People are not only shaped by their immediate family and living circumstances, the heritage of their ancestors and the repercussions of history are foPeople are not only shaped by their immediate family and living circumstances, the heritage of their ancestors and the repercussions of history are forces that persist and shape us - this is the premise Gyasi impressively plays out in her debut novel. Spanning over several hundred years and following the descendants of two West African half-sisters on two continents and over seven generations, the author's fourteen protagonists are all portrayed as very individual, but also as products of their and past times. From the introduction of cacao as a crop in Ghana, colonization, slavery (one protagonist is forced to marry a slave trader, another one is captured and forced to travel to America on a slave ship), the American civil war, Jim Crow, and many other historical events in West Africa and the US, until---well, I will not give away the ending, but while many people critcized it for being completely unrealistic (which it is), I think it is very powerful as a metaphor.
This epic is told in individual stories, one for every protagonist, thus flashlighting pivotal developments that happened in the narrated time. This of course means that we are spending less time with each individual character, but the narrative concept is well-thought out and achieves its goals. Some stories were stronger than others, but some were actually so strong that I paused the book, because I felt like I couldn't just pass on to the next protagonist - my feelings for the last one were still too strong. My favorite was H, a freed slave - I was very moved by his story, and how Gyasi describes different forms of enslavement/oppression (slavery/false imprisonment/forced labor/becoming an outcast in society). I also liked how in this segment, she describes the power of solidarity, which finally enables H to speak up and also empower others.
The book is full of symbolism, there are ghosts and a nearly magical necklace, and I enjoyed how throughout all stories, fire and/or water and their potential forces (destruction, connection, purification, death etc.) play an important rolw - this is extremely well done. Another recurring theme is, of course, that of homegoing: When you're home is colonized, when you're turned into a mere thing, when you're a black American confronted with racism - where's your home, and how can you get there?
A highly ambitious book, and overall very successful.
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