Reviews

Sublime Royaume by Yaa Gyasi

mrtvavrana's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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

4.0

 

I have read this book as a part of The StoryGraph Reads the World Challenge, as my entry for Ghana. 

 

Transcendent Kingdom is another book on my “reading out of the comfort zone” book list this year. What I expected from this book was a life story, but it ended up being so much more. 

 

This book explores grief and loss, coping with addiction, immigration, racism, mental illnesses, and difficulties of relationships—with friends, family, and religion. Despite how short this book is, I think it explored all of these topics in depth. 

 

What I did not enjoy very much was all the retrospection. At times it was pretty confusing to follow, as we jumped from the present into the past and then even further into the past. It took me a while to put the pieces together, and I am still not sure I got everything right. 

 

I´m also not sure how I feel about the very last chapter—I would have preferred an open ending, but I also feel like it brought everything together nicely. The characters were all so beautifully written, and their stories and fates were laid out without any sugar coating. 

 

Being raised Catholic (and leaving the church) and having lost family members to addiction, I was worried of the pictures I would see described in this novel. But, in all honesty, it brought me comfort. Sometimes we just need to hear and see that we are not alone, and everything will be okay. 

 

I loved to see so much of Gifty, from her early childhood all the way to adulthood. I loved how the novel explored her questions about life, science, and religion and that she ultimately found what she was looking for. I truly appreciated that Gyasi did research in neuroscience, and I enjoyed learning new facts. 

 

Transcendent Kingdom is a beautifully heartbreaking novel, and I honestly cannot wait to read more.

eviesellers's review against another edition

4.0

4.5 stars; i'm not particularly knowledgeable about neuroscience or christianity, but i thought this book was beautiful. it handled the idea of balancing logic, intelligence, knowledge, and rationalization with hope, faith, and a belief in something greater and more merciful. the messages about culture, addiction, depression, and generational trauma were incredibly well done. i gained a lot of perspective from this book and felt impacted by reading it.

readbyisle's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

5.0

frizabell's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.75

jenfantoni's review against another edition

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. From the beautiful cover, the moving story, and the intelligent prose, I found myself enchanted from the very beginning.

missmash's review against another edition

4.0

If I could have stopped going to the First Assemblies altogether, I would have. Every time I thought I might, I would picture my mother up there at the altar, twirling and falling, singing with praise, and I knew that if I didn’t go to our church with her, she would simply go alone. That she would simply be alone. The last person on Earth who still believed that God might heal her son, and I couldn’t imagine anything lonelier than that.

ylbirda's review against another edition

3.0

I stumbled upon this book through the #ReadWithJenna book club.
I read that joining a book club would be good to improve thinking and logical skills, to discover something new.
So yeah, this was really new to me. I rarely read current literature, lately I've gotten more and more into factual literature, so this really was something different.
The flow of the book was nice, even though there were some parts around the middle which slightly dragged. The end felt somewhat too rushed, there could've been a lot more - especially in the way how Gifty overcome all her problems - or if she did at all.
It was a very interesting combination of themes which I don't read very often about. I think the religious part stuck the most with me, as it maintained it's position through out the book.

snigdha1's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

cosireads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

xannyyylove's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0