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just_one_more_paige 's review for:
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
Review originally appears on the book review blog: justonemorepaige.wordpress.com.
This book was gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. Beautifully written, paced, planned. The snapshots of life from generation to generation as a family was split and brought back together were so real. And what an amazing exploration of the different paths life can, and did, take for the members of this family based on, at times, nothing more than chance. And through those individual stories, we get to experience the development and history not just of two family lines, but two nations, two peoples.
Starting with half sisters Effia and Esi, who didn't know about the existence of the other, and a black stone they were each given to hold onto by their mother, we watch one branch of the family pass the stone down through generations of turmoil in Africa (and eventually brought to America freely) and another whose stone was stolen as she was shipped to America as a slave and was nothing but a memory to pass down, until that too was lost (taken from) her family. And in the end, we see a rejoining of the family many generations later, the remaining black stone brought home to Africa to visit the very same place where it's twin was buried and forgotten, where the stories split at the very beginning, brought back by the present day generation whose history and family connections are long lost to time.
The author gives us a truthful, painful, heart-wrenchingly touching tour of what it has meant, what it still means, to be black - in Africa, in America, and especially in the in-between of not fully belonging anywhere. The development of black family, traditions, and daily life for both changed dramatically and at the same time, perhaps not at all: p.290 "they'd think they knew something about him, and it would be the same something that had justified putting his great-grandpa H in prison, only it would be different too, less obvious than it once was."
This is a must read for everyone - for the truth it tells, the frustration it illustrates, the individuality it brings to the lives of those lost in the generalizations of today. With it's unforgiving and, at times, harsh truths, this story is told with such feeling, but also impressive objectivity. A judgement-free presentation that almost borders on the detached, and in that way, gives even further gravitas to the truths it illuminates. This book can give us all a chance to recognize, come to terms with, and work together to move forwards together from a history of pain, guilt, and discomfort. Every story of this novel is a representation of something larger, done in such an unassuming way, and I couldn't put it down.
This book was gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. Beautifully written, paced, planned. The snapshots of life from generation to generation as a family was split and brought back together were so real. And what an amazing exploration of the different paths life can, and did, take for the members of this family based on, at times, nothing more than chance. And through those individual stories, we get to experience the development and history not just of two family lines, but two nations, two peoples.
Starting with half sisters Effia and Esi, who didn't know about the existence of the other, and a black stone they were each given to hold onto by their mother, we watch one branch of the family pass the stone down through generations of turmoil in Africa (and eventually brought to America freely) and another whose stone was stolen as she was shipped to America as a slave and was nothing but a memory to pass down, until that too was lost (taken from) her family. And in the end, we see a rejoining of the family many generations later, the remaining black stone brought home to Africa to visit the very same place where it's twin was buried and forgotten, where the stories split at the very beginning, brought back by the present day generation whose history and family connections are long lost to time.
The author gives us a truthful, painful, heart-wrenchingly touching tour of what it has meant, what it still means, to be black - in Africa, in America, and especially in the in-between of not fully belonging anywhere. The development of black family, traditions, and daily life for both changed dramatically and at the same time, perhaps not at all: p.290 "they'd think they knew something about him, and it would be the same something that had justified putting his great-grandpa H in prison, only it would be different too, less obvious than it once was."
This is a must read for everyone - for the truth it tells, the frustration it illustrates, the individuality it brings to the lives of those lost in the generalizations of today. With it's unforgiving and, at times, harsh truths, this story is told with such feeling, but also impressive objectivity. A judgement-free presentation that almost borders on the detached, and in that way, gives even further gravitas to the truths it illuminates. This book can give us all a chance to recognize, come to terms with, and work together to move forwards together from a history of pain, guilt, and discomfort. Every story of this novel is a representation of something larger, done in such an unassuming way, and I couldn't put it down.