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emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
I loved that this took for granted that religion and science aren't incompatible and instead takes as its central thesis the idea that they're sort of... identical? Miraculous about love and grief and being open about the dark questions you hold deep in your heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide attempt
Minor: Racism
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Transcendent Kingdom” by Yaa Gyasi
A young scientist named Gifty spends her days finishing her degree working with mice in the lab. However, when her mother comes to stay with her in the throes of depression, she is reminded of her complicated family history that led her to her studies in the first place. This novel is, to make the point on the nose, transcendent. Written as if it were a memoir, Gyasi writes with a beautiful command of language which is both concise and vivid, a juxtaposition which works from the voice of a scientist. In addition to the complicated experience of Ghanian immigrants in America, I also found her intersecting binary themes of religion-science and addiction-restraint to be a fascinating quadrangle which added complexity to Gifty’s history without overwhelming her unique point of view. Some elements tugged very deeply at me specific to my own experiences with loved ones and mental health. I did find Gyasi’s first novel “Homegoing” more groundbreaking in terms of form and breadth, but “Transcendent Kingdom” is a classic piece of literary fiction written to perfection and I would highly recommend it for any devoted readers of novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this work and is thus far easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness
Moderate: Grief, Suicide attempt
Minor: Racial slurs, Abandonment
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
this was so beautifully written & an equally beautiful story, incredibly perceptive and heartwrenching, a true pleasure to read. i would recommend it to literally everybody.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness
Moderate: Racial slurs
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Yaa Gyasi's debut novel, Homegoing, is perhaps my favourite book of all time. Needless to say I was excited when I picked up Transcendent Kingdom. Transcendent Kingdom is a completely different book to Homegoing, spanning a much shorter amount of time, and focusing almost entirely on one character, Gifty, and her life experiences. Nevertheless, similar to Homegoing, it left me with many unanswered questions about Gifty. I think that this is purposeful, and means that the information we are given is both memorable and poignant, yet, I left the book feeling rather detached from Gifty and the characters in the book.
The novel has been both praised and criticised for it's handling of topics such as race, drug addiction, grief and religion and Gyasi covers an awful lot in the course of the book. I do not feel, however, that she adds anything particularly new or important. to the discussion, but perhaps she does not mean too, and instead we see only how Gifty has experienced all these things.
I'm not particularly a fan of the ending, which seems abrupt and to tie everything up in too neat a bow.
In conclusion, Transcendent Kingdom is another beautiful book from Gyasi, and I would very much recommend it to anyone. It does not, however, live up to Homegoing for me, and with it's slow-pacing and the difficulty I found in connecting with the characters, it did take me a while to get through.
(Thanks to NetGalley for the free e-copy in exchange for an honest review)
The novel has been both praised and criticised for it's handling of topics such as race, drug addiction, grief and religion and Gyasi covers an awful lot in the course of the book. I do not feel, however, that she adds anything particularly new or important. to the discussion, but perhaps she does not mean too, and instead we see only how Gifty has experienced all these things.
I'm not particularly a fan of the ending, which seems abrupt and to tie everything up in too neat a bow.
In conclusion, Transcendent Kingdom is another beautiful book from Gyasi, and I would very much recommend it to anyone. It does not, however, live up to Homegoing for me, and with it's slow-pacing and the difficulty I found in connecting with the characters, it did take me a while to get through.
(Thanks to NetGalley for the free e-copy in exchange for an honest review)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicide
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Mental illness, Grief
Moderate: Death, Racism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
sad
Loveable characters:
Yes
This book does an amazing job navigating the relationships that Gifty, the main character, has with her religion and her family.
The way mental illness and the death of a relative are explored is so deep and true that it hurts either because it brings back memories or because simply you can feel the pain Gifty has to endure
It's so depressing and real that i would advise to check carefully the tws.
The way mental illness and the death of a relative are explored is so deep and true that it hurts either because it brings back memories or because simply you can feel the pain Gifty has to endure
It's so depressing and real that i would advise to check carefully the tws.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide attempt