Chicks On Lit discussion

Hi Readers,
Get your books and minds ready for Homegoing.
Read,
Chapters on Effia, Esi, Quey for discussion on October 8th.
Chapters Ness, James,Kojo, and Abena for discussion on October 15th.
Chapters H, Akua, Willie, and Yaw for discussion on October 22nd.
Chapters Sonny, Marjorie, and Marcus for discussion on October 29th.
Happy Reading!!!

Sounds great Irene. I'm in. :-)

My copy hasn't come in yet at the library, but I hope it will soon so I can join in!

This was a great book! So glad you're reading it,

Hi. Can you tell me the author of this book? Thanks

Hi Janet. The book is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

Thanks

I am really enjoying this one so far. I've read the first two chapters so far and like how each focuses on a separate person. Thankfully they put the family tree at the front of the book, and I have consulted it several times!

I'm partway through chapter 1 and having a hard time getting into it. That may not (probably not) be because of the book, nothing is grabbing me lately.

I have had to reread it a few times to understand who, what, and when. It's a good book. It's full of details that are important to the story line.

I am really enjoying this one. I think the author constructs each generational narrative perfectly. In one chapter we get a feel for that character's life and understand an entire generation of people. One's person's story becomes universal. I could not stop when I started and read part 1 over the weekend. I put it down for another short book. But, when I came back to it, I found I lost something of the continuity. So, I am going to finish this one up without further inturruptions. I am not finding it hard to keep track of the characters.

Irene wrote: "I have had to reread it a few times to understand who, what, and when. It's a good book. It's full of details that are important to the story line."

I agree, Irene. After reading chapter 2, I was thinking "what, really?" and had to go back to re-read parts of chapter one.

Finished this one yesterday. Looking forward to the discussion.

Hello readers. Looking closely at the family tree. I notice that Maame is at the top. She has two boys. They are Cobbe and Asare. The story focuses in their off springs. Effia and Quey from Cobbe and Esi and Ness from Asare.
I know I set up the schedule already, but I think we should read the sessions in pair to compare and contrast their lives, experiences, and events that may be a result of which family line they come from. Let me know if you can read Ness to include in the discussion on the 8th.

Let's begin the discussion with Effia. What did you think of her relationship with Baaba before you found out who Baaba really was?

Haven't read Ness yet but can certainly read it tonight. :-)

Irene wrote: "Let's begin the discussion with Effia. What did you think of her relationship with Baaba before you found out who Baaba really was?"

It was painfully abusive and my opinion of that relationship did not change when I learned of the true identities.

I thought Baaba was jealous of Effia's beauty, which was believable anyway, but made more sense once I found out who Effia was.

I was confused about the relationship of Baaba to Effia. Even if Effia wasn't actually Baaba's daughter, why did she want her to marry a British soldier? She married the British soldier, and her real sister became a slave. Or is that the point. Baaba thought marrying the British soldier would be bad, would be punishment, and really it possibly saved her from slavery?

I thought there was some financial gain for the family by the marriage to the Brittish soldier. But, even if I am wrong on that point, Baaba did not want Effia to have the status of a marriage to a leading man in the village. I think seeing her in that position day in and day out would have eaten away at her.

Reading that first section, I realized I was thinking from my perspective instead of the characters' prospective. I, like some of you, thought it would be for Effia's benefit to marry this British soldier, but it isn't. She is just a toy to him. It would benefit her to marry someone in her village. That's when I realized, I have to read this from the character's prospective, considering their culture and way of life without my biases.

I did not anticipate any benefit for Effia in marrying a Brittish soldier. In fact, I was afraid for her, assuming she would be abused. I was surprised how well things did work out for her in that relationship.

Esi is Effia's sister. I wonder if their mom was always kidnapped between tribes?

What do Effia and Esi have in common?

How does the dialogue help you understand these characters and their actions?

In the section where we meet Quey, he makes a Fante friend, Cudjo. In that chapter there was an incident when the boys race the snails. Quey's snail did well, while Cudjo's didn't. What do you think the author was comparing?

I suppose we could see a comparison between the European progress vs the African progress in that snail race, but I did not see it that way until you posted this question. I saw it is a moment of acceptance. Quay was the physically smaller boy and intimidated. When his snail won, he feared he would make his companion angry and there would be retaliation. But, it did not happen. So often we project our fears onto other people, fears that are ungrounded.Unfortunately, we don't always have the equivalent of a snail race to discover that the other is friend, not threat.

