Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

By Bright Summaries

Unlock the more straightforward side of Homegoing with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which tells the story of two branches of the same family across several generations. Although Effia and Esi are sisters, they never meet, and their paths are irrevocably forced apart when Esi is sold into slavery and transported to America while Effia remains in their native Ghana. The effects of the slave trade reverberate through the generations as we are introduced to each of their descendants in turn and witness the ways that colonialism and racism shape their lives. Homegoing is Yaa Gyasi's debut novel. It quickly became an international bestseller and won the National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Prize for best first book.

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• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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• Language: English
• Publisher: BrightSummaries.com
• Release date: Apr 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9782808018791

Book preview

GHANAIAN-AMERICAN NOVELIST

Born in Mampong, Ghana in 1989.

Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana. In 1991 her father was working towards a PhD at the Ohio State University, so the family moved to America and Gyasi was raised in Huntsville, Alabama from the age of ten. She currently lives in Berkeley, California. Before graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Gyasi studied English at Stanford University. As a child, she enjoyed reading. After reading Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, she decided to become a writer herself. Homegoing, her debut novel, immediately became an international bestseller, and was shortlisted for several literary prizes. It also won the National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Prize for best first book.

A FAMILY HISTORY ABOUT THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF COLONIAL RULE AND THE SLAVE TRADE

Genre: novel

Reference edition: Gyasi, Y. (2017) Homegoing. UK: Penguin Books.

1stedition: 2016

Themes: Ghana, tribal wars, British colonisation, the slave trade, America, segregation, American Civil War, family history

Homegoing traces the family history of two sisters, Effia and Esi, who never meet. Esi is traded as a slave to the American colonies, meaning her descendants are based in America. Effia is married to a slave trader in Ghana, and her descendants retain the strong connection with Ghana, and, for the most part, live there. Gyasi was largely inspired by the still institutionalised racism