Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

When I read really good fiction like Homegoing, I feel everything is right with the world (if it makes any sense?). I feel connected and rooted. Homegoing is one of those books, which not only holds your finger and walks you through history, personal history but also moves you by its sheer scope and beauty. It is written with a lot of empathy, hope, and courage. And to top it, it's a debut novel, which makes me respect Yaa Gyasi tremendously.Yaa tells the story of Effia and Esi, 2 half sisters separated by circumstances and traces their family through time. Effia gets married to a wealthy British man and Esi is sold off as a slave to America and rest can be explored when you read the book. It has 14 individual stories packed in mere 305 pages. Yes based on its 14 characters. Two each, spanning a generation. She skillfully shapes each story and tells the family history through these amazing, tortured, strong, beautiful people. Except for the last 2 character stories, which are based in the current millennium, I loved every one of them! So much that I was tearing up every 20 pages. In my view, if a book/movie/tv series makes you root and care for its characters however hopeless or hopeful their situation might be then the book/movie/tv series has succeeded in doing its part. I felt this on countless occasions for Ness, Kojo, James, Abua, H, Yaw and Marjorie. Ness's story also broke my heart a little.Another interesting thing I want to do after reading the book is to start tracing my own family tree. I know people only till 3 generations before me. So aai is going to help me draw a family tree. I don't know what I'll achieve, but a lot of who I am has been passed onto me through the lives and experiences of these folks. The hope is to learn.I have been deeply affected (and remain clueless) by the racial debates going on in the world and have wanted to learn more about it. If you are like me and prefer historical fiction over tedious history books, this is a great way to understand the African American perspective. (There are some critiques about the book, saying how it uses important events in history as pivots and does nothing much with them. IMO these pivots affected individual lives in different ways and the book is not so much about the entire race, but a few people belonging to a family). History is always subjective to the person who is narrating it. To Yaa Gyasi's credit, she only tells the tales of how slavery affected generation after generation. Not just the ones who were sold off but also the ones who sold them.I stumbled across this book through a podcast. And then it kept on coming back to me. I have a rule of book purchases. If a book and I keep crossing each other's paths organically (more than thrice) then we are meant to be in each other's lives. Dramatic but true. In case, you know me, I'll happily lend it to you. Of course, if you are interested in reading.