From his youngest daughter, Sadie's, birth to the doomed surgery that tanked his career, the first part of the book explores the events that pushed him to leave.
Fola is in Ghana when she learns of Kweku’s death, and asks their eldest son Olu to reunite his scattered siblings.
In coming together for the first time in years, they are forced to deal with the pain and obstacles that their father's abrupt desertion brought to their lives.
For the rest of his life Folasadé Savage: She gives up law school to be with Kweku, and is happy to be a wife, mother and florist.
His father's departure makes him deeply afraid of commitments, so although he has been in a serious relationship with Ling for years, he refuses to label it or even address his feelings head on.
She attempts to find a place for herself in relation to her siblings; the beautiful Taiwo, famous artist Kehinde, and perfect Olu.
War and expulsion are the driving factors that bring Fola and Kweku to the United States where they put down roots and start their family.
Described in The Wall Street Journal's round-up of the best fiction of 2013 as "irresistible from the first line",[4] Ghana Must Go was favourably reviewed in a diverse range of publications, including The New York Times, The Economist, Entertainment Weekly, and Elle.
[2] Publishers Weekly in a starred review commented that the author's "gorgeous debut is a thoughtful look at how the sacrifices we make for our family can be its very undoing.... Reminiscent of Jhumpa Lahiri but with even greater warmth and vibrancy, Selasi’s novel, driven by her eloquent prose, tells the powerful story of a family discovering that what once held them together could make them whole again.
"[5] The review in The Independent by Margaret Busby refers to it as a "stunning opening act",[6] while Diana Evans writes in The Guardian: Before you get to page one of this book there is a noisy overture.
gave a face to a class of sophisticated, cosmopolitan young Africans who defy downtrodden stereotypes.... Ghana Must Go – named after the Nigerian phrase directed at incoming Ghanaian refugees during political unrest in the 80s – is one of the most hyped debuts of recent times.
[11] In one effect, Afropolitan contests the notion of Africa as the a priori, the already-known, that has dominated African literature in Western markets.
[13] It is difficult to identify African identity in this literature because "different protagonists come from different countries and do not necessarily share common cultural or historical backgrounds".
[13] When this ideology becomes the dominant concept, it may conflict with the people who do not categorize under the "scattered tribe of pharmacists, physicists, physicians" that typically characterize being Afropolitan.
[13] The complexity of Afropolitanism is portrayed through Selasi’s characterization in Ghana Must Go, as each character explores his or her own identity through contemporary Afro-diasporic politics.
[14] Cultural mobility is also exemplified through the move to and from Africa and the US, the family Nigerian-Ghanaian-Scottish heritage, and Kehinde's movement from the US to Ghana to the US to London.
The novel typifies the notions of Afropolitanism in its mobilities and connection to "African communities, nations and traditions" as well as its viability "across cultures, languages and states".