When it comes to art and literature, my favourite pieces always appeal to the head as well as the heart. Transcendent Kingdom does both in abundance. It is an introspective novel, exploring the thoughts and musings of the protagonist, Gifty. But it’s also a heart-wrenching story about a young girl trying to make sense of a senseless world.
Gifty, the second child in a Ghanaian immigrant family, grows up in Alabama, where poverty and racism are parts of everyday life. Gifty’s mother works night and day in low paid jobs and barely has time or energy for her children. For her father the strain becomes too much; he leaves the family to go back to Ghana.
But walking around with my father, she’d seen how America changed around big black men. She saw him try to shrink to size, his long, proud back hunched as he walked with my mother through the Walmart, where he was accused of stealing three times in four months. Each time, they took him to a little room off the exit of the store. They leaned him against the wall and patted him down, their hands drifting up one pant leg and down the other. Homesick, humiliated, he stopped leaving the house.”
Nana, Gifty’s older brother, has always been the star in the family. Her mother even admits to Gifty, she didn’t want more children than Nana. After he passes away due to a drug overdose, the mother falls into a deep depression. My heart often bled for Gifty. How much she had to suffer and how much she had to cope with in such a young age.
At the present day, Gifty is a a fifth-year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine. Her choice of subject is reward-seeking behaviour, which involves experiments on addicted mice. When a punishment is introduced, most mice give up their addiction. But for the poor ones, who keep coming back for more despite of the punishment, she tries affecting their brains in order to change their behaviour. And all the time, whilst doing experiments, she has her brother in mind: did he have a choice?
On the surface, Gifty is extremely successful. But having grown up in a home where hugs and explicit expressions of feelings were absent and where personal problems were not discussed, she has build a wall around herself, which other people cannot penetrate. That ruins the few meaningful relationships she builds over time. It was so frustrating, I wanted her to find a bit of happiness. But I could see, how she had become the person she was. That was her way of surviving.
One of the biggest themes in the novel is science vs. religion. From an early age, Gifty ask questions and seeks answers. I very much recognised that trait from myself. Gifty is brought up as a Christian and does find some comfort in religion. However, over time she starts doubting her faith, especially after the death of her brother. Instead she seeks answers in science. But it isn’t entirely either / or for her. Even if she relies on the scientific method, she does see some value in religion.
“At times, my life now feels so at odds with the religious teachings of my childhood that I wonder what the little girl I once was would think of the woman I’ve become—a neuroscientist who has at times given herself over to equating the essence that psychologists call the mind, that Christians call the soul, with the workings of the brain.”
“And though I hadn’t worked out how I felt about the Christianity of my childhood, I did know how I felt about my mother. Her devotion, her faith, they moved me. I was protective of her right to find comfort in whatever way she saw fit. Didn’t she deserve at least that much? We have to go through this life somehow”
The thoughts on science and religion are by no means heavy or academic. They are what could be expected – the philosophical musings of a child / young woman, reflecting her specific background and experiences.
I found the discussion quite balanced; yes, parts of the religious community may be judgemental, but the same goes for the science community, which tends to annoy me in real life as well. In a rather comical scene, Gifty buys a Bible for her mother in the campus bookshop and she basically sneaks around like a criminal, making sure nobody spots her.
Transcendent Kingdom was a surprisingly insightful and multifaceted novel about how our life experiences affect our choices and make us the people we are and how we go about finding ourselves and our meaning in life. Gifty was an interesting protagonist and the fact that she, imitating her mother, rarely showed feelings, made me feel so much more empathy with her.
Gifty’s work appealed to my interest in neuroscience and I found her thoughts on science vs. religion palatable, because she could see both sides of the story. I wish that was more common in the literature. Even if our backgrounds are completely different, I also saw some of Gifty in myself and sometimes thought: “I would have reacted exactly the same way”.
Perhaps, the story lost a bit of momentum towards the end, but even so, this is one of the best books, I’ve read in a while. The narrator, Bahni Turpin, also deserves huge praise for making the story come alive and representing the voice of Gifty, perfectly.
“I didn’t want to be thought of as a woman in science, a black woman in science. I wanted to be thought of as scientist, full stop”
Title: Transcendent Kingdom Author: Yaa Gyasi Format: Audiobook, narrated by Bahni Turpin Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Stargazer, I can always count on you to bring clarity when I need it for a book I’m unsure about. Fantastic review and I’ve got this on audio💜
Thanks Jonetta, that is kind of you to say! I really hope you will enjoy it – I thought it was perfect on audio. For some reason, I tend to get on better with male than female narrators, but Bahni Turpin had one of these voices, I could keep listening to forever.
Bahni is one of my favorites!
