Homegoing
2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by 
J4Shaw
from finding my place, Somewhere -- Controlled Releases on Sunday, January 7, 2018
J4Shaw from finding my place, Somewhere -- Controlled Releases on Sunday, January 7, 2018
ABOUT THE BOOK: - Published April 2017 by Vintage
Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia's descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.
MY REVIEW 17 Jan 2018:
A truly wonderful intricate story that begins in 18th century Ghana, and chronologically leads you through the family history of one family who are split down two very different paths of life.
I really loved everything about this book, and each and every character's chapter was full, yet left you wanting to know more, then you are quickly swept up into the next character. The book sat perfectly for me in that space between novel and collection of short stories.
Tip - keep a bookmark in the page where the family tree is in the book, and don't allow yourself to get lost in the vastness of characters.
Although its early in 2018, this will most definitely be a contender for me for this year's best debut novel read.
Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia's descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.
MY REVIEW 17 Jan 2018:
A truly wonderful intricate story that begins in 18th century Ghana, and chronologically leads you through the family history of one family who are split down two very different paths of life.
I really loved everything about this book, and each and every character's chapter was full, yet left you wanting to know more, then you are quickly swept up into the next character. The book sat perfectly for me in that space between novel and collection of short stories.
Tip - keep a bookmark in the page where the family tree is in the book, and don't allow yourself to get lost in the vastness of characters.
Although its early in 2018, this will most definitely be a contender for me for this year's best debut novel read.
Mailed out today for Round 3 - Virtual Book Box (VBB) of debut novels .
(I always add physical postage stamps to my packages. If you are not a collector yourself, check out the I collect postage stamps because... thread to find them a happy home.)
(I always add physical postage stamps to my packages. If you are not a collector yourself, check out the I collect postage stamps because... thread to find them a happy home.)
I received this book in mail from j4shaw. I selected it from the VBB of debut novels.
Thank you, j4shaw, for this book.
Thank you, j4shaw, for this book.
It was difficult to read this book in that life was painfully difficult for the people featured in this book. In the first half of the book, I learned about the slave trade in Africa. The author shows how the people of Africa were involved in supporting the slave trade, selling their own people, because there was a lot of enmity (and warfare) between the various tribes of Africa. The two branches of the family in this book would be difficult to comprehend and remember whose who, but there is a family tree displayed at the beginning of the book that I often referenced. One branch of the family stayed in Africa, and the other branch ended up in the United States (because one of the half-sisters is transported to America as a slave). The book does end on a positive note.
