Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

82 reviews

entropyseeker's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, but much like history, it wasn't exactly fun. The story traces the family line of two sisters over 20+ people and 300 years. Starting in Africa and ending in America. I loved that each of the characters felt so distinct. That each person had their own arcs and struggles, but we're still somehow rather short. Some lives were absolutely tragic and some were hopeful. I don't think I could re-read this, but great book nonetheless. Read the content warnings tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

leahb88's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

This book is so gorgeous. The way that each person’s story is woven into the whole narrative to show the impact of colonialism. I loved how the author really emphasized the importance of place, land, and community. It felt like the characters continually returned to their ancestors, sometimes in small or indirect ways, but it left you with the feeling that we are all connected and each have an impact on each other.
It might be a bit difficult to read for some because of trying to keep all the characters and timelines straight, but there’s a family tree at the beginning and I found that the chapters were laid out in a way that made it pretty easy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Homophobia and Mental illness

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

dowleyrachel's review against another edition

challenging hopeful sad 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

4.25

I liked the structure of the book, staying on a single character for only a chapter before moving onto their child. The book covered a myriad of topics and fully explored blackness both in the US and for those who stayed in Africa. Some chapters were very dark but the book had a hopeful ending where the two sides of the family meet and explore their roots together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

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

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

suryac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

The family is like the forest: if you are outside it is dense; if you are inside you see that each tree has its own position

Forgiveness, they shouted, all the while committing their wrongs

5/5🌟

How can a debut novel be this good ? Honestly the thing that surprises me more is the fact that it's a short book ( only 300 or so pages ) even though the story spans over two centuries, exploring each sister's family through the years. When I first started the book, I was sceptical, because it has a lot of characters and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep all the characters and their origin in place, but the way it was written, like a collection of short stories all related to previous generation made reading this book enjoyable.

Among all the books I've read in this particular genre, I loved reading it the most and that's all down to author's storytelling and the research behind it. I was able to learn more about slave trade and how it started out in countries like Ghana and the relationship dynamics between the slavers, the middle man and the British.

Especially with Esi's family line, It was disheartening, reading about the cruel laws that permitted the enslavement and wrongful imprisonment of innocent people in those times and it is heartbreaking to acknowledge the fact that it still persists today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

cecereads__'s review against another edition

5.0

This book was an absolute epic. The ambition and talent that went into this - and a debut as well!
It was gut-wrenching and tragic and criminally cruel, and heart-achingly stunning/heavy all at the same time.
Full of individual experiences - all including prejudice, discrimination and injustice - of about 250 years and seven generations. The subtlety of our world’s history and relationship with racism lives on to this day, and we cannot deny that or deny the history lesson that this book provides so vividly and thoroughly.

Favourite stories/chapters out of the 14 would have to be Ness, Kojo and H.
I need this to be required reading. But I also acknowledge the very heavy subject of colonialism and white superiority complexes. It is confronting but also our reality… 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

itsmaryssae's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying