A review by abbie_
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

challenging 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
While Homegoing is a sweeping, multigenerational saga, Gyasi shows us a different side to her writing with Transcendent Kingdom. She hones in one family, a family too quickly shrunken from four members, to three, to two, focusing on the intimate details of their lives.
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It’s been a good few years since I read Homegoing, but I wouldn’t compare the two anyway since they are such vastly different books. Gyasi’s writing remains lucid and beautiful, and honestly I prefer a more intimate story.
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Gifty and her family go through a lot, taking the reader with them as they try to make a home in Alabama, enduring racism at school and at work, as they battle with addiction, and as they have their faith tested. It’s such a poignant and devastating portrait of addiction, and its aftermath for the whole family. I also enjoyed the dichotomy between science and religion throughout the novel, as Gifty ponders on the place of both in her life.
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If I had one tiny complaint it would be that sometimes the time jumps were confusing, as they just happen randomly within chapters. But it’s not difficult to get yourself situated again.
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And now, we wait for the third Gyasi - very excited to see what it will be, since she has so much range clearly!
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