Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

7 reviews

caldobotanico's review against another edition

dark

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book deserves high praise for the way it leaps back and forth between times. Each chapter could be meaningful by itself but together they help us see things differently.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

Minor: Child death and Suicidal thoughts

rmperash's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lsam305's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

SUCH A GOOD BOOK ESPECIALLY FOR BLACK PEOPLE TO READ REALLY HELPED ME UNDERSTAND WHERE I COME FROM THROUGH BEAUTIFUL STORY TELLING 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

mima345's review against another edition

heartbreaking and triggering to me even though great writing and important messages! strong images. too strong for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

rachelwierick's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Colonisation

heybethrenee's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

This book absolutely wrecked me. It reads like a collection of short stories but because we know the characters are connected through the generations it makes what happens to them that much more impactful. While fictional, Gyasi gives a voice to the unwritten and silenced stories of Black Africans and Americans as forced change and horrors over take them.  Every white person needs to read this book. The trigger warnings are unending so be prepared for an emotionally difficult read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

jayisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I commend Yaa Gyasi for taking such a fresh approach to storytelling with Homegoing. It was an incredibly ambitious task, but one she handled phenomenally and with care to create two captivating intergenerational stories. The book starts with a split in a family lineage in present-day Ghana during the eighteenth century with two half-sisters, Effia and Esi. Homegoing, and it’s haunting, especially because it lingers in an unexpected way. Despite coming from the same mother, Effia and Esi never knew each other and led entirely different lives; one being married off to a British slave trader, while in the dungeons below, the other was enslaved and sent to the United States. From this point on and across seven generations, we get a chapter that gives a glimpse of each descendant’s life, often during significant moments in history (such as the Great Migration).

What was most powerful about Homegoing was the afterlives of every character playing a role in shaping their lineage. Through this, we see the repercussions of slavery and colonialism, resulting in the intergenerational trauma that would haunt for centuries (and, frankly, continue to haunt). The word “homegoing” marks death, but also a return to home. Gyasi pushes the reader to contemplate what shapes Black life and death, as well as what “home” means for the forcibly displaced. (There’s also a whole thing we can get into about Orlando Patterson’s “social death,” but that’s a literal essay waiting to happen.)

Homegoing is raw and emotional. While some may not be thrilled that each chapter are essentially like vignettes, I find that this approach precisely captures what Gyasi wants the reader to experience: a haunting full of unresolved ache.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Infertility, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts