Book Review: Homegoing

Homegoing

Yaa Gyasi

Knopf

305 pages

Synopsis:

Homegoing is the story of two sisters. One, Effia,  is married to a British soldier that is involved in the slave trade, while the other sister, Esi, is actually sold into slavery. Homegoing follows the sisters and their descendants for 300 years, with each chapter focusing on family members from subsequent generations.

Effia’s ancestors stay in Africa, whereas Esi is shipped off to the United States, where the stories of her descendants continue on in various parts of the country.

My thoughts:

Unless you spent 2016 under a rock, you’ve seen Homegoing around. It was one of the big buzz books of the year and it seemed like everyone was reading it. So I had no choice in the matter, obviously.

Homegoing is a modern classic. Truly. I took an African Lit. class in college (my professor was a regal woman from Kenya who fascinated me. She was hands down my favorite professor from college) and as I read this book, I kept thinking that I could see this on a college syllabus. It has a lot to offer and the dual storylines added an interesting perspective.

The way Homegoing is broken up, into vignettes, was new for me and I appreciated that each person got a chance to tell their stories. They were all interesting, but some stuck out more for me than others. And holy crap, let me tell you–the family tree in the beginning of the book is something you must have for reference. I flipped back and forth to it countless times. I really appreciated that it was included because that many main characters, and all of them being related, just spells trouble for me.

I think it is very fitting that Homegoing will be my last review of 2016. I am so excited to see what amazing books 2017 has in store for us!