Irene wrote: "What do Effia and Esi have in common?"

Other than the stones from their mother I am not sure they really have anything in common. I am thinking that this story is supposed to show us how extremely different the lives and paths of these people are, people who are actually not any different from each other.

The further I get into this, the more I wish we were learning more about each character who is in each chapter. At first I like to juxtaposition of each character from each generation, but now it is seeming we are only getting minor glimpses of each character, and I am wondering more about them, wishing it was more fluid and less of little glimpses of history.

It shows how each character's life and descendants
are determined by the choices of others. What do you think about that?

What is your take on the treatment and role of women in the story so far?

We seem to be seeing a wide variety of women in this book, and I'm not sure I would single out anything different from the wide variety of men we are seeing. The women all do seem to be pretty strong women, able to endure whatever falls on them.

These two family lines are at the opposite sides of the slave trade business.

How does the novel make you feel and what does it make you think about?

James’s mother, Nana Yaa, says that the Gold Coast is like a pot of groundnut soup (89). What does she mean by this?

Why was Quey sent to England? After his return home, why does Quey say that it was safer in England? Why might he feel that what he faces at home is more difficult than the challenges he faced in leaving home and living abroad?

Why does Akosua Mensah insist to James, "I will be my own nation" (99)? What role do patriotism, heritage, and tradition play in contributing to the injustices, prejudices, and violence depicted in the book? Which other characters seem to share Akosua’s point of view?

In the chapter entitled "Quey," Fiifi tells Quey that "[the] village must conduct its business like [the] female bird" (53). What does he mean by this and why do you think that Fiifi chooses this approach?

Irene wrote: "How does the novel make you feel and what does it make you think about?"

It makes me feel the disgust that I have for slavery of any and all kinds (as slavery does still exist today), and it makes me realize that some men can be evil, and but for fate and luck and circumstance, anyone anywhere could find their life turned upside down by this.

Irene wrote: "Why was Quey sent to England? After his return home, why does Quey say that it was safer in England? Why might he feel that what he faces at home is more difficult than the challenges he faced in l..."

I think because his father was British that is was probably expected that he would receive an education in his father's home country. I imagine he probably felt like an outsider in England, yet back home he was probably an outsider too, having a British father, and while being an outsider in a "foreign land" is expected, being an outsider in your own home would be harder still.

Sheila, I agree. Plus, I suspect that in England he was a novelty. In the Gold Coast, his duel racial heritage made him a possible traitor, a wolf in sheep's clothing. He looks and speaks as a native, but many fear that his heart and head is that of his European father and education. If those around him don't trust him, who can he trust?

Irene, I agree. Quey was not trusted by those on the Gold Coast due to his dual heritage.

From the current reading, fire seems to be playing a big role in the Gold Coast side of this story, as I read the Akua chapter last night. Not sure where this is all heading...

I'm still feeling these chapters are all a bit disjointed, and I am having a hard time keeping it all straight.

I think the author's style of writing these glimpses this way may be to
help us see how they feel. They don't have the knowledge of their history or ancestors to know who they are. They are just as lost .

I liked the structure of this novel. It felt more like interconnected short stories than like a traditional novel. That structure forced my attention beyond individual characters to a larger historical line. I thought I got all that I needed of each character to understand how they were formed and how they forned the next generation. I really appreciated the way the author was able to depict an entire generation, the larger social forces of a particular time and place through a single life or family. I thought it was brilliant.

My favorite character was Ness.

Irene wrote: "I really appreciated the way the author was able to depict an entire generation, the larger social forces of a particular time and place through a single life or family. I thought it was brilliant."

Maybe when I am done I will feel the same way. It is a unique way to write a story.

What do you think happened to Anna?

Irene wrote: "What do you think happened to Anna?"

Well I imagine she was captured and sold back into slavery, because when we get to H's story he tells about how he left his master's plantation the day the war ended.

Akua has a reoccurring dream about the fire. What do you think it represents?

Sheila wrote: "Irene wrote: "What do you think happened to Anna?"

Well I imagine she was captured and sold back into slavery, because when we get to H's story he tells about how he left his master's plantation t..."

That was my assumption also.

Does anyone find themselves going back and forth to keep track of the genealogy ?