HOMEGOING

by Ya Gyasi

Homegoing is Ya Gyasi’s stunning debut novel which begins in Ghana in the 18th century and follows two Ghanian half-sisters and their descendants through seven generations up to the present in the United States. (The sisters don’t know of each other’s existence.) From this description, you would expect a very long novel. In fact, Gyasi has structured her book so that each chapter is almost a distinct short story. They connect through the characters and each successive chapter takes the reader forward another generation. It may sound confusing but once I relaxed into it, the structure worked beautifully. It is also the reason Gyasi could tell such a big story in only 300 pages.

There are two storylines and one follows Effia who marries the white, British newly appointed governor of Cape Coast Castle, which facilitates trade between Ghana and Great Britain. Mostly they trade human slaves in exchange for British products. The book follows Effia’s descendants through five generations. All lived in Ghana and each had a fascinating story that was complicated by their interactions with the British.

The other storyline follows Effia’s half-sister, Esi, who was captured from her Ghanian village, imprisoned in the Cape Coast Castle, sold into slavery and put on a ship for the United States. Gyasi follows six generations of Esi’s descendents, each one painstakingly inching towards gaining back the freedom that was stolen from their ancestors. Gyasi writes a beautiful ending where the descendants of Effia and Esi, now students living in San Francisco, find themselves in a relationship. Together they come to realize how important it is to understand where you come from and how lives, indeed whole generations, can be set on radically different paths through no fault of the participants. This is a powerful book and I recommend it strongly. (Liz)