Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

This is the 2nd review for today.

Transcendent Kingdom is the Adult level selection for All CT Reads, spearheaded by "our" Kym Powe.  You can read more about this event here: https://sites.google.com/view/allctreads/home

Although this is listed as "adult", I find it absolutely high school/YA appropriate.  

I LOVED this book!  Sunday morning I had a rare house to myself.  My husband and son were out, the laundry was going, and it was drizzly.  I read this in that one morning.  I could not put it down.

Gifty is a PhD candidate at Stanford in California.  Now a quick side note, I just got back from Christmas in California, so many of the places mentioned I recognized. She is experimenting on risk-reward behavior in mice, a cause near to her as her star high school basketball player brother died from an overdose after an injury left him addicted to painkillers.  

We flash back and forth to Gifty's childhood as the very dark daughter of a single mother who immigrated from Ghana in rural Alabama.  Gifty's mother is Christian and finds her place in the church.  Faith is very important to the family.  

As Gifty grows, she finds science to be her calling, which is often in direct challenge to her faith.  Her classmates in undergrad call Christianity a dangerous cult.  On the West Coast, she finds open sexuality at odds with her Southeastern upbringing.  

This really was an amazing examination of the intersections of race, gender, culture, religion, and education.  Just like it is difficult for me to be a pro 2nd Amendment teacher sometimes, Gifty has to decide between sharing about herself or smiling and nodding.

Find this on display soon.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.       

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Today I'll be doing two reviews, and this is the first.

The Guest List was the teachers' book club selection for February, but it looks like we will be pushing it to March, as our January meeting is being postponed due to the increase in Covid cases. I read this on the flight out to California over our Christmas break.

If you've followed this blog for a while, you know I am not a fan of alternating viewpoints.  I think it's a trend in literature that needs to go away for a while, as it is way too common.  This story is told in the alternating viewpoints of 5 people attending a very exclusive wedding on a remote island off Ireland (our meeting is going to be at Duffy's when we finally have it...).

Those telling the story are:

The bride Jules, a spoiled brat

The plus one Hannah, wife of Jules' best friend

The best man Johnno, a jerk

The wedding planner Aoife, who owns the island and has family buried there

The bridesmaid Olivia, Jules' half-sister via their mother     

We know at the outset one person is going to die, but we do not know who.  We also know the weather is turning bad and help cannot reach the island.  

I have really mixed feelings on this.  I had to go back often to re-read who was telling the particular scene, and there were a LOT of side characters--the rest of the groomsmen, college friends, family, etc.--that need to be kept straight.  It also felt that even though these are adults, they acted like high school students, made worse by alcohol and drugs.  It was very One Of Us Is Lying and Clue like.  

A meh for me, but maybe a yes for you.  Find this on display soon.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.