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A review by fulltimefiction
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
2.0
Why did I pick up this book? For one simple reason. I loved Homegoing. Transcendent Kingdom is nothing like it. It deals with science and religion. Gifty, the main character, questions her beliefs among other topics such as addiction origins while making experiments on mice, also race and depression, etc.
While I understand why many readers are going to love or at least like Transcendent Kingdom, these kinds of books never appealed to me. I should’ve researched this book more but I wanted to know if it deserves my vote for the GR choice award. Nowadays, I’m reading many books that I would’ve avoided if I actually knew what they were actually about. One would think knowing this book is about "a black/immigrant/female/scientist" is enough. However, it isn't just about that. I really wanted to know about the challenges she might face in this science field in the USA and her life with an addicted brother and depressed mother. Instead, after finishing this book, I realized I’m simply not the target audience.
Everything aside, my main issue with the book was with the time jumps. I would’ve probably given it 3 stars if it was told in a different way. The present time of the book stretches across only one week or so. Most of the book focused on Gifty’s past. We also don’t have chronological time jumps either. I would’ve liked this book much better if it was told across the years, especially since nothing important happens in the present.
Luckily, the narrator did a good job telling this story (or long self, world and life analysis, depends on how you see it). Although I listened to the audio, the writing style was easy to keep up with and I didn’t have any problems knowing what period of time we’re in. Probably because so little was happening in the present but still, it could’ve been confusing since I don’t recall having “year 2019” or so before each chapter.
The science and religion questions and analysis weren’t anything new also. Gyasi tried to talk about many things but only touched the surface. For example, all the religious questioning didn't lead anywhere. I would've liked to know more about her life as a black med student at Stanford. What challenges did she face? How did she deal with it?
If you’re into those kinds of books that try to find answers to God and find science as a sanctuary trying but knowing that they won’t reach the most definite answer, you might enjoy it. I’m not. I’m not into anything overly spiritual or that handles such subjects. I do believe in God but these books never connected with me on a personal level (regardless of whether the final verdict was that God exists or not), which is the purpose of such books, in my opinion, to create a bond with the reader through similar beliefs and experiences.
While I understand why many readers are going to love or at least like Transcendent Kingdom, these kinds of books never appealed to me. I should’ve researched this book more but I wanted to know if it deserves my vote for the GR choice award. Nowadays, I’m reading many books that I would’ve avoided if I actually knew what they were actually about. One would think knowing this book is about "a black/immigrant/female/scientist" is enough. However, it isn't just about that. I really wanted to know about the challenges she might face in this science field in the USA and her life with an addicted brother and depressed mother. Instead, after finishing this book, I realized I’m simply not the target audience.
Everything aside, my main issue with the book was with the time jumps. I would’ve probably given it 3 stars if it was told in a different way. The present time of the book stretches across only one week or so. Most of the book focused on Gifty’s past. We also don’t have chronological time jumps either. I would’ve liked this book much better if it was told across the years, especially since nothing important happens in the present.
Luckily, the narrator did a good job telling this story (or long self, world and life analysis, depends on how you see it). Although I listened to the audio, the writing style was easy to keep up with and I didn’t have any problems knowing what period of time we’re in. Probably because so little was happening in the present but still, it could’ve been confusing since I don’t recall having “year 2019” or so before each chapter.
The science and religion questions and analysis weren’t anything new also. Gyasi tried to talk about many things but only touched the surface. For example, all the religious questioning didn't lead anywhere. I would've liked to know more about her life as a black med student at Stanford. What challenges did she face? How did she deal with it?
If you’re into those kinds of books that try to find answers to God and find science as a sanctuary trying but knowing that they won’t reach the most definite answer, you might enjoy it. I’m not. I’m not into anything overly spiritual or that handles such subjects. I do believe in God but these books never connected with me on a personal level (regardless of whether the final verdict was that God exists or not), which is the purpose of such books, in my opinion, to create a bond with the reader through similar beliefs and experiences.