Transcendent Kingdom

Bored, not in the mood for it

Gyasi is a gorgeous writer. This is not a happy book, and yet it was beautiful and touching and deeply resonant. It's about addiction, and faith, and depression, and the complexities of family, and trying to find answers when you can't even articulate the questions.

I don't even want to write more than this, because it was beautiful in the way it unfolded. Read it.

TW: drug addiction, overdose, depression, suicide attempt, animal experimentation

I find Transcendent Kingdom to be a really difficult novel to talk about succinctly. I feel like saying a few sentences about it doesn’t quite do it justice. It’s one of those books that is far better read than discussed. Part of this is due to its length. At just 246 pages, this is a pretty short book that feels even shorter thanks to the many short chapters that make up said 246 pages. It’s a book that someone could very easily get through in a day. But another reason why I have a hard time discussing this book is the sheer magnitude contained within its 246 pages. Gyasi tackles some very heavy topics here: immigration, racism, addiction, loss of religion, paternal abandonment, death and a few others. It is a true testament to Gyasi’s skill as a writer that I never felt overwhelmed by all of the subjects she was writing about. She somehow manages to be just subtle enough with her writing that you feel the devastation her protagonist feels without it feeling like torture porn. Every moment and emotion in this book feels so real that I can’t help but appreciate the craft. Growing up I would hear about certain books being only described as novels, as if the term novel had more weight and gravitas. I feel as if Transcendent Kingdom is a true novel in that sense. It’s just so devastatingly effective at doing everything it wants to do.

This book is fucking heartbreaking. And great. Description of what it's like when your family member suffers from addiction or depression and how it influences all other future relationships in your life. Religion and keeping up faith when God lets terrible things happen. Science and finding answers. 4,5/5

A beautiful exploration of grief, addition and the effects it leaves on the human mind.
Not to mention the writing was absolutely gorgeous 😍. Gifty's experience hit home and it was so interesting to watch her slowly unravel and start to open up to others instead of internalizing and psychoanalyzing herself. The blending of past and present is really done well here and it further adds to the depth of Gifty, Nana and their mother. What a great way to start off 2024!

A raw story about addiction, mental illness, immigration, race, and religion vs. science. This is the story of Gifty, a Ghanaian-American woman who was raised in Alabama and is now pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at Stanford. Early on, we learn that her older brother died from a drug overdose, and her mother suffers from bouts of major depression. Meanwhile, Gifty works in a lab dedicated to finding neurosciencey ways to fight... addiction and mental illness.

So honestly I would have rated this 3 stars, but the very end killed me. If your life has been touched by mental illness and addiction, this book is just a super sad, super raw read. Gifty is an unpleasant narrator - she's self-righteous, prim, provincial - but she's also, like, just a hurt, “good” girl. Every other character is likewise flawed to the point of being unlikable - at the same time, they're just human. Gifty spends a lot of time working her way through the evangelical/Pentecostal Christianity of her childhood with the STEM world of her adulthood - she uses both to try to explain her hurt, or at least soothe it, and both naturally fail (at least partly). Her life is completely caged by the tragedies of her brother and mom, and watching her try to explore what it means to just live - just enjoy people, have relationships, explore and be curious - was painful. So many fits and starts! So much caution! I do so hope this fictional character discovers Nar-Anon and goes to therapy!!

I love any stories that centralize the experience of immigration; and this certainly had a lot of that. Gifty's parents are Ghanaian immigrants to Alabama. The culture shock, oh man, is REAL. Especially the insidious and structural racism. This kinda reminded me of the wonderful Mississippi Masala (one of my fave movies!), about Indian-Ugandan immigrants to Mississippi. If I would criticize anything about this book, it's that the Alabaman supporting cast felt underdeveloped and thin. Everyone was just kinda a “basic white Southerner” from central casting.

I loved reading this. Such a clear voice, no fools tolerated, beautiful insights on the process of reconciling with one's faith and the loss of it. There's much I can directly relate to and I love the ways she puts words to her thoughts, to my thoughts sometimes. And, to those experiences I have never, could never experience first-hand, I value the point of view I'm privileged to read from, one that is precise and made universal.

I'm a new fan of Yaa Gyasi.

it's official: i will read anything yaa gyasi writes

while there are so many topics discussed and explored in this book, my favorite part was how expertly it was all connected by gyasi without feeling like there was extensive reaching, which really does speak to the interconnectedness of it all. in trying to “reason away” humans, life and nature with science or religion, we forget to take into account humanity and all of its complexity.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

“There is no living thing on God's green earth that doesn't come to know pain sometime.”
― Yaa Gyasi, Transcendent Kingdom

3.5 stars

Beautiful, thoughtful, heartfelt. Does so many different things well without feeling scattered: childhood journals, science, religion, immigration, addiction. As a Christian and a scientist, I was left teary-eyed by some of her descriptions about how nature is charged with wonder. Highly recommended.

