Reviews

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

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readingafrica's review

5.0

Highly recommend this novel to everyone! Yaa Gyasi skilfully and humanely narrates the tale of a family grappling with loss, drug addiction, and mental illness. Gifty, the main character, is brilliant. She's queer, intelligent, quasi-religious, emotionally guarded, and determined to keep her family together. Uh, it's so good!!!

ancientolive's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

literautres's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-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? Yes

5.0

what a book......... (cries in the corner)

Content Warnings

aliciasokol's review against another edition

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5.0

This book will stay with me for a long time. There was a lot I could relate to in ways that were funny and in ways that were painful. Like Gifty, I am the child of an African immigrant who, in the time of my youth, had never returned to his home country. We lived far away from that culture and from members of my father's family, too. I also grew up in a deeply religious home, though the flavor of faith she portrays here is a bit more evangelical. I could relate to having grown up in a place where my family stood out. She grew up in Alabama, the only Black family at her church. I also ate the dishes of my father's childhood (not willingly) and felt disconnected to that culture and my family members overseas.

This book is an examination of familial relationships, depression, addiction, friendships, and ambition. It's told in the voice of Gifty, an American-born child of Ghanian immigrants whose nuclear family undergoes dramatic change and tragedy before she even reaches adolescence. She examines and questions her religion, particularly in the face of grave tragedies and deep disappointments in her life. She struggles with friendships and love relationships into adulthood. At the start of the book, Gifty's mother comes to live with her in CA while going through a bout of deep depression. Over the course of the book, we witness Gifty's attempts to bring her mother back.

I was hooked from the first page. I enjoyed how Gifty's work as a science researcher and how it tied back to her need for answers surrounding her brother's addiction. She feels the need to do "the hardest things" to prove herself. She is intellectually gifted and terribly hard on herself. I read this book in less than a week. It was quick and enjoyable, though the subject matter is difficult.