Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi

19 reviews

abrdoodle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexism, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, Excrement, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Physical abuse

tilda_bookworm's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Loved this one. Absolutely raced through it. It's beautiful and real and painful and comforting. Sensitive exploration of some weighty themes. Part of me wants to start reading it again from the beginning immediately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug use, Death, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

sketchydelusion's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Grief, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Sexual content

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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

I needed this one.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual content

vaniavela's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

Gifty is a sixth-year neuroscience major at Stanford University. Ever since her brother died from an overdose, she has been trying to understand the reason for his addiction. Why was Nana addicted to drugs and why was he never able to quit?

What did I like?

1. As this book questions faith and religion, I think the author did a great job exploring the relationship between religion and science.
2. There is an emotional depth within the writing so I came to empathize with the characters. 

What didn't I like?

1.  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.
2. I would have loved to read the mother and brother's perspective, especially since so much of what Gifty narrates is related to them. 

Transcendent Kingdom didn't manage to impress me, but I kind of appreciated it at the end.

CWs: Addiction, alcohol consumption, child death, death, drug abuse/use, death from overdose, grief, mental illness (depression), misogyny, racism, religious bigotry, sexual content (mild), sexism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Addiction, and Child death

Moderate: Sexism, Drug abuse, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual content and Misogyny

reading_rainbow_with_chris's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

 

“Transcendent Kingdom” by Yaa Gyasi

A young scientist named Gifty spends her days finishing her degree working with mice in the lab. However, when her mother comes to stay with her in the throes of depression, she is reminded of her complicated family history that led her to her studies in the first place. This novel is, to make the point on the nose, transcendent. Written as if it were a memoir, Gyasi writes with a beautiful command of language which is both concise and vivid, a juxtaposition which works from the voice of a scientist. In addition to the complicated experience of Ghanian immigrants in America, I also found her intersecting binary themes of religion-science and addiction-restraint to be a fascinating quadrangle which added complexity to Gifty’s history without overwhelming her unique point of view. Some elements tugged very deeply at me specific to my own experiences with loved ones and mental health. I did find Gyasi’s first novel “Homegoing” more groundbreaking in terms of form and breadth, but “Transcendent Kingdom” is a classic piece of literary fiction written to perfection and I would highly recommend it for any devoted readers of novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this work and is thus far easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. 

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent

plantybooklover's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-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

4.75

   I listened to this as an audio book, and I am glad I did. the narrator for the audio book did a FANTASTIC job. I was sort of amused at first thinking "wow she did all the voices" just like when I was smaller and someone was doing story time, but the narrator really DID do all the voices without being condescending or strange, she did them all and really added to the telling of the story. It was more like a performance, than just an audio book narration. 
I initially did not want to read this because I enjoyed Homegoing and I could tell this would be different, but I like having a audiobook going when I'm at the gym, and my library is limited, so this was it. I really did not want to read another tragic tale of drug abuse and death, but in the end, I did. Mostly actually because I forgot the blurb and by the time we got to the drug use, it was mid story. 
Overall I enjoyed the book, there were some slower sections that I wished had moved along faster- but I solved that by speeding up the narration!!  I thought it was a very good book for book clubs or classrooms because it opens up a lot for discussion. I was surprised and delighted by the ending, which to me seemed like a happy one, which is not at all what I was expecting mid novel. 
I think this is a great jumping off point for discussion of women in STEM, people of color in academia, rascism in America and drug use/abuse crisis. 
Not one of my favorite reads of the year-because it was a little just depressing at moments, but giving it 5 starts because it's well written and tells an important story that added to my understanding of the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual content

jaynovara's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Child death, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Death of parent, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Physical abuse

lenni_sc's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Death, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Racism

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: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, Cursing, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Classism, Dysphoria, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Bullying, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Animal death, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Blood, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship