Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

14 reviews

elizabethgreads's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-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? No

2.5

This is a simply not a book for me, however the author shows promise and I will likely pick up another book by her in the future.  What didn't work for me was just how many characters you follow throughout the book and just how little time you have with each of them.  While the author brilliantly showed historical context, events, and the struggles of both the people in Ghana and those that ended up in the US, we weren't with them enough to become emotionally connected.  I did enjoy how intergenerational trauma was explored and felt that it was a strength of the book.  I also enjoyed seeing how the families of the two sisters lives were very different thought out the generations. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about the multigenerational trauma that colonialism and slavery caused.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

nataliecoyne's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

The 4.5-star rating instead of a 5-star rating is because it was a bit difficult to really get into at the beginning. But I quickly fell in love with it and the dual storylines of the two branches of the family (one branch that ended up staying in Ghana vs one that ended up enslaved in America). I would definitely recommend this to others, though urge others to keep in mind this is more character-focused than necessarily plot-focused (which is why I think it was a bit difficult to initially get into).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and War

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

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

crybabybea's review against another edition

reflective sad 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, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

beanew's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.25

Gyasi’s storytelling is a magnificent accomplishment in oral tradition despite being a written book. The many vignettes throughout the generations read like one would expect a great oral storyteller to speak, capturing every detail and filling the listener with emotion and understanding. 
The motifs throughout the book were well explored and neatly wrapped up, and I wish I had could write an essay on the ways Gyasi chose to resolve certain elements (the stone necklaces!!!). I found so many of the characters deeply compelling and empathetic, so wildly different from each other. Gyasi never shies away from the brutality of the slave trade, it feels very painfully realistic in ways that Americans are never truly shown in history class. 
My criticisms are that I felt the very final chapter was not as moving as I expected it to be simply because Marcus is the least fleshed-out character (in my opinion) of the whole book, so to end with him felt weak. I loved the character of Marjorie, but I found that the similarities to Gyasi’s own life experiences took me out of the story many times; instead of being immersed, I found myself wondering which pieces of that chapter were autobiographical or wish fulfillment of the author. Also a pattern of minor fat phobia happened frequently enough that it simply can’t be the character’s perspectives, it’s just Gyasi’s opinion. Beautiful people are “thick”, dumb/mean/loud/gluttonous people are “fat”. Felt weird, but didn’t majorly detract from the story! 
Overall, the concept was so beautifully executed and the book was so moving and heartbreaking in equal measures. I would highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death and Colonisation

Minor: Fatphobia

seaschells's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

jae_bird's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Suicide, and Vomit

jesshindes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I came to Homegoing a bit late, or a bit backwards; I read Yaa Gyasi's second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, in book group last year (great choice, thanks Rosie) and only got around to reading her first this year. That wasn't because of any lack of enthusiasm; I loved Transcendent Kingdom and had heard a lot of great things about this novel. All of them were correct! Homegoing packs several centuries, two continents, and dozens of characters into just over 300 pages and somehow manages to give the reader a meaningful insight into all of them.  The novel begins with two sisters in what is now Ghana - one who marries a white slaver, one of whom is sold into slavery - and continues on through the line of their descendants up until the present day. Each pair of chapters steps forward another generation along its parallel lines: the branch of the family which stays in Africa and those who are taken to the USA. You drop into a moment of each character's life - maybe a few months, a year - and then whoosh, the baby you've seen toddling around in the previous chapter is an adult and you're seeing the world through their eyes. It's such a compelling narrative effect but in the hands of a less skilful writer, it's easy to see how the characters might have felt flat or emblematic; this is the enslaved character working in the cotton fields, this is the character in early 20th-century Harlem who wishes she were a singer, etc. But it doesn't feel like that. They're all beautifully rendered, complex people and - what I really, really liked - they're all reasonably well-informed about the family who preceded them. They're connected to their ancestors. The people who you know up close are remembered by their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, part of the story of itself that each branch of the family tells. I loved that. Even under circumstances that would make it very easy to lose touch with the past, these histories are not forgotten but rather become a crucial part of how each character sees him or herself. 

That connection and that memory is I think particularly important in the context of a novel that necessarily deals with a huge amount of brutality and suffering. Obviously the history of the slave trade and its historical ramifications is a horrible, bleak history of colonial violence and Gyasi doesn't shy away from that (nor should she) but she finds a counterbalance in the way that her characters hang onto their humanity - their family, their community - in the face of everything that is done to them. It's an incredibly tricky balancing act to pull off, I think - to depict the pain clearly and honestly without making a book that's so unrelenting it becomes unbearable - which is one of the very many reasons that I cannot BELIEVE this was a debut novel. What a thing to have written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and War

vaniafernandez_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism