The Friday 56 – Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted over at Freda’s Voice. The rules are simple and go something like this.

1.  Grab a book, any book.
2.  Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
3.  Find any sentence, (or a few, just don’t spoil it)
4.  Post it.
5.  Add the post url, not your blog url to the Linky.
6. Tweet it #Friday56 (not an official Freda’s Voice rule)

I don’t know why, but when I first saw this book at the bookstore I wanted to read it. Maybe it was the book cover the authors name – Yaa Gyasi. I don’t know, but I had to get it. When I began reading it, I was immediately drawn in and had a hard time putting it down (I found myself still reading at 1 am). Oh dear, not going to be able to get up for work. This is by far the best debut novel I’ve read in a long time.

Here’s an interview I found with Yaa Gyasi.

Displacement, Identity and Going Home: A Conversation with Yaa Gyasi

Abena sank down beside him and looked at the necklace. It shimmered gold and was cool to the touch.

Her father huffed loudly, trying to catch his breath. “This belonged to my grandmother, your great-grandmother Effia. It was given to her by her own mother.”

“Effia,” Abena repeated. It was the first time she had heard the name of one of her ancestors, and she savored the taste of the name on her tongue. She wanted to say it again and again. Effia. Effia.

“My father was a slaver, a very wealthy man. When I decided to leave Fanteland, it was because I did not want to take part in the work my family had done. I wanted to work for myself. I see how these townspeople call me Unlucky, but every season I feel lucky to have this land, to do this honorable work, not the shameful work of my family.

. . . Abena put on the necklace and hugged her father

The next morning Abena set out for the Kumasi, and when she arrived at the missionary church there, she touched the stone at her neck and said thank you to her ancestors.

Home going by Yaa Gyasi, pas 154-155