A review by piperlee
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Transcendent Kingdom is a beautifully raw account of what it means to move on from a childhood in a family struggling with drug abuse and depression. Gifty, the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, has devoted her post-grad life to challenging herself in a lab studying the neuroscience behind reward-seeking behavior, while simultaneously struggling with her understanding of God, dealing with memories of her lost brother,  and caring for her depressed mother. I loved the author’s masterful mix of scientific language with more abstract depictions of spirituality, all the while tying them both together inside the complicated and emotional background of the main character. The writing felt true - nothing forced or hard to believe - simply a narrative in which we can glimpse the resilience within Gifty’s life.
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