This is the first time I’ve listened to her narrating, but now she has become one of my favourites as well! 🙂
Hello Stargazer. the dichotomy between religion and science – for me – is eternal, so I think this book is for me. Thanks for the review.
I find the discussion of science vs. religion interesting as well. I’ve never seen a real contradiction, but of course it depends on how you interpret the religious texts. There were so many great quotes in the book, one of them was “We read the Bible how we want to read it. It doesn’t change, but we do.”
I’m keen to give this one a go, so I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it so much.
I really hope you are going to read it, I would love to hear your thoughts on this one!
So many good books out there. Here’s a novel I read recently: Sourdough, by Robin Sloan. It’s whimsical and sweet. I liked it quite a lot.
Very true! I checked out Sourdough on Goodreads – it does sound like a sweet story, perfect to take your mind off other things (which may be needed from time to time these days…).
Interesting – thanks for sharing! And I absolutely relate to this last quote (even if I’m not black)!
You are welcome! I thought that quote was perfect. Of course, I am not a scientist. Or black. But the sentiment 100% mirrors my own views.
This sounds really interesting, I’ll definitely be adding it to my TBR.
It really was interesting and I hope you get to read it! Also, I hope you are doing ok and that the closing of schools and universities haven’t disrupted your plans.
Thanks for your concern. It’s nice to know that you were thinking about me. I’m hoping that the school closures will not be too bad for me, especially since I wasn’t in school lat term anyway. However, not knowing what the government is going to replace exams with is pretty stressful, as it makes it hard to prepare for them.
Yeah, I can see it must be annoying not knowing about the exams. I hope it all works out for you in the end – at least it’s the same for everyone.
YOU READ THIS AND YOU LOVED IT TOO! WOoo hooo! Love your thoughts on this, stargazer! I had soooo many passages and quotes highlighted in the book. Thank goodness it’s an e-book LOL Great review, my friend!
YES, I DID! It was a great recommendation, I am so glad to have read it. There were uncountable quotable passages in the book. I wanted to include more in the review, but it was already such a long post. Thanks!
I’m happy to read you enjoyed this one, even if it lost a little steam, Stargazer! Homegoing by this author is one of my favorites so I’ve been eagerly anticipating this one. Lovely review, as always!
I have heard that Homegoing is equally good, but also that the two books are very different. That makes me extremely keen to read Homegoing. I hope you will enjoy Transcendent Kingdom, when you get to it. Perhaps, this is the first time, I’ve read a book before you? 😉 Thanks!
Sounds good, although the mouse experiments mean I couldn’t read it – I’m not totally against animal experimentation where it’s absolutely necessary but I hate the thought too much to be able to read about it. Yes, I recognise my hypocrisy! However, I like that last quote – I wish more people just wanted to be recognised for what they choose to be and do rather than somehow wanting special recognition because of their race or gender, or being pigeon-holed by them. I’ll skip this one, but look out for her future books!
Yes, I see what you mean about animal experiments. I don’t mind reading about it, but am mostly against it in real life. The kind of experiments Gifty does in the book could potentially help millions of people, so perhaps a few mouse experiments would be worth it? The same could be argued for Covid 19 vaccines, which are tested on monkeys. Anyway, I can see why you want to avoid this book, perhaps her first book Homegoing, which is equally praised may be worth looking into?
Yes, I’ll check that one out – I know it got a lot of love around the blogosphere.
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Brilliant thoughts, also nice cover (despite the cliché, cover pages always fascinate me!).
Thanks so much! I like the cover as well. 😊
This sounds fascinating and so lovely. I like the science vs. religion debate explored throughout the story too. I’ll have to remember this one if I ever cross paths with it now. Great review, as always! 😀
It really was fascinating and I would highly recommend it to pretty much everyone! It was a great story and fixed my attention from page one, but there were also a lot (and I really mean a lot) of interesting thoughts for those of use who like to ponder about all the facets of life.
I absolutely loved this book, though I know some people who didn’t. I think Gyasi is amazing, she’s so young and both her books are so different. You’ve written a fantastic review, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Transcendent Kingdom is my first Gyasi novel, but based on that plus the raving reviews, I definitely mean to give Homegoing a try at some point. I agree, she is amazing and has some rather profound thoughts for someone her age. Thanks so much! 😀
Wonderful review! I feel it’s quite tragic but she does have deep and comforting thoughts right? I can see why you liked it and even I appreciate it when there’s more than one perspective (belief) presented in a novel!
Thanks! 😀 It was quite tragic, but positive as well. The protagonist went through a pretty rough childhood, but still managed to build a good life for herself (I guess that was a bit of a spoiler…). It really was a wonderful book, right up my street!