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Hello All. The author, Yaa Gyasi, got off to a terrific start by inventing this ancestry of characters. Kudos. Well done. No book of historical fiction will get out of the garage without characters. And her structure is a lesson to us all. Invent the characters, then build the story. That said, and by her own admission, this book is long on perspective, but short on details. Historical fiction Lite. So many issues to cover. So many moving parts. I like the structure very very much. Each chapter is a short story unto itself. It is not necessary to read this book cover-to-cover in order to enjoy fine writing. Regarding the missing parts, this writing is almost like James Joyce. Much of this writing is stream of consciousness, and Yaa Gyasi dives into the mind of her characters. I dearly enjoyed reading the chapter where the woman protagonist is sleep walking. Dr. Phil is not needed here to connect the big, bold, dots. Memorable moments. However, they do not add up to a whole. Some people in my book club were confused by the alternating structure. Me? I found relief by getting out of one family line, and into the next. I found that the story flowed from one family dynamic to the next. Is this book worth reading? You bet. Almost as much as "The World According to Garp." Is this book great historical fiction? I don't know. Ask Alex Haley. Oops, dead.

This book is so heart-wrenching and compelling. I read it in 2 days, which is extremely fast for me. It is a fictionalized way of discussing very real generational trauma and systemic issues. Everyone should read this.

It is a very well written story about two sisters separated by birth during the slave trade in Africa. The two lineages end up in Harlem New York. It transports the readers trough two time lines in America and Africa. It’s a must read.

This book is without a doubt a MUST READ!! It starts off with the tale of two sisters separated by both birth and circumstance and it follows their lineage down the line all the way to freedom in Harlem, NY. The best part of this story is the connection that the family has the entire time and never even know it. Each respective bloodline is wrapped in one another through the choices they make throughout a lifetime of trying to escape and run back to their past. And the fact that they are all connected through fire really blew my mind. It just goes to show that no matter how far you may end up from your beginning you always will find your way straight back to it. Yaa painted a beautiful picture of family ties and how we can never shake them no matter how hard we may try to, how much we may fear it, and fast we run from it.