TRANSCENDENT KINGDOM

by Yaa Gyasi

Yaa Gyasi has been on my radar for a while, but somehow I have never read her award-winning first novel Homegoing. (It won at least four major literary prizes.). But now that I have read her second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, I cannot wait to read her first.  Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Alabama and draws on those experiences in Transcendent Kingdom. With prose so succinct and beautiful it reads like poetry, Gyasi tells the story of Gifty, a sixth-year PhD candidate at Stanford University.

Gifty is studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of addiction.  After we learn that her beloved brother died young of an opioid overdose, it becomes clear to the reader—even if it is not clear to Gifty—why she chose this line of research.  Gyasi develops Gifty’s character so convincingly, that we come to empathize with her questioning every aspect of her life:  from her religion to her intimacy (or lack thereof) with men, to her evolving relationship with her mother.  

Transcendent Kingdomexplores family relationships from many interesting angles. When Gifty was eleven years old, her mother (by then a single parent) sent her to live with an aunt she didn’t know in Ghana for the summer after her brother died. Gifty’s pain and confusion felt palpable as did her mother’s incapacitating depression. And now as a PhD student approaching thirty, she must “mother” her own mother who has again succumbed to depression. In addition to writing a compelling story with stunning prose, Gyasi’s characters offer fascinating perspectives as immigrants to the United States. On so many levels, this is a memorable book and I recommend it highly. (Liz)