A review by julia_gets_lit
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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.