Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Review

Homegoing

by Yaa Gyasi

An ilovemys(h)elf Review

Publisher: Knopf

Edition: Kindle

# of Pages: 320

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Recommend?: Yes

I came to America from Nigeria 2.5 years ago. I've integrated well. However, I believe the correct term is conformed.

Nigeria is a wonderful country. And I'm not going to bother saying I am biased because I am, and you are too. Nigeria is wondrous despite what you've probably heard. We don't stand up for the pledge everyday, with a right hand to our chest and with our eyes on the flag; we don't have flags in every classroom, home, or institution; we don't have a lot of opportunities.

But if there is one thing that a majority of Nigerians have, it is a deep-seated love for its country, its people, and most importantly, its future.

You'd think that with all the wars, conflicts, torture, and death that dwells in the land of Nigeria and in the hands of the British, that Nigeria would be demoralized by now.

But that is far from true.
We keep on fighting.
We keep moving on.

I was almost in tears while writing this review because when people hear my mother's accent and her trouble to pronounce certain words, they've already preconceived her entire personality, background, and intelligence.

But they're wrong.
They're always wrong.

When my friends, teachers, and even strangers hear my fairly groomed American accent they start to question my African-ness.
But my sister remains exotic; cultured; evidence of some kind of inferiority.
It's all nonsense.
No body can come to conclusions on another person's background, life, or struggles.
Why?
Because it's all complicated, complex, and intrinsic. Because everyone is unique; everyone is different, and everyone has the choice, the basic right to be whoever the heck they want to be despite their background.

We forget this all the time.

Your background can predict where you're going to be, the colour of your skin, and maybe even the highlight of the eyes.
However, your ancestry doesn't predict who you are or who you are going to be.

When we look at people, we should stop trying to unravel them, or understand them.
People are complicated, complex, and  intricate.

In the novel, Homegoing, Gyasi carefully takes us down the family lines of two half sisters. The reader gets to see what they're decisions, circumstances, and situations bear for their generations in the future.
The care and simple complexity that goes into the construction of this book, each character, and each world-building, and each story absolutely  exceeds my initial expectations of this novel.
Gyasi indicates her expertise at family relations, Ghanaian and African history, the cultural issues faced by African Americans, and the impact that our ancestry has on every single following generation.

We are where we are because of the past.
We are who we are because of our present, our future.

Homegoing's Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing have either been a hit or a miss. It would have been easy to get lost in certain characters and their stories (and there a lot!) and as a result, not delve into the lives of other characters. She could have rarely touched on any character and rush through the ending leaving no story or characterization to fully enjoy. Fortunately and rather skillfully, Gyasi delves into the lives of each character and the characters that surround them, making everyone a main character in their own story and widening the history of each character while expanding on the past.

This book is so complex and beautiful that explaining it's magnificence will take pages and pages of my time.
I cannot recommend this book enough.
The mastery that is reached in this novel illustrates the literary achievement that I believe Gyasi really worked hard for.

Gyasi writes Homegoing with beauty and seamless simplicity. Homegoing is a novel that honors the complexity of Ghanaian history, ancestry, and family.