Ghana must go the title referring to both the expulsion of ghanaian immigrants from nigeria in 1983 as a result of a boom and bust in the oil industry, and the distinctive white, red and blue travel bags they used to transport their belongings tells the story of the sai family. A fathers death leads to a new beginning for his fractured. The author has been mentored by toni morrison and endorsed by salman rushdie. In ghana must go, taiye selasi gives us a cast of characters who pull apart and come together to tell a story with an immaculate sense of truth, tenderness, and severity. Read online ghana must go pdf by taiye selasi for free. When 53yearold kweku sai keels over from a heart attack in his elegant backyard garden, the news quickly travels all the way from ghana to. In her ambitious debut, ghana must go, she brings us into the world of bright, urban professionals, raised in the united states, but with roots in africa. Ghana must go was the surprise book club choice for october.
Electric, exhilarating, and beautifully crafted, ghana must go introduces the world to taiye selasi, a novelist of extraordinary talent. One of the most exhilarating scenes in the book sees a young woman who has developed an eating disorder in the pressurecooker environment of yale. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read ghana must go. Taiye selasis debut novel, ghana must go, centers on the sai family, a fractured clan of overachieving jetsetters who, like selasi, are immigrants of ghanaian and nigerian descent. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted pdf, ghana must go is a testament to the transformative power of unconditional love, from a debut novelist of extraordinary talent. The novel is set around the family of kweku sai, long isolated from one another, coming together in ghana for his funeral. When kwaku sai drops dead from a massive heart attack, he is living in ghana with his.
Ghana must go by selasi, taiye penguin random house south. Taiye selasis ghana must go find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. In the british sense, ambitious is a barelyburied criticism of people who would presume to rise above their station, so freudenberger is quick to clarify that she. Its a stunning debut, as exceptional as the deserving hype that preceded it. Ghana must go comes with a bagload of prepublication praise. Ghana must go ebook by taiye selasi 9781101605776 rakuten. The books very first sentence sounds like a scrap of song lyric. Ghana must go by taiye selasi posted on may 8, 2018 by damien leave a reply when i took advantage of a free saturday between two work weeks in ghana to explore elmina and cape coast, on the coast west of accra, i was surprised by the amount and the size of the funerals i could see from the road or in the towns. Selasis novel is a story of immigration, family, the long term ramifications of choices made, and an attempt to peer beyond the stereotypes of africa and africans. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted, ghana must go is a testament to the. The death of the patriarch is the catalyst for the sai familys reunion and regeneration in selasis accomplished debut novel. Ghana must go by taiye selasi extract books the guardian. Get 50% off this audiobook at the audiobooksnow online audio book store and download or stream it right to your computer, smartphone or tablet. Shame and parental betrayal are central themes in ghana must go, taiye selasis heartbreaking first novel.
Introducing a powerful new novelist whose evocation of an unforgettable african family is testament to the transformative power of unconditional lovekwaku sai is dead. Taiye selasi brings the african immigrant experience to readers in her debut novel, ghana must go. Pdf frammentazione spoziale e testuole in ghana must go 20. In ghana must go 20 taiye selasi points to the issue of cultural, ethnic and linguistic mixture, through a nonlinear textual. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the. Taiye selasi, a transnational intellectual of nigerian and ghanaian descent, educated in britain and the united states, sees herself as part of a young diasporic generation of writers that. This is the story of a family of the simple, devastating ways in which families tear themselves apart, and of the incredible lengths to which a family will go to put itself back together. A buoyant and rapturous debut novel the wall street journal about the. In a sweeping narrative that takes readers from accra to lagos to london to new york, it is at once a portrait of a modern family and. Ghana must go 20 follows a ghanaiannigerian family back and forth across the atlantic as first the parents, then the children, must come to terms with transnational living. Book overview a buoyant and rapturous debut novel the wall street journal about the transformative power of unconditional love electric, exhilarating, and beautifully crafted, ghana must go introduces the world to taiye selasi, a novelist of extraordinary talent. Olu, now half of a bostonbased golden couple, doesnt believe in family.