This was good. The plot did not really seem to do much or move to great heights anywhere, but honestly that is what the book was about: stagnancy. There was a lot that was said by the author by not being said in the book fully. Hints of racism, being an immigrant in a foreign country, betrayal, addiction, love, family ties and bloodline. I thought that this book hit upon a lot of things. It was definitely wholesome and looking back I feel like it took me to a different place and mindset. With an undertone of melancholy, this book left me at a low because it was low the whole time. I do not regret reading this but it was not the best I have ever read.

This novel was completely different from Homegoing, the authors debut. But it was equally as impressive. This novel follows Gifty, raised by Ghanaian parents in Alabama, Texas. This is a very understated, slow novel that muses on a plethora of topics such as addition issues, the opioid crisis in the US in particular, the religious vs scientific debate, racism in the US, mental illness and the complexity of familial relationships. Gifty thrusts herself into the scientific world of neuroscience and spends the majority of the novel hiding away in her university laboratory, experimenting on lab rats. She socially isolates herself from people and from her formative years being raised in a very religious upbringing by hiding herself in the security of science. I found the emotional losses in her life and her need to protect herself from others as a result very interesting. I also found the themes raised in this book and the beautiful way Yaa Gyasi was able to write about them incredibly remarkable and it made for a stunning, highly impactful reading experience.

Thanks to the author Yaa Gyasi, Penguin UK and NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Transcendent Kingdom is the story of Gifty and her family. Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience. Her parents immigrated to the US South from Ghana after Gifty's older brother, Nana, was born. Gifty tells us the story of her family's struggles with life in the American South as people of color, especially the story of her brother's death from addiction and her mother's subsequent difficulties with depression, and she shares her path to study ways to combat addiction through neuroscience as well as her spiritual path.

This is a rich, rich story. The characters and their accomplishments and their struggles felt completely genuine to me. I was astonished to learn that the author does not have a degree in neuroscience; even the neuroscience sounded completely plausible. It's one of those stories that would be a great book for discussion.

A few quotes:

“...Homo sapiens, the most complex animal, the only animal who believed he had transcended his Kingdom, as one of my high school biology teachers used to say. That belief, that transcendence, was held within this organ itself. Infine, unknowable, soulful, perhaps even magical. I had traded the Pentecostalism of my childhood for this new religion, this new quest, knowing that I would never fully know.”

‘Mrs. Pasternack, my biology teacher, was a Christian. Everyone I knew in Alabama was, but she said things like, “I think we're made out of stardust, and God made the stars.”‘

“For years I hadn't been able to reconcile wanting to feel good with wanting to be good, two things that often seemed at odds....”

“I, too, have spent years creating my little moat of good deeds in an attempt to protect the castle of myself. I don't want to be dismissed the way that Nana was once dismissed. I know it's easier to say Their kind does seem to have a taste for drugs, easier to write all addicts off as bad and weak-willed people, than it is to look closely at the nature of their suffering. I do it too, sometimes. I judge. I walk around with my chest puffed out, making sure that everyone knows about my Harvard and Stanford degrees, as if those things encapsulate me, and when I do so, I give into the same facile, lazy thinking that characterizes those who think of addicts as horrible people. It's just that I'm standing on the other side of the moat. What I can say for certain is that there is no case study in the world that could capture the whole animal of my brother, that could show how smart and kind and generous he was, how much he wanted to get better, how much he wanted to live. Forget for a moment what he looked like on paper, and instead see him as he was in all of his glory, in all of his beauty. It's true that for years before he died, I would look at his face and think, What a pity, what a waste. But the waste was my own, the waste was what I missed out on whenever I looked at him and saw just his addiction.”

I wish there was more nuance to the contemporary genre. It's always a toss up for me whether the book is going to be boring and/or vapid, or thought provoking and/or beautiful. This book was definitely on the latter side. The struggle of faith versus science and finding life after pain, addiction, loss, and mental distress whether it be your own or someone close to you was written in a way that made it relatable, but also forced the reader to look at it through a different lens. Even growing up in a conservative immigrant family while dealing with Alabamian racism was written so viscerally, that I could hear and see it as I read through. This book lived up to it's hype for me. Great read.

