Homegoing: A Story of Many Generations

by Sage Acosta

May 2022

In The New Yorker, Laura Miller writes about the book Homegoing and gives a brief summary of what the book is about. Laura also starts to explain what the themes and symbols are for this book, and the lesson it is supposed to teach. She says “The novel’s African characters, on the other hand, rarely come across as walking, talking history lessons.” This is what I do not agree on. Even though this book may have not been based on true people in history, their stories are written magnificently in order to convey history in a beautiful and captivating way. Writing such stories from both points of view, the victims and the attackers, the slavers and enslaved. Gyasi used amazing literary skills to convey history, combining the two school subjects of literature and history. 

Laura also writes “There are significant challenges to overcome, not least the lack of a central character to arrest the reader’s attention and carry it through the book… Linked stories aren’t the ideal way to deliver the amount of exposition that historical fiction requires.” In my opinion, this can be a very subjective statement. Some readers may find new starts refreshing and nice to read, in order to keep things fresh. I personally loved so many people's stories fit into one blood line and being able to see all the connections and relations as the generations went on. Although, I did say it was subjective. Some people may find it hard to read books like this, and prefer to have one main character to follow through their adventures and events in the book. 

Laura then begins to talk about how Gyasi “shows the unmistakable touch of a gifted writer”, which I of course agree with. “More often than not it isn’t the first book that realizes the extent and the depth of a writer’s talent; it’s the third or fourth.” Laura remarks, and I agree with as well. Gyasi did an amazing job with this fantastic piece of literature, and Laura Miller agrees too.