Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

14 reviews

sujanyar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

This book is well-written. I blame myself for not researching the topics this book deals with better before reading. The super religious background being at loggerheads with her scientific field of research was probably the theme I didn’t expect. The complicated relationship between mother and daughter and as an onlooker of opioid addiction was fleshed out so well.

Overall I expected more plot, and this book is also really sad and made me feel murky and desolate after reading. The ending of the book doesn’t provide the closure you’re looking for either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

4.0

I really loved listening to this book, despite its heartbreaking content. The narration was excellent and I found the non-linear style of story telling very compelling and intriguing. I wish I could sit down with Yaa Gyasi for a chat about this book and ask so many questions about all the decisions made and why! 

The vision for this novel is really quite extraordinary. It’s a tiny slice of life in the present day, but an entire world of exploration as each layer of Gifty’s life gets peeled back, examined; like a bone getting broken so it can be reset and healed properly. 

Transcendent Kingdom is a masterclass in character work— we get to know Gifty, her motivations, her joys, her pains. We watch her as she moves from a shy and closed off person, unwilling to share any tender part of herself, into someone who is realizing that she can’t isolate herself forever. We understand her fears and personally, understand her questions and frustrations with the lack of concrete answers.

What spoken to me in particular was the grappling with faith and religion, and trying to reconcile the importance of that upbringing with a life & world-view that is rooted in, and dominated by, science, reason, and logic. I found many of Gifty’s questions and perspectives incredibly relatable, though I think she came to a softer conclusion about God that I have. I’m not sure if I’ve ever read a book with this kind exploration of faith before, but I have to say I felt deeply at home in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicide attempt

mxpringle's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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

5.0

This book talked about really hard topics, but it was beautiful enough to where that was completely okay and warranted. It had such a unique reflection on both the value and harms of religion to a person's life that I found so inspiring. All of the hard topics that were brought up were like experiencing them the way real people experience them, not merely for a plot point, but intentionally crafting those as background to a person's character. This is the best book I have read in a long time. It was so stunningly beautiful that I'm honestly left a little bit unmoored after finishing it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

flykites's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

All you have to do is watch a child ride her bike directly into a brick wall or jump from the tallest branch of sycamore tree to know that we humans are reckless with our bodies, reckless with our lives, for no other reason than that we want to know what would happen, what it might feel like to brush up against death, to run right up to the edge of our lives, which is, in some ways, to live fully.

<Spoiler>

I enjoyed this book when I could read it for long sweeping spells but I felt ill invested at such pivotal parts. I think the passage of the novel in.which gifty recalls her brother's addiction and now we went from being this pro basketball player with all the opportunities to a man riddled with addiction, how isolated her family felt.in that moment, how people who praised him and his ability on the court suddenly could not care less and tied his rumoured drug addiction down to the fact he was black and not a whole other crisis in itself is so harrowingly done but the novel relied too much on flashbacks of memory that it was taking me out of the story and not showing me enough of gifty in other moments.
</Spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Mental illness

Moderate: Xenophobia

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

A beautiful and painful book that demands the reader's full attention. Gyasi doesn't lay things out A then B then C; instead, she gives us a puzzle of C then A then Q and trusts that we as readers are clever enough and paying enough attention to put the pieces together.

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Content Warnings

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

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

youreawizardjerry's review against another edition

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Addiction and Xenophobia

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

alysereadsbooks's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

3.25

I enjoyed Gifty’s perspective as an immigrant and her relationship with her mother and brother. Some moments were profoundly sad. I also liked the weaving and exploration of science and religion, and the experiences as a neuro PhD researcher. I had a hard time finishing this because of it’s strong focus on religion, but I still enjoyed it, and may reread one day, because it’s very layered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

storykath's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Transcendent Kingdom tells the story of Gifty and her family, alternating between her childhood in Alabama and her present-day life as a PhD student in California. As her brother faces drug addiction, her mother mental illness, Gifty deals with their effects on her life while also growing up with complex views on religion, race, and love.

While much of the subject matter in this book was heavy, it never felt like a burden to read. Gifty's narration, both as a child and as an adult, is engaging, raw, and immersive. Her inner world is complex, flawed, and wholly believable, and there is similar nuanced characterization given to all the other characters in Gifty's life. The world of the story, including Gifty's neuroscience lab, Ghanaian culture, and evangelical Christianity, are all described in fascinating detail, and are just as well thought-out as the characters.

I found the alternating timeline to be refreshing and ideal for the pacing of the book. Key childhood moments occurred in conjunction with relevant parallels in Gifty's adult life. The switches also provided some relief and variety when one storyline would get particularly dark. At some points, the switches weren't perfectly chronological, and it would be briefly unclear what time period we were in, but this was a minor inconvenience at most.

Altogether, the stunning care and attention to detail in Transcendent Kingdom made it an unforgettable read, at times relatable, at times eye-opening, and always heart-wrenchingly real.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racial slurs, Self harm, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Xenophobia, and Medical content