Reviews tagging 'Death'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

187 reviews

caits_lh's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Vomit, and War

baearles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Mental illness, Rape, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

minnow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

A stunning, heartbreaking book. This book follows two branches of a family throughout generations, telling heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story. We see slavery at its peak from the viewpoints of both the slaves and the African slavers, and then we follow the echoes of those experiences through multiple generations. The story is lush and vivid, graphic scenes are delivered with an edge but never go too far. 

I deducted a partial star only because there is one storyline that was paced too slowly, in my opinion. I found myself caring a little less about that character and the story dragged in that part. All other storylines were perfectly paced and engaging.

The ending of this story is beautiful, and very satisfying. All in all, a masterpiece of a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying

cortingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Heartbreaking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Colonisation, War, and Classism

thursdd4y's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

zara89's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

alishaabrahamsreads's review against another edition

4.0

i kinda feel like marjorie in the 2nd to last chapter when mrs. pinkston asks her if she likes or loves a book. if she can feel a book "deep within her" 

i think, unfortunately i only like this one. i can acknowledge the absolute mastery of craft Yaa Gyasi holds and the way her characters feel real and layered. but for some reason i didn't feel it "deep within me" -- maybe bc each ch is something new and newly horrific as well, but something just didn't click with me

also please look into TWs bc each chapter has something triggering in it (based on history, real world scenerios) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

merakiforest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Gore, and Mental illness

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

megelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

"...everything was everything. Everything bore the weight of everything else."

This is an absolute masterpiece. It's sprawling and all-encompassing whilst at the same time being deeply, deeply intimate. Naturally I connected to some characters and storylines more than I did others, but it was just such a privilege to be able to get to know so many members of one family over so many centuries. Yaa Gyasi does so much with so comparatively few pages for the multitudes this book contains, and it never feels as if anyone or anything isn't given the time and space and exploration they deserve. I am completely astounded that this is a debut novel.

I'm honestly struggling to form coherent thoughts but this just completely hit me on a level I was not expecting and I am just absolutely obsessed with it. It has so many important things to say about ancestry, history, race, relationships, and so much more, and I honestly cannot recommend it highly enough (but do be aware that it's extremely heavy - pls check content warnings <3).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Vomit

pagesbeforesunrise's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

What a feat this book is! Yaa Gyasi really did an amazing job telling the story of these two families and connecting it to real life. These characters are not just characters, they’re real people over the how many years/centuries and Yaa Gyasi communicated it in such an intriguing way. The format, at first, took some getting used to, but wow it quickly became more than a story as the book  progressed and we got introduced to more of the family. It even felt like I was hearing from my ancestors. At times it was def tough due to the content, but I couldn’t recommend enough! The ending made me tear up and I’m so glad it ended  the way it did. It really brought it all together in the best way. All in all, Homegoing makes me want to build out my own family tree and find out as much as possible about my ancestors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, and Sexual assault