Adina ( back from Vacay…slowly recovering) 's Reviews > Homegoing
Homegoing
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Adina ( back from Vacay…slowly recovering) 's review
bookshelves: historical-fiction, ghana
Feb 14, 2017
bookshelves: historical-fiction, ghana
Read 2017
“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing?, Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”
I was a bit afraid to read this novel because of its hype as it seems that recently I do not fare well with overpraised novels. I can safely say that I needn’t have worried. The book lived to my expectation and I felt touched by most of the characters. The writing is beautiful, powerful, heart wrecking.
It took me a while to finish as I listened to half of it on audible. I usually listen to audio books when I run and due to cold weather, that did not happen very often. At midpoint I switched to the print version and that went much better, succeeding to draw me back into the stories as listening for 10 minutes here and there was distracting.
The novel mingles the stories of two half-sisters which never met, who lived in Ghana in the slave commerce period and of seven generations of descendants that followed. We follow Esi as she is sold into slavery and then we are introduced to her descendants as they struggle as slaves and then as free black people in racist America. On the other side, Effia is married with an English slave merchant and moves with him in Cape Coast Castle. Her descendants struggle with their legacy as slavers, their identity as tribe members and the fight for a free Ghana. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one family member, one chapter from Effia’s descendants and then one chapter from Esi’s. It was impressive that for a small book (300 pages) it packs a lot of history of the hardship black people had to face because of slavery from the 18 century until recent times.
The only downside for me was that, due to the large number of characters I had moments when I felt disconnected with the story. When I was beginning to understand and care for a character the next chapter started and a new story emerged, without too much connection with the one before.
“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing?, Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”
I was a bit afraid to read this novel because of its hype as it seems that recently I do not fare well with overpraised novels. I can safely say that I needn’t have worried. The book lived to my expectation and I felt touched by most of the characters. The writing is beautiful, powerful, heart wrecking.
It took me a while to finish as I listened to half of it on audible. I usually listen to audio books when I run and due to cold weather, that did not happen very often. At midpoint I switched to the print version and that went much better, succeeding to draw me back into the stories as listening for 10 minutes here and there was distracting.
The novel mingles the stories of two half-sisters which never met, who lived in Ghana in the slave commerce period and of seven generations of descendants that followed. We follow Esi as she is sold into slavery and then we are introduced to her descendants as they struggle as slaves and then as free black people in racist America. On the other side, Effia is married with an English slave merchant and moves with him in Cape Coast Castle. Her descendants struggle with their legacy as slavers, their identity as tribe members and the fight for a free Ghana. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one family member, one chapter from Effia’s descendants and then one chapter from Esi’s. It was impressive that for a small book (300 pages) it packs a lot of history of the hardship black people had to face because of slavery from the 18 century until recent times.
The only downside for me was that, due to the large number of characters I had moments when I felt disconnected with the story. When I was beginning to understand and care for a character the next chapter started and a new story emerged, without too much connection with the one before.
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Reading Progress
December 30, 2016
– Shelved
December 30, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 30, 2016
– Shelved as:
historical-fiction
January 10, 2017
–
Started Reading
January 10, 2017
–
20.0%
January 31, 2017
–
35.0%
February 10, 2017
–
52.0%
February 14, 2017
–
Finished Reading
October 8, 2018
– Shelved as:
ghana
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Hannah
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rated it 3 stars
26 jan. 2017 16:47
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Bookaholics. With a dash of shopaholics.
That's what bothered me a lot, too. I listened to the audiobook, and did not know there was a genealogical tree...I guess that would've made things easier to understand. But for a book of only 300 pages, I question its necessity.
That's what bothered me a lot, too...." There were a bit too many characters, I agree.