Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

124 reviews

marabeeee's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

A beautiful and heart-wrenching story deeply rooted in love of family, no matter how imperfect. I cried countless times throughout this book: navigating loss of family, lacking community, loneliness, yet finding a way to live through it. Love is at the heart of it all. At times it was hard to get through only because of how well it captures how painful love can be. 

Otherwise, the book moves along quickly, and shifting between present and the past helped me reflect on how we’re all a product of our past. There were many times I wished I could hug little Gifty as much as I wish I could hug little me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

samw0327's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• 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 death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, and Grief

katetiffin's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

I finished this book in public so I couldn’t cry but had I been alone I likely would have. Such a beautiful and heartbreaking moments that still managed to steal a few laughs from me due to Gyasis incredible writing and wit. I loved this book! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, and Death

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

indranna's review

reflective 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, Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide

lauriej's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Abandonment

geraldineleyendo's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

The writing of Yaa is just so special. So many of her lines in this book made my heart completely stop with how beautiful or poignant or true they felt.

This is an intense and intimate exploration of girlhood and her faith (Christian-centric) weaved so beautifully with her science, race, and family history. A fictional story about addiction that feels so true it blew my mind and made me literally cry - not because of its sadness but because of its honesty. The author made me feel the characters' losses so deeply and yet I ended the book with an enormous satisfaction of being alive.

If you are debating whether you should read it: yes yes yes yes 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Abandonment

na_no's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Racism and Suicide attempt

bearnecessities'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racial slurs, Grief, and Abandonment

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