last chapters are especially beautiful and powerful. They describe the writing as fluent and engaging.
"...The whole novel reads this way. Tragic, magical, mythic. Gyasi is a poet writing prose, my favorite kind of fiction...." Read more
"...Another notable piece is that the author rarely embellishes historical events and portrays the reality of both slavery and segregation fairly, as..." Read more
"...An incredible story woven through 8 generations into present day. My attention was hooked for page 1 and I struggled to put the it down...." Read more
"...It's a very interesting way to write this story which would be prohibitively long if written in a traditional narrative...." Read more
Customers find the prose beautifully written and easy to read. They also say the book is a stunning thought-provoking read with a strong underlying emphasis on nature versus nurture. Readers mention the themes in the book are rich, and the author does a tremendous job of creating paradoxes and connections between coexisting themes.
"...The whole novel reads this way. Tragic, magical, mythic. Gyasi is a poet writing prose, my favorite kind of fiction...." Read more
"...The author does an amazing job with dialogue, as the story progresses through time so do the mannerisms and actions of each individual...." Read more
"...Gyasi has such an incredible writing style that brings the words to life. I felt like I was there living these scenes right alongside the characters...." Read more
"Incredibly clever device of choosing to spotlight one individual’s story from each generation, and linking the history with gold nuggets of loving..." Read more
Customers find the book thought-provoking, engrossing, and eye-opening. They say the subject matter is relevant and important. Readers also mention the writing style brings the words to life.
"...These characters are real, mythic, and elemental---what begins in fire must end in water." Read more
"...past culture and reuniting with it, and it conveys this message brilliantly through clever symbolism instead of upfront dialogue which many stories..." Read more
"...Gyasi has such an incredible writing style that brings the words to life. I felt like I was there living these scenes right alongside the characters...." Read more
"...I couldn't put it down. This was such an engrossing book that even when I forced myself to stop and go to bed (well after midnight most nights) I..." Read more
Customers find the characters compelling, interesting, and connectable. They say the book has everything and they are able to fill their pain and love.
"...These characters are real, mythic, and elemental---what begins in fire must end in water." Read more
"...of both slavery and segregation fairly, as well as making their characters realistically flawed...." Read more
"...I could not keep the characters lineage straight in my mind. I think I would have had an easier time if I had read this in one or two sittings...." Read more
"...I just found the book so powerful on so many levels, from compelling characters that you cared about to a broader picture of the horrors of slavery..." Read more
Customers find the book very emotional, heartbreaking, poignant, and beautiful. They also feel tenderness during the bittersweet moments. Readers describe the book as deep, intense, and lovely. They say it offers moments of compassion and hope.
"...The whole novel reads this way. Tragic, magical, mythic. Gyasi is a poet writing prose, my favorite kind of fiction...." Read more
"...from the insides of the characters you feel about: prosperity, comfort, safety and love of family even during brutal wars in Vietnam, then..." Read more
"...She was so strong, so brave, and so very heartbreaking. I would be so incredibly proud to have someone like her in my family tree...." Read more
"...There are heartbreaking stories, there are romance stories, there are stories about identity, and many other deeper topics...." Read more
Customers find the book amazing, profound, and haunting. They say it's clever in that it spans over 100 years of experiences from two completely different sides. Readers also mention the book is interesting, captivated, and enlightening.
"...As such this method keeps the reader engaged as time jumps ahead, but keeps the story manageable...." Read more
"...Worth reading, feels like traveling in time, and an unexpected ending!" Read more
"...where there is so much civil unrest and turmoil, it is enlightening to read this book and be able to witness how the events in this book apply to..." Read more
"...This epic novel takes readers on a profound and haunting journey through generations, offering a breathtaking exploration of the impact of slavery..." Read more
Customers find the book interesting and painful. They say it's an exploration of different African cultures and the role that African tribes played in slavery. Readers also mention the author does a great job of educating about colonialism and slavery in Ghana. Overall, they describe the book as a beautiful novel of the African and Black plight.
"...Overall, interesting viewpoint of the slave trade industry in Ghana." Read more
"Yaa Gyasi's 'Homegoing' is a masterful exploration of the diasporic experience, seamlessly weaving the intricate tales of Africans, African Americans..." Read more
"...The portions in Ghana were interesting, but due to my ignorance of African history, it was a bit difficult to follow at times...." Read more
"...The stories highlight important themes of captivity, slavery, and colonization...." Read more
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Loving Homegoing from YaaGyasi
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Top reviews from the United States
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The whole novel reads this way. Tragic, magical, mythic. Gyasi is a poet writing prose, my favorite kind of fiction.
That's not to say Homegoing is short on plot. It certainly isn't. But, to put it mildly, the family tree Gyasi provides at the outset is essential. This novel's structure is the source of its power even though I found it frustrating at times---I think that frustration is part of Gyasi's "message" (if art can be said to have something so crassly overt like that). In a move that's become standard PoMo novel writing procedure, each chapter is about a different character. The story proceeds chronologically, charting the ancestral fate of two sisters who never knew each other, but at one time early on, were merely feet apart. So that's a traditional enough structural approach. But the beauty and tragedy of Gyasi's art comes from something I found frustrating at first. You get attached some of these people! So amazing at characterization is Gyasi, that after only 20 or so pages per chapter, I found myself hooked, time and time again on that character's story and fate.
