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sarahholliday's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.0
Things I loved about this book:
- Gifty wrestling with her religious upbringing & faith. So much of her journey resonated with me, as someone who was raised in a southern, evangelical church and has since left that particular faith tradition. Gyasi portrayed that journey with such empathy.
- The way past & present seemed to blend and inform one another. It felt like an accurate representation of what it's like to live with grief and trauma.
Things I didn't love about this book:
- I'll admit that I prefer plot-driven works, so take this with a grain of salt! But even for a character-driven novel it seemed like this story lacked momentum. I was never really sure what (if anything) we were moving towards.
- The shift from the penultimate chapter to the final one seemed a bit abrupt. We go from Gifty being a fairly closed-off person navigating her mother's mental illness to her life several years later. I won't spoil anything, but it definitely threw me off kilter a bit.
Overall, I think Transcendent Kingdom is beautifully written and is brimming with wise observations & heart--well worth your time if it appeals!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
taylor13's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Forced institutionalization
acarter's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A phenomenally beautiful book — a transcendent meditation on family? grief, science, religion, addiction, and much more. I couldn’t put this beauty down!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts
wai's review against another edition
emotional
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
As a psychology person, I always go into media focused on this field with a bit of trepidation because most get it totally wrong and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. But when I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I had to give it a try, and I'm so glad that I did. This book is meticulously researched and reads true to form for anyone involved in the fields of psychology/mental health and/or neuroscience and embedded organically in the internal strife of the main character, Gifty, who's stuck between her future as a brilliant neuroscientist and her past/current family trauma of having an older brother die young from a substance use disorder and a mother with severe depression and suicidality but only accepts help through the form of religious intervention. I found so much of my own struggles with generational mental illness and the religion vs science debate. Multiple moments in this novel made me stop for fear of crying. This has honestly become my favorite novel of 2020 and I find it difficult to really put words to what I am feeling beyond just that I want to recommend this book to everyone I know. This is the kind of novel you recommend when you want someone to know you better. I am now a Yaa Gyasi stan and will now proceed to follow her writing for as long as she is publishing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Suicide, Racial slurs, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Physical abuse and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal death and Forced institutionalization
caseythereader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Racism
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