Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Transcendent Kingdom

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.

Content Warnings

annabulkowski's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

asieee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

another triumph by Gyasi—master of the most beautiful prose. her ability to express the human condition is unmatched. her characters always feel so… real, so alive, like i might pass Gifty one day on the street. i saw myself so clearly in this novel. i found words for feelings i’ve been unable to express. truly a beautiful novel.

Content Warnings

siobhan28's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

fletcher146's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

paulap's review against another edition

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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

3.0

The writing in this book makes it compulsively readable; even if there is not a big plot. It is also quite reflective and thoughtful. However, the fact that the story was told from Gifty’s perspective does sometimes feel a bit too one-sided, and it is wrapped up a bit too neatly for me.

There are several topics that the book looks at: addiction, faith and how that interacts with science, racism, the OxyContin crisis, being an immigrant, depression. Some of those topics were more interesting and better developed than others. I particularly liked the discussions about addiction, how it happens, if the brain is actually able to stop the impulse or not, if it is about will or something more basic than that.

The last major aspect of the book is Gifty’s relationships with people, mostly with her family, but also with friends and couples, how it is hard for her to develop those connections, how flawed her relationship with her mum is and how her brother affects that. Those parts were interesting. But the parts about her failing to have friends or a boyfriend felt underdeveloped cliches about antisocial scientists.

Overall, I liked the experience of reading this book, but it was a bit half and half about if the book resonated with me and I don’t think it will leave a strong mark.

Content Warnings

beccajreads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

dezembrluft's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-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

Content Warnings

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