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Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
264 pages
What’s it about?
Gifty is sixth-year PhD candidate at Stanford University School of Medicine studying neuroscience. Her interest is in reward seeking behavior and addiction. Alternating between the past and the present this is a story of a family grappling with the many facets of mental health.
What did it make me think about?
I loved Gifty! What a great character. She was so complicated, and yet so refreshing. "He smiled at me, and I wanted to slap the smile off his face, but I wanted other things more."
Should I read it?
I highly recommend this book. It is a family story first- but it also sheds light on addiction, depression, religion, and being an immigrant in the Deep South. What a combination...
Quote-
"But this tension, this idea that one must necessarily choose between science and religion, is false. I used to see the world thought a God lens, and when that lens clouded, I turned to science. Both became, for me, valuable ways of seeing, but ultimately both have failed to fully satisfy in their aim: to make clear, to make meaning."
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Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
264 pages
What’s it about?
Gifty is sixth-year PhD candidate at Stanford University School of Medicine studying neuroscience. Her interest is in reward seeking behavior and addiction. Alternating between the past and the present this is a story of a family grappling with the many facets of mental health.
What did it make me think about?
I loved Gifty! What a great character. She was so complicated, and yet so refreshing. "He smiled at me, and I wanted to slap the smile off his face, but I wanted other things more."
Should I read it?
I highly recommend this book. It is a family story first- but it also sheds light on addiction, depression, religion, and being an immigrant in the Deep South. What a combination...
Quote-
"But this tension, this idea that one must necessarily choose between science and religion, is false. I used to see the world thought a God lens, and when that lens clouded, I turned to science. Both became, for me, valuable ways of seeing, but ultimately both have failed to fully satisfy in their aim: to make clear, to make meaning."
If you liked this try-
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
This was a delight to read. Rich nuanced, yet accessible prose made the words sing off the page. Gifty is the main character and we learn about her and her Ghanaian family through current experiences and some memories. She is a scientist and the book delves into her work to some extent, but the real story is her family. They are immigrants, and multi-lingual blacks in Alabama, struggling to cope with poverty, family ruptures, addiction and depression, all with a watchful eye on the role of religion in their world. So many important topics, all thoughtfully rendered in the context of these believable characters.
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