Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Más allá de mi reino

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Más allá de mi reino by Yaa Gyasi

85 reviews

amberinbookland's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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bookmarkonthewall's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

Gifty tells the story of her and her family moving from Ghana to Alabama to seek a better life and live the American dream. Reality of immigrant life is starkly different and tough, which pulls Gifty’s family apart.

Years later, Gifty turns to science for answers as her faith in God has not explained why her brother succumbed to opioid addiction which eventually destroyed him. But Gifty realizes that she cannot abandon traumas of the past. When her mother comes to stay, she soon learns that there are no easy answers to questions that are not easy to ask.

💭This is an expansive and complex book that tackles so many different themes - drug addiction, depression, religion, science, relationships, belonging, love, loss, grief - all intricately woven into this story and observed through Gifty’s eyes and experiences.

The prose is lyrical yet there is a sense of detachment and control in the way Gifty shifts from childhood stories to her discoveries as a scientist. The reader inhabits how Gifty has hardened to all the traumas she has suffered like ’𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙’. However, clearly there is a veil of melancholy and almost rage in how Gifty conveys her feelings, guarded yet teetering on the surface looking for meaning.

The switching narrative highlights the dichotomy between religion and science, which don’t seem to marry up but Gifty learns that ’𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙚...’ but equally neither provides her with meaning she has been seeking all her life.

In turn, this story becomes quite philosophical and reflective. I can’t help but ponder about what I’ve just read - powerful, emotionally charged and unforgettable.

⚖️ Bold, challenging, and visceral read. Everyone will be talking about this book for a long time!

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thegirlwithbooksuk's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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shannonmcarrillo's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

Heartbreakingly beautiful.

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frenchtoast_n_books's review against another edition

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emotional informative 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

3.0

I'm somewhat conflicted in my feelings of this book and I can't place why.

I think I'm struggling with a disconnect between Gifty as a child and Gifty as an adult. Maybe the story seemed to be more telling than showing. Maybe I didn't get the end as it didn't seem to conclude or complete anything. I don't know why but I somehow just didn't connect or understand this story as a whole like I thought I would.

I think this book requires more contemplation on my part to figure out my overall thoughts about it.

I'll use this review template to see if I can sort it out:

Content Warnings: racism, racial slurs, drug use and addiction, drug overdose, suicide, depression, religious trauma, child abuse, divorce/parent separation (probably more that I can't think of)

Main Theme: I'm not sure on this. We have: Gifty's childhood detailing her journey and struggles with religion that caries into her adult life, Nana's (Gifty's brother) drug use that lead to his death, Gifty's mother coming to stay with her as she needs help dealing with a major depressive episode that leaves her bed ridden, and Gifty's adult life and research with mice mapping neural pathways for addiction and how reducing their addiction seeking behavior. As you can see there is a lot going on and parsing the major theme is difficult for me.

I guess the major theme is the multifaceted lives we live that shape who we become and how we interact with others.

Plot/Plot Pacing: The pacing was consistent and the plot was consistent through each space in time we inhabit of Gifty's life. However, the reader jumps around in time without rime or reason throughout her life. It comes without warning and maybe that stilts the book for me and why I have the disconnect I do for the story and the characters.

Writing Style/Audio Quality: The writing was overall excellent, though at times when we are in Gifty's childhood the author includes large or advanced words that I didn't think a girl from 4-11 would know. It made me think that when we were in Gifty's childhood it was being narrated or told via the lens of the older, neuroscientist Gifty even though there was no indication of that being the case in the writing itself.

The audiobook is amazing and has one of my favorite narrators: Bahni Turpin.

Character Development: The overall arc of young Gifty makes a whole lot of sense, but I'm not sure there was one for adult Gifty. I can't place adult Gifty's "a-ha" moment and her story just ends. Then there is an epilogue of sorts that discuss her life years after her current research has ended. A "where is she now" if you will. I'm not sure this worked for me in the story because I wanted more. I crave reading the space from the end of the story to the epilogue, so the end of the book leaves me a little deflated.

Diversity: Gifty's mother is an immigrant that left Ghana for the US. She settled in Alabama where she had Gifty. Gifty left Alabama for Harvard and Stanford, and spent a summer in Ghana when she was a child. It has each location represented in the story and discusses being Black and an immigrant in America. It also details the difference between a Black immigrant US citizen and a Black generational US citizen. There is also bisexuality and disordered mental health representation in the story.

Impression on Character Relationships: This is potentially the strongest aspect of the story for me because Gifty details and examines her relationships throughout the story: family, friends, and romantic relationships. She even examines the relationships she perceives between those she knows, mostly family members. I really enjoyed examining how relationships evolved in this story based on events that happen in their lives.

I don't know if any of this has helped me sort out my thoughts but it definitely allows me starting points to dive further in.

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jojo_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

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bridget986's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

2021 Challenge: 1/24

I've been making a conscious effort to consume more, particularly entertainment/art, from creators who are different from myself. I was originally drawn to the book because the blurb had mentioned a woman in graduate school, but I found there was so much more to it that would capture my attention. I was stunned to see that this book tackled issues that I had never read about before presented from the perspective of a young woman who I found to be pretty relatable. I was particularly drawn to the focus on grappling with childhood trauma, dealing with a loved one who suffers from addiction and how that impacts the entire family, and self-reflection on how one's own issues and anxieties can run your life. I could not stop dog-earing passages that spoke to me and felt like I was seeing my own deepest musings and fears reflected back at me. Perhaps a lot of my love from this book stems from how it felt to read about a woman who seemed so much like me, but I don't think it matters. While I myself have never been religious, I still found the conversation about God and church to be interesting. Ultimately, I think out of everything I have ever read, that this is the book that has impacted me the most. I cannot wait to pick up Homecoming and see what else Ms. Gyasi puts out!

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