Book Review "Homegoing"
- Yaa Gyasi Reviewed by Surendra Nath
- Aug 14, 2017
- 2 min read
Sometimes when you read a book, you can feel it. That’s the effect HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi had on me. It is her debut novel, published last year (2016) when she was only 26. The book has gone on to receive several literary awards.
The author is a Ghanaian-American, and her theme is based on the slave trade and the fate of blacks in the two countries where she is rooted – Ghana and the US. It’s an intense work of research, although fiction, and it has taken her at least seven years to complete. Isn’t it commendable work for a girl aged 19 to 26?
Yaa Gyasi traces the bloodlines of two sisters, one sold to slave trade in America and another ill-fated to survive in Ghana. The two plots move independently, alternating between two continents for about three centuries, from around early 18th century to the present day. The characters could well be fictitious, but the situations, social evils, human tragedy, wretchedness are for real. The story leaves a profound effect on the reader.
The best part of it is there isn’t just one protagonist in the novel. Each chapter traces the life story of one character going down from one generation to the next. Their misery and helplessness are testimony of inhuman suffering at the hands of other humans. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the later characters (perhaps Marjorie) is a reflection of Gyasi herself. Creating 16 different main characters in as many chapters is a work of class. I was definitely taken with one character that has no name, just H.
Having read Alex Haley’s ROOTS, I was of the impression it was the white man who was responsible for the slave trade. That he was, but not solely. HOMEGOING enlightened me that the Africa black man was hand in hand for the enslavement of his own kind for money and goods. Tribes would fight among each other, and the victor would sell the captives to the white man. They would even steal, kidnap people and sell to prosper. The white man simply parked himself on the African coast and traded with goods (livestock you could say).
When the slaves were taken across the Atlantic, there was no mercy. The colour divide has been there ever since the discovery of the Dark Continent, and the fairer skin always had the upper hand. It continues despite all legislations. Read Jodi Picoult’s SMALL GREAT THINGS to feel the great divide in the present time.
This book is sure to go down in literature as a classic.
