Homegoing

435 pages

English language

Published 2017 by Charnwood.

ISBN:
978-1-4448-3425-3
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OCLC Number:
1083737557

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3 stars (1 review)

In eighteenth-century Ghana, two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages. Effia is eventually married to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to her, ESi is imprisoned beneath in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and then shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. The consequences of the sisters' fates reverberate through the generations that follow, From the Gold Coast to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, this is the story of how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation. --back cover

27 editions

A multigenerational saga against the backdrop of colonialism and its legacy

3 stars

More than a novel, it is a collection of short stories moving from generation to generation, from the age of slave trade in Ghana to present day USA. This structure is both effective and frustrating. It's effective because it allows the author (and the readers) to explore the connections between colonialism, slavery, black-labour exploitation, civil-rights battles, and today's racism. It's frustrating because some stories are so short that they feel like necessary links, or vignettes, without leaving the time to "grow emotions" for the characters. Some of the plot-patterns in the book were also a bit forced and already-seen (for those who read the book already: black stones, romantic resolution...). That said, it was a fine read and an important one, delving into the horrors of colonialism.