Homegoing
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- 11,99 $
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- 11,99 $
Description de l’éditeur
A PENGUIN BOOK CLUB PICK
"Homegoing is an inspiration." —Ta-Nehisi Coates
An unforgettable New York Times bestseller of exceptional scope and sweeping vision that traces the descendants of two sisters across three hundred years in Ghana and America.
A riveting kaleidoscopic debut novel and the beginning of a major career: Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing is a novel about race, history, ancestry, love and time, charting the course of two sisters torn apart in 18th century Africa through to the present day.
Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonist, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising "half-caste" children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the Empire. Her sister, Esi, will be imprisoned beneath Effia in the Castle's women's dungeon, before being shipped off on a boat bound for America, where she will be sold into slavery.
Stretching from the tribal wars of Ghana to slavery and Civil War in America, from the coal mines in the north to the Great Migration to the streets of 20th century Harlem, Yaa Gyasi has written a modern masterpiece, a novel that moves through histories and geographies and—with outstanding economy and force—captures the intricacies of the troubled yet hopeful human spirit.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gyasi's amazing debut offers an unforgettable, page-turning look at the histories of Ghana and America, as the author traces a single bloodline across seven generations, beginning with Ghanaian half-sisters Effia, who is married off to a British colonizer in the 1760s, and Esi, who is captured into the British slave-trading system around the same time. These women never meet, never know of each other's existence, yet in alternating narratives we see their respective families swell through the eyes of slaves, wanderers, union leaders, teachers, heroin addicts, and more these often feel like linked short stories, with each descendent receiving his or her own chapter. Esi's descendants find themselves on the other side of the Atlantic, toiling on plantations in the American South before escaping to the North for freedom, while Effia's offspring become intertwined in the Gold Coast slave trade, until her grandson breaks away and disappears to live a simple existence with his true love. In both America and Ghana, prosperity rises and falls from parent to child, love comes and goes, and the characters' trust of white men wavers. These story elements purposely echo like ghosts as history often repeats itself yet Gyasi writes each narrative with remarkable freshness and subtlety. A marvelous novel.
Avis des utilisateurs
Amazing
What an amazing piece of historical fiction! The integration of every generation’s story is done beautifully. Heart wrenching but a piece of history that is so vital for everyone to know
Wonderful
Really paints a picture and brings to life the very real stories of African ancestry
Wow!
What a wonderful peace of historical fiction! It traces generations of black people one in modern day Ghana and the other in America. You get to understand more the roots of slavery and colonialism and how both it impacted the black people living in America and Africa. I have never read a book like this and it changed me forever. This book is educational and interesting at once as you learn your roots. I was excited to read every chapter to get to see the challenges faced by each descendants as they move forward in time. What a masterpiece. I now see why it took the author 7 years to write this book. A lot of research has gone to understand the complexities of black folks. I would though recommend to read this book with the genealogy tree next to you to keep track of the families. It was a recommendation that book reviewers had provided and it was really useful.