Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

69 reviews

aritacb's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Grief, and Drug abuse

lauraportalupi's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I wouldn’t have read this book if I had known about the evangelical Christianity and testing on animals themes. It simply was not enjoyable to read.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Grief, and Racism

laura2107's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Abandonment, and Mental illness

franceskatharine's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Addiction, and Abandonment

mxpringle's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

This book talked about really hard topics, but it was beautiful enough to where that was completely okay and warranted. It had such a unique reflection on both the value and harms of religion to a person's life that I found so inspiring. All of the hard topics that were brought up were like experiencing them the way real people experience them, not merely for a plot point, but intentionally crafting those as background to a person's character. This is the best book I have read in a long time. It was so stunningly beautiful that I'm honestly left a little bit unmoored after finishing it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Drug use, Addiction, Suicide, Racism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

A beautiful and painful book that demands the reader's full attention. Gyasi doesn't lay things out A then B then C; instead, she gives us a puzzle of C then A then Q and trusts that we as readers are clever enough and paying enough attention to put the pieces together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Child death, Grief, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Addiction, Death, Ableism, Drug use, and Racism

Moderate: Blood, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Bullying, Body shaming, Sexism, Violence, Child abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Medical content, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

dannythestreet's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Classism, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Racial slurs

thenovelsphere's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

I didn’t think I’d enjoy this at first because the beginning started off very slow (which is why I attempted to read this about 3 times before) but as the story unravelled, I was sucked into Gifty’s thoughts on religion and science and her experiences with mental health, her family and guilt. Great book.  

The topics are very heavy especially on addiction so expect to feel very sad when reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Abandonment, and Mental illness

jazhandz's review against another edition

DNF at 27%. The writing is really lovely, but I found the story to be too slow and dull for me. I’m also very sensitive to medical experimentation, which I didn’t realize was going to be such a huge part of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, and Racial slurs

The main character’s neuroscience research is based on experimenting on mice, and this is described in some detail.

abrdoodle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide attempt, Child death, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Sexism, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, Excrement, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Physical abuse