Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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Do you want to know more about your family ancestry? I know I do and the book Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi motivated me even more to learn about my family’s history.

If you haven’t read Homegoing, you absolutely should make this your next book!

Homegoing tells the lineage of two sisters from present-day Ghana. One sister’s lineage ended up in slavery and the other sister’s lineage turn out to play a major role in the slave trade. These two stories are told parallel to each other and we see how the slave trade impacted the family history, even years after slavery ended. We see life in Africa and America, life in the North versus the South. The author highlights the trials the families faced as well as how they dealt with morals, ethics, justice, and freedom. We see what they could overcome as well as what they couldn’t.

This book is a page turner. If you’re a part of a book club, this is a great book to discuss. Here’s some sample discussion questions that can help guide your book club discussions:

1. What is your interpretation of the fire and water motifs? What other motifs or symbols did you identify?
2. Whose story impacted you the most? Why?
3. Did you identify with one sister’s descendants over the other?

Personally, this book made me want to learn more about my family history. Have you ever traced your family history? If so, how did you do it and what kind of information did you learn? Let me know in the comments.