Taiye Selasi’s long-awaited debut is finally here. From the very beginning, it has been surrounded by hype, and with hype comes expectations that could easily ruin such an eagerly anticipated book. But not this one.
Written in three parts, this novel is 300 pages of beauty and tells the story of the Sai family, American immigrants of Ghanian and Nigerian descent. The Sais are pulled apart when the father, Kweku, abandons the family following his unfair dismissal as a surgeon in Boston. The book follows each member of the family as they try to cope with the consequences of their abandonment.
The first part begins with Kweku Sai in his garden in Ghana, and the realisation that he is dying from a heart attack. What follows is an insightful journey into Kweku’s mind as his present is mingled with his past. The dragging out of Kweku’s death makes you realise his regret, and also how central he has been in the scattering of his family. While the prose in this first part is sometimes a little gushing and verbose, the overall effect is stunning.
It is in the second part of the novel that we meet the rest of the family. Fola, the mother, is beautiful, sensitive and strong. Abandoned with her four children, she sacrifices her life to try to give them the best upbringing possible (often failing). Olu is the eldest, following in his father’s footsteps and working as a surgeon, although he is afraid that he will become too much like his father. Then come Taiwo and Kehinde, beautiful and intelligent twins, the former a sulky law school drop-out, almost determined to fail despite being the top of the class, the latter a famous but suicidal artist, both haunted by a traumatizing incident that happened during their teens. And finally comes Sadie, who faces the curse of the last-born, stuck in her siblings’ shadows, desperately trying to shine as equally as they do. There is no main character here; each one tells their own story at their own pace, each story intertwining to create the bigger picture.
The backdrop of the story may be Africa, but this book is about so much more than that. Selasi has included a huge range of themes and characters that provide depth to the book. The turn of phrase is poetic and rhythmic, sometimes sounding just like lyrics from a song- “He is gone, she remains, that is that, tat- tat-tat.” The only problem I had with the novel was that Selasi seems sometimes self indulgent in her prose, her descriptions over the top and slightly sickly at times. However unless Selasi eased into her writing by the end, you do get used to it. But that was only a slight annoyance – believe the hype, this book is without a doubt worth a read, and I’m sure it will feature on many prize lists this year.
Ghana Must Go is available now from Penguin
words: Llio Maddocks