Gyasi has done a phenomenal job showing, rather than telling, us what slavery-in any form-means to the black community. If you want to understand more about history or important movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, then you simply need to read this. More importantly, this is a very important book. Despite the 'chapters' being long, I didn't find this deterred me or was overwhelming to get through. I was anticipating that this would be dense and would take a while to get through but I read this quick as lightning-just one day to whizz through it! There is something about the way that Gyasi has written this that makes it so hard to put down. This book is that demonstration put into history for the reader to see.įirst of all, this is spectacularly easy to read. It's very much so like that demonstration you might've seen, where people line up and get to take a step forward if they have certain things-money, educations, etc-and then everyone begins the race from where they ended up, some so far ahead that those in the back mightn't even bother to catch up. I've never read anything that shows the reader so well what it means to be at a disadvantage thanks to thing years gone by. The point of the book is showing how a history of slavery in one's past impacts the Now even when history is so behind each character.

The book alternates from Effia to Essi, then to Effia's child, to Essi's child and so on down the generations. It's such a spellbinding way of telling the story. There are no chapters, only stories: the 'chapters' are when we move onto a new character. The book follows their stories as one is married to a slaver and the other becomes a slave.

It's the tale of two sisters several hundred years ago on the Gold Coast of Africa (Ghana). Gyasi NEEDS to write more stories like this! It was so eye-opening to read such an incredibly constructed story that showed how slavery plays a role in people's lives even today.

I can't get over how incredible the storytelling was! I was captivated by all the voices within this book and found it delivered its message so well.

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