A New York Times 2016 Notable BookOne of Oprah s 10 Favorite Books of 2016NPR's Debut Novel of the YearOne of Buzzfeed's Best Fiction Books Of2016One of Time's Top 10 Novels of 2016 Homegoingis an inspiration. Ta-Nehisi Coates The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day. Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread ofHomegoingfollows Effia s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoingmakes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation."
Interesting story that started out as a bit of a struggle to get into. I stated the book, was about ten percent into it, set it aside, and did not want to continue reading it. Once I did get back into it, I finished it in one day (I could not put it down). The story is very rich in political and cultural history, which is different form the majority of books that we have read for this group.
ReplyDeleteI have a group of ten grade students currently that I would be interested in see their reaction to the book. They are students that are sick of hearing/reading about the weaknesses of the African people and would like to see more of a powerful story about their own past. I am not sure, where this book falls into that need, on the one hand, the Asante are presented as very powerful, and on the other hand, the characters seem to have more things happen to them, as opposed to causing events to happen.
I could see perhaps reading this book in my AP class as an extra credit assignment.