Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Inte av denna världen by Yaa Gyasi

279 reviews

sketchydelusion's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Grief, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Sexual content

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-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

5.0

Transcendent Kingdom beautifully weaves science, religion, and the struggles with grief and addiction. We follow Gifty, a woman who is nearing the end of her PhD in neuroscience, focused on addiction research. In her lab she experiments with mice, making them addicted to Ensure and then testing to see which neurons are responsible for that behavior. At home, she cares for her mother who is in a deep depressive state. Her brother, Nana, died from a drug addiction that started from an OxyContin prescription after an ankle injury, so her research is very much tied to trying to understand why and how her brother became addicted and why he couldn't get out of that toxic cycle. To add to the complexity of this story, there is the religious background that Gifty grew up in. Her mother is deeply religious and instilled that belief in her from childhood. Gifty has journals filled with letters to God as she tried to process what was happening to her family when she was a child. 

All in all, this book is beautiful and heartbreaking. The ways that Gifty's family came together and broke apart are handled so carefully and tenderly that I was able to go through it with Gifty while maintaining a safe distance from that pain. I appreciate Gyasi's writing a lot and so far, both of her books have been excellent in my eyes, she's becoming an auto-buy author for me. I highly recommend this book but do check out the content warnings since it can be a difficult read for multiple reasons. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Addiction, Grief, Death, Medical content, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

mandkips's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Death, Racism, and Suicide attempt

lollierey's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

5.0

“My memories of him, though few, are mostly pleasant, but memories of people you hardly know are often permitted a kind of pleasantness in their absence. It’s those who stay who are judged the harshest, simply by being around to be judged.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Suicide attempt

mothebad's review against another edition

emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide attempt

annabulkowski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Addiction, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

c_flint's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Addiction, Death, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Mental illness

honeyvoiced's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

ktrain3900's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

A story both local and global, of family, whose protagonist, Gifty, contemplates religion, science, relationships, mental health, and loss. The writing is nearly seamless, weaving between the present and past so smoothly sometimes I barely knew where I was and would have to flip back a few pages to find my footing. Despite my superficial differences with Gifty, I found her difficult relationships over time with both God and other people (as well as with herself) relatable, also having had a family member gone too soon. The unlikable character has become popular these days, but give me an imperfect fully human character who transcends like/dislike dualism any day of the week. Heartbreaking and hopeful; beautiful yet ordinary.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Suicide attempt, Racism, Mental illness, and Grief

siobhan28's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Such an amazing, lyrical book that made me tear up multiple times. The writing was so beautiful and captivating and I finished the book within 24 hours. A lot of parts of the book were heavy but there was always a glimmer of hope 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Racism, Mental illness, Grief, Drug use, Racial slurs, Addiction, and Suicide attempt