Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Maa ja taivas by Yaa Gyasi

72 reviews

cath_m's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

sidekicksam's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I don't think I'll ever be able to put into words how profoundly moved I was by this book.

Firstly, Gyasi's writing is transcendent. She paints the portrait of an immigrant family, battling addiction and the exploration of faith so well, it is hard to believe that this is not a memoir. I recognized a lot of myself in Gifty, especially her struggles with abandoning her religion and having a depressed mother in the house hit home for me. 

I recommend this to anyone and everyone who wants to be deeply moved by a novel (without necessarily crying) and gorgeous writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, and Abandonment

mair_mcc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

Alabama. The writing style of this book was nothing short of moving. The multiple topics, all very difficult, were woven together in a way that made them interesting, gripping, heartbreaking & relatable all at the same time. I cannot wait to get my hands on more of this author's work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death

abioneil's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

sarafinley's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Abandonment

menomica's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense

• 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? No

“There is no living thing on God’s Earth that doesn’t come to know pain sometime.”

This book broke my heart.

Yaa Gyasi is so amazing at describing trauma without coming off as gratuitous. She manages to capture the multiple aspects of pain and hurt, and even how at certain level you begin to normalize it.

The way Gifty talks about the trauma that she experienced as a preteen—watching her brother strung out on her lap, her mothers attempted suicide—you really get the sense that though she understands the harrowing nature of her experiences, she hasn’t really given herself room to reflect on how she experienced these things at such a young age and how that affected her.

I think this book is very beautiful, especially if you go in not viewing it with the expectation of a narrative structure. A lot of the storlines don’t tie up in neat bows, they simply end, come to their own natural conclusions. And to me, that feels very much like how things happen in real life.

Anyway, I think this book is so amazing. Definitely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Abandonment

rebekahg876's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Racism, and Abandonment

ejs2000's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

charliedezeeuw's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Abandonment

sarah_eggleton's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Really hard hitting stuff but a fascinating exploration into living and loving people who have a mental illness. A lot resonated with me, and the parallel of Gifty’s work in the lab was a really clever way to illustrate very intangible feelings

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief and Suicide attempt

Minor: Racial slurs and Abandonment