Nerdsville Book Club #Two: Ghana Must Go, by Taiye Selasi

Available on Amazon

Ghana Must Go is about a family torn apart by a string of events and as a result, are living in different parts of the world. There is the mother (Flora), father (Kweku), eldest son (Olu), twins (a boy, Kehinde and a girl, Taiwo) and the youngest daughter (Sade). They all have their demons that they choose to suppress before their worlds are turned upside down yet again and are forced to not only face each other but also their past.

This book conjured up lot of different emotions for me. There are a few parallels in the story that ring true.

I don't want to give too much away but parental abandonment in more ways than one is quite prominent in this story. I can relate to that and at times reading this book was a bit too close to the bone for comfort. The "children's" feelings towards their parents and the feeling of loss and confusion is definitely something that I have felt/ feel with a lot of what happened during my own childhood/ early adulthood, and it was so strange to read some of my own thoughts and feelings through these fictitious characters.

Another subject touched upon was the relationship between the two sisters, Taiwo and Sade. They have a very damaged relationship with a lot of resentment and jealousy - from both sides. Now, although I certainly do not have that kind of relationship with my own older sister, the lack of closeness and the lack of knowing one another, describe us to a tee. We are completely different people, literally opposites ends of the scale, but I still wonder if things could or should be different....

For me, the continuous theme I got from the book was yearning. Yearning for a sense of belonging, yearning for a sense of wanting to be accepted, yearning for a resolution, yearning for happiness. I felt the theme and the subjects throughout the book were dealt with really well by the author; she was sensitive, thoughtful, honest, and hopeful in her writing and I'm in no doubt this book would have been completely different if written by a man. The subject matters talked about were not easy ones and I haven't read many books that deal with them in such a way as to make me think about my own story and how it has shaped me into the person I am today.

However, I'm not going to say that I liked the book in full, in fact, I didn't really get into the book (as in it wasn't an instant page turner for me) until around page 120. I found the beginning incredibly difficult to enjoy. There was a lot of time jumping that at times became quite confusing and hard to keep up with.

All in all I'm glad I stuck with it as I enjoyed it more as I read on.

Don't forget to check out the reviews from my fellow Nerdsville crew:

Charlotte
Cynthia
Marie
Ragini

‘til next time.

Love and hugs,

Isha

xxx

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Marie Southard Ospina30 June 2014 at 19:06
Gorgeous review. I especially loved this bit of analysis: "For me, the continuous theme I got from the book was yearning. Yearning for a sense of belonging, yearning for a sense of wanting to be accepted, yearning for a resolution, yearning for happiness."

Really beautiful writing, and I couldn't agree more! I definitely felt I could relate to most of the characters in some capacity or another, so I'm glad someone else got that as well, even though the reasons for the relatability are crummy.

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