“It took me many years to realize that it's hard to live in this world. I don't mean the mechanics of living, because for most of us, our hearts will beat, our lungs will take in oxygen, without us doing anything at all to tell them to. For most of us, mechanically, physically, it's harder to die than it is to live. But still we try to die. We drive too fast down winding roads, we have sex with strangers without wearing protection, we drink, we use drugs. We try to squeeze a little more life out of our lives. It's natural to want to do that. But to be alive in the world, every day, as we are given more and more and more, as the nature of “what we can handle” changes and our methods for how we handle it change, too, that's something of a miracle.”

Gorgeous.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

Spoiler: this book would have been perfect except for two things in my opinion: the underdeveloped queer storyline which would have been a fantastic addition to the things that challenged Gifty's relationship with religion/God. Second, I felt like the ending didn't fit the story. To be honest, chapter 54 should have been the ending, with us questioning whether Gifty ended up with Han, or started her own research center. I think that would have made it more hopeful that she was able to find peace, happiness, and herself. The ended felt kind of off.

Otherwise, I have no complaints on a near perfect sophomore book. It was heart-wrenching, beautifully written, personal, relatable.

Powerful as hell coming of age story touching on religion, mental illness, and addiction. Many soaring passages. Definitely gonna seek out Homegoing.

An optogenetics PhD student researching addiction reflects back on her Ghanaian family's upbringing in Alabama, her brother's opioid addiction and her mother's subsequent depression. She works through her past and tries to compromise her religious upbringing with her scientific beliefs. Missing the grandeur of [b:Homegoing 27071490 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448108591l/27071490.SY75.jpg 47113792] for me. Or maybe it's the fact that there are simply too many US-set immigrant stories out there already. It gives it a well-trodden path feel, even though the writing is great and the characters are compelling. 3.5

As always, Bahni Turpin delivered a genius audio performance. I appreciated the meditative interiority of this novel and how Gyasi deliver yet another masterclass in novel structure and narrative layers. Some truly gorgeous writing at the sentence level as well, enough to stop the book repeatedly and listen a few times over to appreciate. Tragic and contemplative, with some humorous wry observations, and ruminations on science and religion and selfhood that will stick with me. Very different from Homegoing but just as impressive.

It just kept getting better the further I read. And by that I mean more uncomfortable but also more vulnerable, more poignant, and so much more relevant; infinitely so in this moment – September 2020 – when the future of humanity hinges on the votes of semiliterate barbarians. Gyasi writes with much more kindness and compassion and feeling than I ever could, but she has little good to say about the horrors of Southern U.S. religiofanatical culture: the lunatically backfiring idiocy of “abstinence” education and the stigmas of mental illness, the smug hatred it instills in the poor and ignorant, the flagrant hypocrisy. And, tragically, the permanent scarring it leaves even on those of us lucky enough to escape it.

But it's much more than that. It's a beautiful book dealing with growth, addiction, Grit, kindness, trust, loneliness, and The Big Questions of life. The first-person narration infuses it with intimacy and authenticity: I felt all the feels, intensely. I related to the narrator, rooted for her, felt her fear and shame and resolve. And, it's a scientifically literate book! About a nerd! I mean, how much better does it get?

Review to come.

Yaa Gyasi is the real deal, masterfully handling heavy topics like addiction, depression, grief and science vs religion. While it's narrower in scope than Homegoing (one of the most impressive debuts I've ever read) that really works in its favour: there's so much depth here! I really anticipated this book and it was worth the wait. 4.5

Note to self: Bahni Turpin is quickly becoming one of my favorite audio book narrators- I swear I could listen to this woman read the phone book and enjoy it.
I really enjoyed this, which is funny because I didn't know I was in the MOOD for it. It's a quiet book that asks a lot of deep questions and tells the story of a family. No big plot twists, no scares, nothing weird or abstract- you know, not what I thought I was in the mood to read. My only motivating factors were that I knew I “should” read this super hot book (of Fall 2020) and the library list is really long, so it's now or never. I have not read Gyasi's first novel. Yes, yes, I know I should.
I found that Gifty's story wormed its way into my heart and I really friggin cared about what happened next. I was cheering her on and crying with her. I started thinking about the religious beliefs of my childhood. I really thought about the immigration experience and the opioid epidemic.
This would make one hell of a book club read.
It was excellent. My only grumble is with the ending, which feels very tidy and too convenient.

Thought-provoking, heart-breaking and ultimately a little bit hopeful. Loved the message that science and religion are not mutually exclusive. I think I still like [b:Homegoing 27071490 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448108591l/27071490.SY75.jpg 47113792] better for its historical scope, but this book proves that Yaa Gyasi is an author to follow.