Reviews

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

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yars_reading_corner's review against another edition

2.0

This is a wonderful book written about addiction and the problems of a Ghanaian family that live in the US and have experienced discrimination and hate both from the black and non-black communities, and the reasons behind addiction. It's a book that feels like two in one since there is a part of it that is about the life of female scientist and also her memoir that have led her to choose the field that she is doing her experiments on.

There should be a trigger warning for trauma and addiction and familial issues but what I really loved the details that went into this book is the fact that it was written based on one trip to a lab and it also shows the entity one has to suppress as a scientist when experimenting on animals because there's no room for compassion when you are trying for "the greater good". And also, there were some passages that were written in Twi which is spoken by a large population of Ghanaians.

macintasha's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

Content Warnings

daisy_kxnt's review against another edition

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5.0

*4.5 stars

withlovejea's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

madeleine_jo's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

strawbkatie's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

while this is obviously an amazingly written book (as is anything by yaa gyasi) and i really enjoyed it, i feel like i can’t give this 5⭐️ :( obviously personal to me but as someone who’s never been religious or even questioned religion, i was slightly annoyed by the sheer amount of the book that was dedicated to gifty’s quest to find the balance between religion and science. i wish there was more written about the actual science gifty was working on, i found it so interesting but i felt like it was getting repetitive in the small chapters where it was mentioned. also, the sheer amount of stereotypes in this book?? im sure this is a talking point for the english students out there but it didn’t sit right with me when they just kept coming -

black immigrants in the south of the USA (specifically alabama) where the dad abandons the family & the son is a sports star who ends up addicted to drugs??

felt a bit icky to me but of course the story is written that way for a reason, just that reason didn’t sit right w me :)