But Gyasi leaves the reader like that. Yes, there are mentions here and there of a previous ancestor, but by and large, we, like the characters themselves are cut off from the past. One of the many tragic consequences of the slave trade was an erasure of identity, a hole where the past belonged.
So the novel, by moving from generation to generation, character to character without "finishing" each story, poetically reenacts that anxiety inducing feeling of homelessness. Indeed, Gyasi ingeniously reDEFINES homelessness---for us and these characters (and the millions of real life slaves forced over), it is the loss of personal and communal narrative. The silent gaps between each story sit like maps facedown at the bottom of the sea.
In large measure, as the title suggests, the novel functions as an exploration of how generations of ancestral Ghanaians attempt to find or build some home to go BACK and FORWARD to. Without spoiling, Gyasi ends the novel breathtakingly but, of course, without a bow. These characters are real, mythic, and elemental---what begins in fire must end in water.
The author does an amazing job with dialogue, as the story progresses through time so do the mannerisms and actions of each individual. Character’s speak as they would do in their respective time frame, and their stories are heavily predicated based on the events of their time as well.
Canonicity and cause and effect are this book’s highlight. Just as the effects of the slave trade and segregation echo throughout history so does the importance of each character’s past. The story has a great message about the importance of knowing your past culture and reuniting with it, and it conveys this message brilliantly through clever symbolism instead of upfront dialogue which many stories seem to suffer from nowadays.
Another notable piece is that the author rarely embellishes historical events and portrays the reality of both slavery and segregation fairly, as well as making their characters realistically flawed. These characters are not perfect beings or child prodigies they are simply human which is what makes them far more endearing.
Not only do I recommend this book be read in general, I believe it should also be required reading for literature classes considering the historical context as well as how much it expertly crafts characters and dialogue. Overall, I would say this book is a definite purchase and a must read for any person or class.
An incredible story woven through 8 generations into present day. My attention was hooked for page 1 and I struggled to put the it down.
Gyasi has such an incredible writing style that brings the words to life. I felt like I was there living these scenes right alongside the characters. The most heartbreaking of scenes left me tearing up.
I don't often have books where I finish the book and just sit staring at the cover for 5 minutes. This book was the perfect length, composition, style, everything. I would have happily read 200 more pages, but then I don't think the ending would have been as good.
5 ⭐
Top reviews from other countries
Each chapter has a different POV for a specific character, and each chapter moves from one generation to the next.
The flow of the story is very smooth and captivating, even though covering very dark topics from a very dark era, depicting how awful slavery and recism are.
The soft over version I purchased is good as well.
A recommended read indeed.
This book, Homegoing, is based on the Atlantic slave trade of Ghana and writes about slavery in the past to racism in the present time. The story spans a few centuries and includes a generation of tales. Two sisters, Esi and Effia, unaware of each other's existence, take on two different paths of fate. While Esi is sold into slavery in exchange for goods, Effia gets married to a slave trader. When Effia is spending her happily married life in the castle with James, she is oblivious to the cage downstairs that holds many enslaved Black people, including Esi and her son. Both their lives take twists and turns, none better than the other. No matter how and where they lived, their skin colour always seemed to be a matter of concern for people around them.
PROS: A great historical fiction with a multigenerational theme providing insights into the slave trade of Ghana.
The book is in multiple POVs, and every character in the book is covered in a separate chapter. There is no single main character in the book. It seems to me that their shared identity is the main character.
Each chapter felt like a separate short story for each character, yet they remained connected throughout. Every person described in the book left an everlasting impression in my mind. I particularly loved the ending so much. The way their fates met and the detailing of the impact of generational trauma on each and every individual was too perfect.
The writing and language were so good that I never realised I had finished the book in two days.
Though I made their family tree on my own, the book also has an useful representation which helps the readers connect with the characters.
CONS: I needed more details on some characters, obviously because their portions were exceptionally stunning but over too soon.
This book has given me enough reasons to explore more multigenerational books, and I recommend this one to all who want the same.
Reviewed in India on May 8, 2023
This book, Homegoing, is based on the Atlantic slave trade of Ghana and writes about slavery in the past to racism in the present time. The story spans a few centuries and includes a generation of tales. Two sisters, Esi and Effia, unaware of each other's existence, take on two different paths of fate. While Esi is sold into slavery in exchange for goods, Effia gets married to a slave trader. When Effia is spending her happily married life in the castle with James, she is oblivious to the cage downstairs that holds many enslaved Black people, including Esi and her son. Both their lives take twists and turns, none better than the other. No matter how and where they lived, their skin colour always seemed to be a matter of concern for people around them.
PROS: A great historical fiction with a multigenerational theme providing insights into the slave trade of Ghana.
The book is in multiple POVs, and every character in the book is covered in a separate chapter. There is no single main character in the book. It seems to me that their shared identity is the main character.
Each chapter felt like a separate short story for each character, yet they remained connected throughout. Every person described in the book left an everlasting impression in my mind. I particularly loved the ending so much. The way their fates met and the detailing of the impact of generational trauma on each and every individual was too perfect.
The writing and language were so good that I never realised I had finished the book in two days.
Though I made their family tree on my own, the book also has an useful representation which helps the readers connect with the characters.
CONS: I needed more details on some characters, obviously because their portions were exceptionally stunning but over too soon.
This book has given me enough reasons to explore more multigenerational books, and I recommend this one to all who want the same.