November Book

Hi all, this is a test as I am using the blog for the first time, so I hope this works.... The book I have selected for November is "Extinctions" by Josephine Wilson. Happy reading.

September Meeting Report - Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi

Well despite Mel being the only RSVP (the new system is working well) we had 6 attendees brave the inclement conditions, and my orange flan.
The book was generally well received which was a relief given the resounding success of my last selection. It generated interesting discussion and I'm thankful for everyone's contributions, book club discussions are some of my favourite conversations.

Why did I purchase this book:

Accidental sleepy kindle purchase!

Rating and pithy comment:

Ann-Marie: Loved It.                                               8/10

Meaghan: Enlightening tear jerker.                         8/10

Kaye: Epic generational saga.                                  6/10

Trilby: A tale of passed on generational woe.         8/10

Mel: White man, black land.                                 6.5/10                  

Tahnee: A beautifully told version of history.         8/10

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Absent friends

Georgia: So far so good...has me at hello.               Unrated
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Coming Up

Septembers' Read/Octobers' Meeting:   Leave Me - Gayle Foreman @ Kathy's

Octobers' Read/Novembers' Meeting:    Book TBA @ Meaghan's

Novembers' Read/Decembers 'Meeting: Book TBA @ Colleen's

Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi @ Tahnee's house

1.       How important is it to “know where you come from”.

2.       Did you have a favourite character that resonated with you or chapter?

3.       Yaw teaches his students that history is one interpretation of the story and you must consider whose story is missing. What stories were you told as ‘history’ that you later found to have a different interpretation for another group of people?

4.       What did you think of the method of storytelling i.e. one individuals story per chapter?

5.       Was there a chapter or character that you would’ve liked to have been further developed?

6.       Complicity was a significant factor of the continuing “success” of the slave trade. Who was complicit in this novel and what could have been done, if anything, to put a stop to the slave trade. What other historical events have continued on the back of complicity.

7.       Was there a character or chapter that you could not connect with or that didn’t seem to fit?

8.       The novel covers both gender based and racial based oppression, through the ages. Are there other forms of oppression that also feature?

A Family tree

Effia's Family

Cobbee Otcher: Effia’s Father

Baaba: Cobbee’s first wife, not Effia’s biological mother, but reluctantly raises Effia until she can send her away in marriage

Effia Otcher: Fante, married to James to strengthen relationship between village and white men

Fiifi: Effia’s half-brother

James Collins: Governor of Cape Coast Castle, marries Effia

Quey Collins: Fante and British son of Effia and James

Cudjo Sackee: Quey’s friend from a prominent Fante village

Nana Yaa Yeboah: eldest daughter of powerful Asante king, forced into marriage with Quey

James Richard Collins: Fante, Asante and British: Quey and Nana’s son

Amma: James’ first wife whom he doesn’t chose and doesn’t love

Akosua Mensah: Asante, James’ second wife

Abena Collins: only child of James (Unlucky) and Akosua; drowned by missionary when her daughter is a baby

Ohene Nyarko: Abena’s lover

Akua Collins: only child of Abena, raised by missionaries in Kumasi, nightmares of firewoman; becomes the Crazy Woman; lives in Edweso

Asamoah Agyekym: Akua’s Asante husband, becomes the Crippled Man

Abee and Ama: Akua’s children whom she burns to death in their sleep

Nana Serwah: Asamoah’s mother who exiles Akua

Yaw Agyekum: Akua’s son who Asamoah saves from being burned, becomes history teacher

Esther Amoah: comes to clean for Yaw and becomes his wife

Marjorie Agyekum: Daughter of Yaw and Esther

Esi's Family

Maame: Esi’s and Effia’s mother.
Big Man Asare: Esi’s father, skilled and brave Asante warrior who foolishly rushed into conflict, but realized his folly after he was rescued and earned nickname, “It takes a big man to admit his folly.”

Esi Assare: to befriend Adbronoma, Esi sends word to Abronoma’s father that his daughter is a captive. Esi is sold as a slave and raped at the Castle and sold into slavery in U.S.

Abronoma: houseslave for Maame, captive from another tribe.

Ness Stockham: Esi’s daughter, field slave to Thomas Allan Stockham in Alabama

Pinky: Mute slave girl on Stockham’s plantation

Sam: Ness’ husband chosen by the slave owners. Hung by slaveowner

Kojo Freeman: Ness and Sam’s son, taken to Baltimore by Ma Aku

Ma Aku: Asante woman who takes Kojo north in U.S.

Anna Foster: Kojo’s wife, kidnapped when pregnant and commits suicide after H is born

H Black: Kojo and Anna’s son, arrested after the Civil War and sold to work in coal mine in Alabama

Joecy: friend H met as a convict in coal mines and seeks out in Pratt City when released

Ethe Jackson: woman H met before his time as a convict and who he seeks out when released

Wille Black: daughter of H and Ethe, gifted singer, moves from Pratt City to Harlem

Robert Clifton: Willie’s husband from Pratt City who is a very light-skinned black man
Eli: poet of sorts who is transient in Willie's life

Carson “Sonny” Clifton: Willie and Robert’s child

Josephine: Willie and Eli’s child
Amani Zulema: singer and drug addict

Marcus Clifton: Son of sonny and Amani

Approximate Time Periods

Effia and Esi: 1760’s to 1780’s

Quey and Ness: 1800 to 1820’s

James and Kojo: 1820’s to 1860

Abena and H: 1860s to 1890s

Akua and Willie: 1890s to 1920s

Yaw and Sonny : 1940s to 1980s

Marjorie and Marcus: 2000’s