At the beginning of each month, we spotlight a staff-favorite book that meets our objective of thoughtfully sharing stories to help our audience experience their world in a smarter, healthier, and happier way.

February’s Book of the Month is:

Homegoing

What is it?

The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.
           
Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

– Amazon.com description

What are our thoughts?

I haven’t enjoyed reading a book as much as I did Homegoing in quite some time.

The pacing was just right and I felt as though I was swimming through the stories of each generation of this family.

Through highlighting the trials and tribulations of Africans/African Americans, this novel also touches upon many core and universal themes and emotions; loss, loneliness, anger, powerlessness, forgiveness, family, legacy, and much more.

I recommend this to everyone and anyone.

– GoodReads review by The Motley Experience founder and editor, Aristidis Marousas

Why should you read it?

As February happens to be Black History Month, we thought it appropriate to select Homegoing as our Book of the Month.

This is a very well done historical fiction novel on the trials and tribulations of an African family. Specifically, the implications to generations of its members as a result of the slavery driven African diaspora.

Besides the quality entertainment value of a well written story, this book will allow readers an insightful perspective into how centuries of trauma as a result of slavery and racism have shaped generations African Americans, as well as the nation.