“When she wants for me things that I don’t want for myself – I am angry that she doesn’t understand me, doesn’t see me as my own, separate person, but that anger stems from the fact that I don’t see her that way either. I want her to know what I want the same way I know it, intimately, immediately. I want her to get well because I want her to get well, and isn’t that enough?”

Happy 2021, my friends. We’re already off to a rough start (cheers!), so let’s keep the books coming. I’m always looking for a way to escape our current reality, even if it means looking into an unstable alternate one.

Every now and then, you have a book that just strikes a chord in your soul. Know what I’m saying? If you haven’t, you will. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi struck four or five chords at the same time for a bittersweet harmony. In the beginning, we jump directly into the life of Gifty, a fifth-year post-graduate neuroscience student at Stanford University, who is attempting to find a “cure” for addictions by getting rats hyped up on Ensure. Shortly after, we learn more about who she is—the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, who moved to Alabama to start a new life before her birth and grew up as the only Black girl in her church and at school. Gifty also reveals to readers early on that her father abandoned her family when she was very young to return to Ghana; her promising high-school athlete brother, Nana, died in her teens from his opioid addiction; and her bedridden mother deals with extreme depression.

Heavy, I know. But the rest of the book is the unraveling of Gifty’s story and her struggles to accept herself and her beliefs. Within the first few pages, Gifty flies her suicidal mother out to the Bay Area to live in her tiny apartment, as she learns from her mother’s pastor that she refuses to leave her bed, eat, or perform any basic living routines besides going to the bathroom. Struggling with mental illness for over 10 years, her mother refuses any assistance—instead, she turns to God for help. Readers then take a deeper dive into each of the traumas, and its effects on both her and her mom, along with Gifty’s lifelong desire to be close to her mom and her wrestle to create and maintain a close-knit relationship.

On top of her issues with her mother, Gifty is also grappling with her belief in God. Raised in a zealous Southern church, she has been (for lack of a better word) scared into believing that God exists. After arriving at Harvard, Gifty soon learns she’s in the minority with her faith in a higher power and begins to question her beliefs and childhood; however hard she may try, there’s always something drawing Gifty back to Deity throughout the book. So where does she take it from here?

 Gyasi is beyond brilliant in both writing style and storytelling. The questions she asked throughout the book caused me immense introspection and reflection on my beliefs and how my past has shaped me into who I am this day. A solid 4 out of 5 stars, this is a book that you do not want to miss.

 WARNING: There are deep depictions of drug abuse, overdose and emotional abuse throughout the book.

Posted by Michelle