Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

570 reviews

sophiestasyna's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Mental illness

Moderate: Grief and Death

jbbikes's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Addiction

mlanseur's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A tender and emotionally vulnerable reflection on generational trauma, substance abuse, faith, and love.  Absolutely beautiful writing and captivating storytelling.  Yaa Gyasi continues to tell deeply human stories that are rich with the complexities of our lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

nessreadsalot's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

In Transcendent Kingdom Yaa Gyasi tells the story of Gifty and her family as they move from Ghana to Alabama hoping for a better life. 

Told from Gifty's point of view, we see how things don't go quite as they expected and how this harsh reality chips away at the families dream and then eventually the family itself. 

Gifty struggles to understand the addiction that took her brother from her and strives to better understand it through her studies and professional life. When her mother comes to stay with her Gifty learns more about the deep rooted trauma that runs through her family. 

This book was wonderfully written and while I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by the fabulous Bahni Turpin I really want to reread the physical book so that I can note some quotations and parts of the book that really stood out to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Addiction, and Drug abuse

leonormsousa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really liked this one. It is beautifully written, and the constant time jumps were done perfectly, which is something quite rare. It hooked me from the start, and I found myself wanting more at the end, even though I know this was the perfect size for this story.

Small note that I was pleasantly surprised by the queer representation in this one (MC is queer). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Racism, and Religious bigotry

kvokolek's review against another edition

reflective

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racism, and Grief

isabelsophiex's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Death

violerwolf's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Realistic fiction, especially as slow paced as the “plot” is in this book, isn’t typically my cup of tea. But Gyasi, through masterful prose and a constantly shifting timeline of events, makes this such an engaging story about addiction, depression, family, and religion. The way she interweaves themes through various points of the main character’s life and places them throughout the narrative is beautifully done. My one critique is that the main character’s internal reflection can be a bit heavy handed at times, but don’t let that stop you from checking this book out.

I picked up this book because Homegoing had such a long waitlist at my library, and I’m so glad I did. I can’t wait to read Gyasi’s other works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Child death, Animal cruelty, Racism, Mental illness, Grief, and Addiction

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Homophobia

oliviagscherzer's review

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Racism, and Addiction

katecm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, and Death