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A review by agiecummings
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Wow wow wow. I didn’t fully know what I was getting myself into when I started reading this book, but 3 chapters in I was absolutely hooked. The beautifully crafted storytelling of each of the two halves of a family tree across multiple generations, and ultimately places, was absolutely stunning. I was floored by the intricacies of this story, specifically some of the situations that the characters faced as Black “free” people in America. Often, the US education system brushes things like Jim Crow and its legacy under the rug and this so intricately explored those different circumstances in an honest and heartbreaking way.
Yaa Gyasi is a story teller and a historian wrapped up into one it felt like. I have been on a more complete and compelling history lesson on the realities of being Black and/or African in 300 pages than I have in all my years of schooling. What a gift she has given us with this book.
She says in the book that Marjorie is trying to find books that she “can feel inside” and I felt that way about this book. Every character was so complete and so real: you could feel, smell, see, and hear them as if they were sitting right next to you as you read their story. It was all-encompassing.
And, realistically, I don’t think I’ve heard a more real, honest, and raw description of what it is like to be a Black American today than in the last chapter of this book. Between the pages of 289-290 and 295-296, Yaa heartbreakingly and succinctly spells out exactly what we (white people, of colonizers’ descent) have wrought and the realities of how that affects everyday life of people who are generations removed from slavery itself. I was floored by this book. Absolutely floored.
Yaa Gyasi is a story teller and a historian wrapped up into one it felt like. I have been on a more complete and compelling history lesson on the realities of being Black and/or African in 300 pages than I have in all my years of schooling. What a gift she has given us with this book.
She says in the book that Marjorie is trying to find books that she “can feel inside” and I felt that way about this book. Every character was so complete and so real: you could feel, smell, see, and hear them as if they were sitting right next to you as you read their story. It was all-encompassing.
And, realistically, I don’t think I’ve heard a more real, honest, and raw description of what it is like to be a Black American today than in the last chapter of this book. Between the pages of 289-290 and 295-296, Yaa heartbreakingly and succinctly spells out exactly what we (white people, of colonizers’ descent) have wrought and the realities of how that affects everyday life of people who are generations removed from slavery itself. I was floored by this book. Absolutely floored.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Police brutality and War