Reviews

I wish I would have read a little bit more about the premise of this novel. I do think it’s an interesting premise, and I have never read a book quite like this one before.

julia_gets_lit's review against another edition

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5.0

A story of two half-sisters whose lives and lineages are thrust in different directions which will reverberate for many generations to come, this book depicted the haunting inheritance of oppression and trauma that was spurred by colonization and the slave trade. It was absolutely incredible how Gyasi is able to bring characters to life with such vividness with only one chapter dedicated to each namesake, before jumping to the other descendent line or to the next generation. I am in awe of her power of story - of creating world and character, motive and purpose, flaws and virtues, hardship and grit, so effectively and efficiently. Not to mention the research that must have gone into reiterating life from Guana and the Gold Coast, to plantations, to coal mining during Jim Crow, to the Jazz Age, to present day. What utter range Gyasi accomplishes, in both her undeniable skill as a writer as well as her navigation across characters, time, and place. Between this book and "Transcendant Kingdom", she is an author whose work I will gladly automatically buy. This book was beautiful and horrific at once.

caitlincariseo's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is amazing. The amount of history packed into 300 pages is incredible. You feel so much for each character before being thrown into a new story to start the cycle over again.

bdukes's review against another edition

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5.0

A masterfully written epic exploring the relationship between Africans and African Americans, this book is rich with Ghanaian culture and history, as well as the brutal history of American slavery and its ongoing effects. If it wasn't so graphic I would recommend it to everyone I know.

safa9706's review against another edition

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5.0

- “Black is strugglin' to find your history or trace the shit
You don't know the truth about your race 'cause they erasin' it”
- “Black is my Ghanaian brother readin' into scriptures
Doin' research on his lineage, findin' out that he's Egyptian”

I kept thinking about these two lyrics from Black by Dave the whole time I was reading this book and watching how characters were torn away from their families with no way to trace back to their roots.

It’s crazy how we as readers know more about the characters’ history and lineages than the characters themselves but it’s a clever way of demonstrating the private devastation of slavery in addition to its wider one.

I liked that by telling the story across multiple generations, we hear stories from both men and women, so we’re able to learn a snippet of what life would be like for a black man in 50s America or the daughter of a Big Man in a large tribe.

This book is heartbreaking but somehow manages to be hopeful too. Yaa Gyasi is a fantastic writer and everyone should read this book.

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