Reviews

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

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graco's review against another edition

4.0

A young woman navigates her relationship with her depressed mother and grapples the with childhood loss of her brother to opiod addiction as she finishes her graduate research.
Many meditations on religion, science, grief and complicated family relationships.

lauriej's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

paigewetzel's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

4.75

A book so different from any other I have read (again - Gyasi continues to amaze me). There were so many threads that pulled on me as Gifty shared her story. The way Gyasi pulls back the many layers of addiction and to love someone with addiction is something I will carry with me. The relationships and struggle and identity that get caught up in the centrifugal force of addiction brought a new perspective to me.
I also immensely appreciated the complexity with which Gyasi discussed religion, God, and spirituality through Gifty, especially a very evangelical Christian faith. This is a branch of Christianity that is often the butt of a joke, often not taken seriously due to a perceived lack of intellectuality or critical eye. It is sometimes a source of shame for those who have histories in this faith tradition. Gyasi does a wonderful job grappling with the challenges this type of faith community often poses but also, through Gifty, exploring the beauty and insights that can be given through this community. The way Gifty meshes her spiritual inclinations with her scientific studies represents how intertwined all our experiences are. We contain no silos, only multitudes. Gyasi illustrates this so poignantly throughout the book. I was moved and I immersed in every moment of it.

the_eggelstone's review against another edition

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3.0

While I thoroughly enjoyed ‚Homegoing‘, this one left me wanting more. I don’t know if it was the writing style in a diary-like stream of consciousness where memories of main character Gifty, her religious upbringing and her ultimate personal struggles between science and religion, the reverberations of the death of her brother by drug abuse and the cold hard-working mom who slips into a depression after her son‘s death. All heavy themes, but I felt many things were quite stereotypical and left me uninterested. The spiritual battle inside Gifty, her beliefs vs her scientific work did not really convince me.

Things just panned out and happened. I was expecting more emotional scenes and less religion-reflections. I think the book should have said so much more in so many more ways and it delivered very little in the end.

Would highly recommend ‚Homegoing‘ but this one only if you‘re really hooked by the blurb.