Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

56 reviews

emilyosterloh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

The plot description was super enticing and I'm very glad that I read this book. Gyasi is a talented writer, with just enough detail to make a reader feel as if they're present but also concise. The concept of reading through the family lines of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, from Ghana in the 18th century who end up in different circumstances makes for a story that covers a wide range of themes, all of which are incredibly important and worth discussing. This book was not light, per se, but it wasn't overbearing either. Learning more about the history of a voice that is so missing from our typical educational curriculum is essential in my opinion, so I appreciated all the items this novel explored. It was an insightful collection of stories that I found created one cohesive story and the connections between each were plentiful. Each chapter is a glimpse into the life of members in Effia and Esi's lineage, and I loved the format of this book. 

Effia has an unfortunate past, especially seeing the way most of her family treats her, and though she lives well in a castle after being married off to a British soldier, her life is far from perfect. Esi may have had it even worse, as we see how young she was brought into the dungeon of the castle and traded as a slave, after watching it happen secondhand as a child. 

From then on, we switch back and forth between the descendants of each sister, which I loved because it allows the reader to draw comparisons and contrasts. In their lived experiences, they come upon themes such as exploration of sexuality, colorism, the absolute treachery of slavery, complicity, true love, independence, family ties, self-discovery, fatigue, privilege, persistence, superstition, police brutality, convict labor, unions and strikes, influences of religion (especially Christianity), colonialism, imperialism, loss, the continuation of evil, closure, addiction, and most of all, TRAUMA. The final descendant we read about really indicates the beginnings of a full circle completion, though I will not say much more than that. While I have just given a laundry list of themes, I was appreciative of their incorporation into these stories and found that each descendant brought great impact upon their offspring. It was also really fascinating to learn about cultures including Asante and Fante, and to see the stories spread over so many areas - we start in Ghana (and we come back to it), but we also travel to many cities in America, from the south to the north and even to the west when we look at every descendant's vignette. 

I've read reviews saying people believed the stories were too separated and not enough happened - and while I do admit there is a part of me that wishes I could have read more about many of the characters' lives, I also think it is valuable to have read what we received and I sometimes find that leaving things open can be good to turn the gears in our brains, at least in my opinion. My first 2025 book club read and the year is off to an excellent start. This read is important, especially in our political climate, and I would recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, and War

nerp's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

WOW. The hype is not wrong. This isn’t a traditional story with plot and character development and what have you—it’s a family epic spanning generations and countries to paint a picture of African and American Blackness. This is a book about pain and intergenerational trauma, but it’s also a book about intergenerational survival and contentment, about the knowledge and stories held in blood and ancestry. This book is about the realities and legacies of colonialism—but more than that. This is a book worth studying for craft, as the storytelling structure and the feeling of the story being told in circles so neatly works with its thematic concerns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War

rizky's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

petrareads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.75

The first half of the book is solidly 5 stars, absolutely excellent. It trails off a little bit (for me personally) in the second half. Still very good. I loved the writing. I often couldn't put the book down, I picked it up before even checking my phone one morning. I learned a lot about history, and the thing about historical fiction is that you can the feel history, viscerally, instead of it being just facts and statistics. I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War

Minor: Vomit

noble_editorial's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Brilliant! It was challenging to keep characters straight with such frequent generational shifts though, and I just wanted "more" from each storyline. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

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

ravina_b's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about this novel and as someone that loves historical family epics, I wasn’t sure how a telling of multiple generations could be conveyed completely within 300 pages.  HOMEGOING is about two sisters, one who marries a merchant and one who becomes enslaved.  Yaa Gyasi takes us through seven generations of each woman, exploring the different journeys their lives take and providing an insight into the extent of the damage that the slave trade inflicted on African communities.

I learnt a bit about how the Fante and Asante people dealt with British colonisation, and actually how little I knew about what exactly was happening when Europeans arrived in regions of Africa — gaps that I now know to learn more about.  In fact, I’ve read that Gyasi tied each character to a significant historical event and I’m not sure yet that I’m able to identify them all, so there’s a bit more work to be done on my part.

This was a tough read and some parts were extremely upsetting but, whilst I would have liked to learn a bit more about each character than I was able to with each getting roughly 20 pages each, it’s something I would turn to again.

📌 Set across Ghana and the United States.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape

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

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