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I really don’t even know where to start with this book. It’s wonderful, different, but absolutely wonderful. Each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective through the generations of these two half-sisters. Effia marries a white slaver, and her half-sister Esi is sold into slavery. Effia gets Chapter One, and Esi gets Chapter Two. The subsequent chapters follow the next generation in that order. For example, Effia’s child gets Chapter Three, and Esi’s child gets Chapter Four, and so on and so forth. Don’t worry, there’s a family tree in the beginning of the book.

I couldn’t put this book down. It’s a quick read, but that doesn’t necessarily make it an easy read. I think it should be hard to read books like this, that deal with heavy topics such as this, but I also couldn’t stop reading it. Many people have commented on the fact that they didn’t like the chaptered style of reading, I, however, loved it. I loved the glimpse we got into each characters life and how in the subsequent or even previous generations we’d see more of their lives.

I felt like Gyasi knew the power of a story, and how an intentional glimpse into a life tells so much, and how much you can see in that experience. You can ee how far generations effect the future generations, like something your great-great grandmother is something your family still does or an attitude that’s still prevalent on that side. It’s a wonderful, moving novel.