Book Review: Transcendent Kingdom
When I realized that Yaa Gyasi was releasing a second book, I was ecstatic. I loved "Homegoing" and have already read it multiple times. So, I picked up "Transcendent Kingdom" a couple of weeks ago and excitedly dug in. I was not disappointed.
For me, Gyasi's style of writing is beautiful and eloquent. Her ability to touch on mental health, addiction, immigration and religion with such dexterity and honesty is incredible.
One of the most prominent things that stood out to me from this book was the theme of duality. Gyasi has an uncanny ability to find balance in her writing to portray two sides of the same story. She allows Gifty to describe her Mother as "something quite close to cruel" yet recognizes her tenderness and pain is such a real representation of people's complexity. You are also granted insight into a family trying to tie together tradition and expectations of their familial roots and the society in which they live. Her parents' Ghanian upbringing influenced them each in contrasting ways, her Mother, intent on pressing forward to accomplish her dream of giving her son "the best the world had to offer." At the same time, her Father struggles to adjust to life in America. Finally, you see how the roles of both religion and science play contrasting, yet similar roles in Gifty's life. Gyasi portrayed Gifty as both a young girl and a grown woman seeking understanding and answers to the life she was facing, particularly her brother's addiction and death. She pursued this first through her religious upbringing, turned to science, and appeared to be marrying the two together in her life by the end of the book.
This story provides a beautiful, realistic portrayal of the complex and open-ended nature of grief. Both Gift and her Mother carry their grief of Nana throughout their lives, the loss weighing on them and in ways guiding their choices and life paths. There was not only the grief of Nana but also the grief of an expected life for this family. Gifty's Mother moved to America with the hopes of a future full of possibilities for her family; however, life events, choices and tragedies brought a very different outcome. In addition to Gifty's pronounced grief of her brother, she also experienced grief for her remaining family. Her Father restarted a new life without her family in Ghana, and her Mother was never quite the parent that Gifty yearned for.
I will say I felt slightly disappointed in the way in which the book ended. There was something abrupt about the time jump that felt disconnected for me. However, I appreciated the softness of religion being re-introduced into Gifty's life; it felt realistic and fitting to the character. Overall, I felt that Gyasi beautifully wove together the different timelines of the story, created a likeable protagonist I empathized with and presented us with another incredibly satisfying read. I am excited for whatever the future brings for this young author.
September 26, 2020