Scan barcode
A review by elinsquesttobewellread
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
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: Suicide, Mental illness, and Drug abuse