Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

59 reviews

ksuazo94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Drug abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Death of parent, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity

iisa's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Racism, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

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

flashandoutbreak's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death, Grief, Medical content, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

clarityandchaos's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death

silverrose187's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• 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: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Racism, Mental illness, Addiction, and Death

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Transcendent Kingdom beautifully weaves science, religion, and the struggles with grief and addiction. We follow Gifty, a woman who is nearing the end of her PhD in neuroscience, focused on addiction research. In her lab she experiments with mice, making them addicted to Ensure and then testing to see which neurons are responsible for that behavior. At home, she cares for her mother who is in a deep depressive state. Her brother, Nana, died from a drug addiction that started from an OxyContin prescription after an ankle injury, so her research is very much tied to trying to understand why and how her brother became addicted and why he couldn't get out of that toxic cycle. To add to the complexity of this story, there is the religious background that Gifty grew up in. Her mother is deeply religious and instilled that belief in her from childhood. Gifty has journals filled with letters to God as she tried to process what was happening to her family when she was a child. 

All in all, this book is beautiful and heartbreaking. The ways that Gifty's family came together and broke apart are handled so carefully and tenderly that I was able to go through it with Gifty while maintaining a safe distance from that pain. I appreciate Gyasi's writing a lot and so far, both of her books have been excellent in my eyes, she's becoming an auto-buy author for me. I highly recommend this book but do check out the content warnings since it can be a difficult read for multiple reasons. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Addiction, Grief, Death, Medical content, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

annabulkowski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Addiction, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

jenmcreads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Child death, Death, Religious bigotry, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Racism

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

 Sometimes I grapple with the thought of "maybe if I were religious, all my problems would be solved - would I still be anxious if I trusted that God was taking care of me and had a plan for me?" and then of course realize that no, I'd still have challenges and anxiety and religion probably isn't for me for a host of other reasons. This book, however, really struck a chord with me because Gifty is struggling with a lot of opposing thoughts - that her religion didn't offer the answers and comfort she needed, leaving her to turn to science, but still missing the comfort that religion brought.

Like Homegoing Gyasi created characters that felt so human it's as if you knew them personally. The plot was relatable, even to someone without a religious background, because it was incredibly human. My only real criticism was that the book got repetitive at times, a lot of back and forth to very similar scenes, which was not always as effective as I think Gyasi wanted it to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Addiction