As farreaching as the novel feels, at its heart it is the story of one family. The remainder of the book follows the impact of the patriarchs death on this group, which assembles for the funeral. In a sweeping narrative that takes readers from accra to lagos to london to new york, it is at once a portrait. For all official information and updates regarding covid19, visit the south african department of healths website at. Electric, exhilarating, and beautifully crafted, ghana must go introduces the world to taiye selasi, a novelist. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading ghana must go. Novelist taiye selasi coined the word afropolitanism eight years ago to refer to educated, multilingual, multiethnic africans living around the globe. Ghana must go will introduce you to the sais, a prospering ghanaiannigerian family living in the states. I was surprised that my around the world for a good book selection for ghana turns out to have a good portion of the narrative set close to home in the boston, massachusetts area.
Ghana must go is at once a portrait of a modern family, and an exploration of the importance of where we come from to who we are. Despite these challenges, ghana must go moved my soul, which is why i rated it four stars. Ghana must go selasi taiye full versionbook description. Moving with great elegance through time and place, ghana must go. In the wake of kwakus death, the family gathers in ghana, at their mother, folas, new home. Ghana must go ghana must go audiobook, by taiye selasi. After losing his job, kweku abandons them all and returns to ghana.
Ghana must go was a tough read because 1 the authors style is poetic and not always forwardmoving, 2 the character focus shifts without warning and it takes time to determine who youre reading about, and 3 it is extremely painful. It will take you through their humble beginnings, their struggle to prosper, the eventual advent of prosperity and consequently the destruction of that new found stability. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted, ghana must go is a testament to the transformative power of. Id been waiting, thirty years i think, to write a novelthat is, to receive a story worthy of the form. A buoyant and rapturous debut novel the wall street journal about the transformative power of unconditional love e. Sai was an admired surgeon but his private life left pain and. Ghana must go does offer a more interesting explanation for kwekus departure. Pdf on dec 31, 2019, hanna wallinger and others published lost in transnation. About a year ago, nell freudenberger called taiye selasis ghana must go an ambitious first novel in the new york times, and observed that ambitious has a different meaning on each side of the north atlantic. Family sagas generally start with a joyous birthor, as in the case of taiye selasis debut novel, an unexpected death. The title comes from a nigerian phrase from the 1980s regarding incoming ghanaian refugees, moving away from the political unrest that dogged the nation. An avid traveler, she aims to visit 100 countries by the age of 50.
Real talk, the first third or so of the book is a damn messslow, not fully realized, kind of irritating because it could be better with more editing, perhaps. Ghana must go selasi taiye full version pdfbookslib. A family prospering until the day father and surgeon kweku sai is victim of a grave injustice. A stunning novel, spanning generations and continents, ghana must go by rising star taiye selasi is a tale of family drama and forgiveness, for fans of zadie smith and chimamanda ngozi adichie. A buoyant and rapturous debut novel the wall street journal about the transformative power of unconditional loveelectric, exhilarating, and beautifully crafted, ghana must go introduces the world to taiye selasi, a novelist of extraordinary talent.
Read ghana must go a novel by taiye selasi available from rakuten kobo. Taiwo is still in therapy after her highprofile student affair with the dean of law. Taiye selasi a 33yearold writer and photographer who was born in london to a nigerian mother and a ghanaian father, grew up in the states and now lives in rome surely was the exotic beauty of masterpiece. Meet the sais, a nigerianghanaian family living in the united states. It was published in 20, and nominated for an naacp image award. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from accra to lagos to london to new york, ghana must go teaches that the truths we speak can. A renowned surgeon and failed husband, he succumbs suddenly at dawn outside the home he shares in ghana with his second wife. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted, ghana must go follows the sais journey, moving with great elegance through time and place to share the truths hidden and lies told. Anybody who has read taiye selasis ghana must go will tell you. She stood between the two white, male judges like an african queen and gained my full attention. Moving with great elegance through time and place, ghana must go charts the sais circuitous journey to one another.
Taiye selasi has 15 books on goodreads with 40162 ratings. The novel follows the sai family as they come to terms with their father kweku. Despite its intriguing premise of a story of entwining generations and cultures, this is a book that, finally, fails to grab hold of you in the way that it could and should. They must come to terms with their relationships with kwekuwho was a brilliant surgeon but a poor parentas well as with each other. Taiye worked in television production before committing full time to fiction, screenwriting, and photography.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. It was the autumn of 2009, and id gone to a yoga retreat with one of my best friends in sweden. A struggle to fit in and overcome stereotypes in ghana must go. Taiye selasi and the afropolitan daughters of the diaspora. Read an extract from ghana must go by taiye selasi. The novel is told largely through back story as it begins with the fathers death in ghana where he has gone after leaving his.