Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

41 reviews

meghancolbert's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Read this book, because it contains the raw truth that white supremacists are still trying to ban. Gyasi reveals the ugly legacy of slavery and colonialism that white historians would prefer to sugarcoat. Each character refuses, in their own way, to be a passive victim of white supremacy and their stories are told from their own perspectives, rather than that of their oppressors. 

This is the first family saga I’ve read that is done well. Each successive generation gets an equal amount of attention. Yaa Gyasi has succeeded in showing how the choices of each generation (and the choices that are made for them) impact the lives of their descendants. Yes, there were a lot of generations and yes, it would have been nice to spend more time with each of them. But I feel like the intellectual and emotional effort Gyasi demands of her readers is well rewarded at the end of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide and Police brutality

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

shlymiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Suicide and Pregnancy

sarah_js's review against another edition

informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

Beautiful. A heartbreaking and heartening story of a family broken into two lineages. A story of sacrifice, survival, impossible choices, and generational manifestations of trauma and resilience. Made me think a lot about the violence of cultural erasure; the privilege of traceable lineage; homeland and ancestors. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

themis_biblos's review against another edition

emotional sad tense 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

5.0

 Split the Castle open
find me, find you. 

 "Her trick is to make him think that he is king of the bush, what does a king matter? Really, she is king and queen and everything in between."

 "He heard the word [forgiveness] most on the few days he went to the white man's church and so it had begun to seem to him like a word the white men brought with them when they first came to Africa. A trick their Christians had learned and spoke loudly and freely about to the people of the Gold Coast. Forgiveness, they shouted, all the while committing their wrongs." 

 "Evil begets evil. It grows. It transmutes, so that sometimes you cannot see that the evil in the world began as the evil in your home."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, and War

danisbookshelfx's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

I’ve never read a book structured like this before. I enjoyed following the different characters through the generations. I was torn between anticipation of what was going to happen to the next generation and sadness that I didn’t get to see more of the previous generation! 

Really moving story. Make sure you read trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual violence and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse and Suicide

nad_books623's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As an African American and descendants of slaves this book was amazing.

I did not expect them to meet to meet at the end. I was so shocked to read that Marcus met Marjorie. The ending was everything and I did not think it would connect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Violence, Trafficking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Murder

noahsingh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad

4.25

Enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book: 
- Love a family/generational story.
-Colonial resistance storylines were really interesting.
-Felt like I heard some perspectives I hadn't heard before, and learnt some historical stuff about the exploitation of black people post-slavery I hadn't heard about before. 

Ending was a lil disappointing to me tho,

in the sense that I wish Marjorie had been aware of her families past a bit more through Akua and therefore somehow able to recognise Marcus as familiy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicide, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

bookdrunkard78's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation

htedesco's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Vomit