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A review by books_baking_brews
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
5.0
Let's just get this out of the way: five stars.
Synopsis: TK is about a Ghanaian family immigrating to America for a better life only to be ravaged by depression and addiction. It follows Gifty, a neuroscience PhD candidate at Stanford, studying reward-seeking behavior in an effort to short circuit the causes of depression and addiction. "[C]ould this science work on the people who need it the most? Could it get a brother to set down a needle? Could it get a mother out of bed?" It explores the relationship between mothers and daughters, science and religion, and shame and love.
Review: Transcendent means, among other things, to surpass or go beyond that which is a normal, physical human experience. To commune with God is an act of transcendence. Gyasi exquisitely blends Gifty's exploration of science with her childhood faith. She goes back and forth in time but you never feel it, but then she delves into familial relationships and you feel it all. Particularly great, is Gyasi's treatment of Gifty and her mother. "If I’ve thought of my mother as callous, and many times I have, then it is important to remind myself what a callus is: the hardened tissue that forms over a wound."
Y'all, this book is good, stay up till 3 a.m. to finish reading it good. It's short (under 300 pages :: chef's kiss::), and I'm a slow reader but you get my point. Absolutely devoured this one. I've preordered it because I need a physical copy as well.
CW: mental illness, depression, racism, opioid addiction, animals used in science experiments
Synopsis: TK is about a Ghanaian family immigrating to America for a better life only to be ravaged by depression and addiction. It follows Gifty, a neuroscience PhD candidate at Stanford, studying reward-seeking behavior in an effort to short circuit the causes of depression and addiction. "[C]ould this science work on the people who need it the most? Could it get a brother to set down a needle? Could it get a mother out of bed?" It explores the relationship between mothers and daughters, science and religion, and shame and love.
Review: Transcendent means, among other things, to surpass or go beyond that which is a normal, physical human experience. To commune with God is an act of transcendence. Gyasi exquisitely blends Gifty's exploration of science with her childhood faith. She goes back and forth in time but you never feel it, but then she delves into familial relationships and you feel it all. Particularly great, is Gyasi's treatment of Gifty and her mother. "If I’ve thought of my mother as callous, and many times I have, then it is important to remind myself what a callus is: the hardened tissue that forms over a wound."
Y'all, this book is good, stay up till 3 a.m. to finish reading it good. It's short (under 300 pages :: chef's kiss::), and I'm a slow reader but you get my point. Absolutely devoured this one. I've preordered it because I need a physical copy as well.
CW: mental illness, depression, racism, opioid addiction, animals used in science experiments