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gottheblues's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Racism and Sexism
tangleroot_eli's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Minor: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
abrdoodle's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, and Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Alcohol
kelly_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Author: Yaa Gyasi
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: August 31, 2020
T H R E E • W O R D S
Captivating • Heart-wrenching • Introspective
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at the Stanford University School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after an ankle injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.
But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family's loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Transcendent Kingdom came highly recommended to me by several book friends, yet I knew because of my deeply personal connection to the content that I would need to be in the right frame of mind when I finally picked it up. This awareness helped create a safe, deeply emotional reading experience for me that I am grateful for.
What an absolutely powerful book! Yaa Gyasi delivers a raw and compelling take on how science and faith merge and diverge. Written from the first person perspective with short chapters, it read more like a memoir, allowing a deep look into Gifty's internal battle in her search for understanding. Snippets from childhood and the past, really brought each of the characters to life, making them real and relatable. The writing is profoundly beautiful. Every word, every sentence has it's place. The science is easily digestible and the religions aspect aren't preachy. In all honesty, the author tackles mental illness and addiction with grace and respect, while also exploring themes of love and loss, of healing and belonging, and of family and identity. Underneath some of the bigger themes also lies an exploration of the immigrant experience, including racism.
There are so many emotional and thought-provoking passages sprinkled throughout the story, a few of which I have chosen to highlight below. However, it is how in the end the reader is left without answers that truly sticks with me. Isn't that the whole point? It's a testament to how we can search for answers, yet there are some things we can never know and therein lies the beauty of being alive.
Every now and then there is a book comes along and burrows itself deep into your soul and changes your perception, Transcendent Kingdom was one of those books for me. It is a book I will revisit in the future. One that contemplates what it means to live without answers. And one I hope is an invitation for readers to consider people living with mental illness and addiction with more understanding, empathy, and compassion. I will definitely be looking to get my hands on a copy of Gyasi's debut, Homecoming, and look forward to hearing about future books from this incredibly talented author.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who love profound writing
• anyone looking for a thought-provoking read
• book clubs
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"The truth is we don’t know what we don’t know. We don’t even know the questions we need to ask in order to find out, but when we learn one tiny little thing, a dim light comes on in a dark hallway, and suddenly a new question appears."
"Nothing teaches you the true nature of your friendships like a sudden death, worse still, a death that’s shrouded in shame."
"If I've thought of my mother as callous, and many times I have, then it is important to remember what a callus is: the hardened tissue that forms over a wound."
"What I can say for certain is that there is no case study in the world that could capture the whole animal of my brother, that could show how smart and kind and generous he was, how much he wanted to get better, how much he wanted to live. Forget for a moment what he looked like on paper, and instead see him as he was in all of his glory, in all of his beauty. It’s true that for years before he died, I would look at his face and think, 'What a pity, what a waste'. But the waste was my own, the waste was what I missed out on whenever I looked at him and saw just his addiction."
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
overdose, depression, sibling deathvaniavela's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
- As this book questions faith and religion, I think the author did a great job exploring the relationship between religion and science.
- There is an emotional depth within the writing so I came to empathize with the characters.
- The structure was confusing. The jumps in time and space were an interesting portrayal of reading how the pain and trauma affected her life, but it wasn't for me. Especially since these time jumps were not chronological.
- I would have loved to read the mother and brother's perspective, especially since so much of what Gifty narrates is related to them.
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, and Grief
Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Misogyny and Sexual content
elihegy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, and Suicide
alisonannk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Medical trauma
Minor: Hate crime, Misogyny, and Sexism
jaynovara's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
reddeddy's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cursing, Sexual content, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
samarakroeger's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, and Abandonment