Hello, Readers!
I just finished a wonderful book!
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
From Amazon:
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 indelibly 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.
When I first looked at the book, I noticed that each chapter was about a different person. (huh?) The book begins with a chapter about Effia and her life. The second chapter is about Esi, the second family story in the book, and her life. The next chapter is about Effia’s son, James, which goes back to the first family’s story.
WAIT! How am I going to find out what happens to Effia when they have already moved onto the next generation? Well, that is what is absolutely amazing about this book. The third chapter, James, is about Effia’s son. He tells his life story while continuing Effia’s story from a son’s point of view. It is amazing how the author tells the stories of the generations throughout the story, but in a way that I have never encountered in a book before. It also has a wonderful wrap-up at the end of the book for both family lines. The author wrote this in a brilliant manner.
I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars! In my opinion, it is a must read!