Homegoing

by Yaa Gyasi

trade paperback, 305 pages

English language

Published April 18, 2017 by Vintage Books.

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

(79 reviews)

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

Sharyl reviewed Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Review of 'Homegoing' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is Yaa Gyasi's award-winning debut novel--and she was only 26 years old. That in itself is fascinating. I will certainly be following her career.

Homegoing is a stunning accomplishment, covering some 25o years and eight generations, illustrating the devastation of families and culture caused by the slave trade, and creating inspirational characters along the way.

It starts as the story of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, whose lives follow two very different paths: one is married to a British officer who is involved in the slave trade, while the other is captured to be sold into slavery in America. Each chapter is a story about a descendant, and these stories alternate between Africa (what is now Ghana) and the United States.

There is wisdom in these pages that is memorable and will stay with me for quite some time. I'd recommend this novel to absolutely anyone.

seabelis reviewed Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Review of 'Homegoing' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I think this is the best book I've read all year. Makes me wish I still had a book club. There's so much packed into this book. Much to think about.

TowerOfTheArchmage reviewed Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Review of 'Homegoing' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I honestly didn't know what I was grabbing when I snagged this from the shelf at the library. It's not exactly a novel, and not exactly a short story collection, but vignettes, small slices of life from a single family over hundreds of years. Either way, it was well written, and I would have enjoyed even deeper looks into their lives.

GG reviewed Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Review of 'Homegoing' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is less a novel and more a collection of connected short stories. I recently read "Barkskins" by Annie Proulx, which is very similar insofar as it follows multiple characters down through generations, and I have many of the same criticisms. Being introduced to so many characters, many who we follow for fewer than 30 pages, makes it tough to care about any of them as individuals. Both books detail the way that injustice is carried down through generations. But "Homegoing" provides an interesting contextualization of a history that I've only read about in a dry, non-fictional context, and the book helps to make it feel much more real and immediate.

periwinkleReads reviewed Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Review of 'Homegoing' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

What a beautiful book. Each bit moved, delighted or often near wrecked me. Gyasi manages to convey emotjon consistently without losing effect. I was not prepared to read this book, but so grateful I did.