Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

84 reviews

merakiforest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Classism

gymjam_reads's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Religious bigotry

kdawg420's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Wonderful and profound story that hits close to home. This is the kind of book that will leave you thinking, and is by no means an easy beach read. For anyone who is grappling with the intersection between religion and science, this book will spark a lot of reflection and will probably be quite relatable. This is a book you read again every now and then. It was hard to tell whether the story was past or present at times, but not enough to be distracting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt

loxeletters's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death and Suicide

wisewise's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt

vanesst's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Alcohol

readingwithgoose's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death

ollie_again's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Abandonment

mirandalikesbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This book read like a memoir or a stream of consciousness. Like memories pieced together. It was an intimate POV of a first generation experience, of growing up black in the south, of the changing nature of faith and religion, of what it's like to see your family struggle with mental health issues and addiction. You really get to know who Gifty is and what drives her throughout this novel. 

I would recommend this if you're drawn to memoirs or particularly reflective fiction. 

My biggest qualm with this book is that I felt like I was waiting for the book to pick up a plot line that it never did. I also don't read a lot of books this tied up in Christianity, so I may have not been the perfect audience.

The hard cut at the end to her being in a relationship with Han having already experienced her mom's passing felt too sudden for me too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death

leonormsousa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really liked this one. It is beautifully written, and the constant time jumps were done perfectly, which is something quite rare. It hooked me from the start, and I found myself wanting more at the end, even though I know this was the perfect size for this story.

Small note that I was pleasantly surprised by the queer representation in this one (MC is queer). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail