At the start of Transcendent Kingdom we are introduced to Gifty, a young woman working as a neuroscientist developing a paper on reward seeking behaviour in mice. She's rather awkward, without any real friends, and no-one at her lab knows much about her. As Gifty's narrative progresses however, we see that she's more just this talented, intelligent, quiet woman and her scientific work has deep personal ties.

Gifty, along with her mother, father and older brother Nana are part of the growing diaspora community from Ghana to America. With their arrival in Alabama, we see the family struggle to assimilate to their new life, especially father Chin Chin Man. The novel itself has on overall oppressive tone to it, almost like a miasma of despair that follows Gifty through her story. We see her father suffer as a tall black man in a community that is less than welcoming, meaning he feels less than a man. We see Gifty's mother work two jobs to try and elevate her family beyond poverty and a deep dive into depression, and we see Nana fall into a cycle of drugs as a result of generational trauma. It was a powerful read, but heavy.

I loved the way Gifty describes her brother Nana. To see him in her mind at his best, in motion, all fluid and graceful. Although she doesn't mention Nana to anyone, not even her mother, she keeps him close in her memories to ensure his life was never a waste. The good and the bad. I also liked the links and conflicts that Gifty finds in her exploration of faith and science. She has been brought up in a deeply religious household that relied on God for all the answers, yet she spends a lot of her current time around logical thinkers - herself included. Part of the story is finding the balance between her faith and her profession, and the cards she has been dealt in life and realising she doesn't have to choose between the two. It also looks closely at addiction from the side of the family and not the addict themselves and how they become consumed too.

I would say that there isn't really much of a plot here. We know from the start what happens to Nana, and the trajectory his family takes as a result. It's definitely more of a character examination, and if you go into this expecting something more than this you will be disappointed. The timeline also jumps around a bit too much at times, taking me out of the story and lessening the emotional impact at times. However Gifty's story is such an important one to tell, and one that will resonate with me for a long time.

Unique perspective, highly character based with beautiful words and a strong philosophical narrative. Yaa Gyasi certainly knows how to write.

A wonderful book by a fantastic author that highlights themes of addiction, mental health and family relationships. I loved Yaa Gyasi's debut novel Homegoing and was excited to read her next book. Gifty's experiences were beautifully written and I felt for her with the struggle between her scientific work and religious upbringing.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

I have not read Yaa Gyasi’s first novel (Homegoing), but I will have to remedy that at some point after reading this one. This is a very confident, intelligent and emotional book that holds science and faith next to one another and looks at both through a lens of grief and addiction. At the same time, it explores issues of race. It does not answer all the questions it raises (I’m not sure that is possible), but it does present them in a sensitive way that gives the reader plenty to think about both during and after reading the book.

In the book’s “now”, Gifty is a PhD student working in the field of neuroscience. Specifically, she is exploring the subject of risk/reward (she wants to know whether her research can <i>”be used to identify the neural mechanisms involved in psychiatric illnesses where there are issues with reward seeking, like in depression, where there is too much restraint in seeking pleasure, or drug addiction, where there is not enough?</i>). As the book starts, we learn that Gifty’s mother has had a relapse of some kind of depressive illness (we begin to suspect the motivation for her PhD studies) and she moves to live with her daughter.

Her mother’s presence in her life causes Gifty to look back and much of the book takes place in flashbacks covering different periods of Gifty’s life. Here we begin to learn about Nana, her brother, and we discover an even more significant motivation for Gifty’s research.

Religious faith played an important part in Gifty’s growing up and this background feeds into her current scientific environment as she wrestles to understand what happened to her family and to come to terms with her own guilt about it.

This is a book that makes you pause to consider how amazing a human being is. The point where I paused, put the book down for a few minutes and thought most about this was when I read this:



"I know that psychology and neuroscience have to work in concert if we want to address the full range of human behaviour, and I really do love the idea of the whole animal, but I guess my question is that if the brain can’t account for things like reason and emotion, then what can? If the brain makes it possible for ‘us’ to feel and think, then what is ‘us’? Do you believe in souls?"

Whilst neuroscience can tell us how the brain behaves, pausing to think about what a memory or a desire actually is is very likely to amaze you. Any book that makes you more amazed at being human (Richard Powers’ “The Goldbug Variations” is another one that does this for me) is a great thing. And despite the fact that this book deals with some sad topics (the grief and addiction already mentioned), somehow it manages to give a positive view of how spectacular a human being is.

"When I watched the limping mouse refuse the lever, I was reminded yet again of what it means to be reborn, made new, saved, which is just another way of saying, of needing those outstretched hands of your fellows and that grace of God. That saving grace, amazing grace, is a hand and a touch, a fiber-optic implant and a lever and a refusal, and how sweet, how sweet it is."

How is it possible for a human being to write THIS well!! I have had the author’s previous novel Homegoing on my Kindle for months now and it will be rushing to the top of my queue now I’ve read this one.
The protagonist of this novel is Gifty, the American born daughter of first generation immigrant parents from Ghana. The novel is told in differing time frames: a summer Gifty spends in Ghana age 12, Gifty’s early childhood in Alabama and Gifty’s adult life, mainly now as a post grad doctoral student but also some glimpses into her time as an undergraduate. It is also told in different voices, Gifty’s own, from diary entries she wrote as a child, and from stories Gifty has managed to prise out of her Mother about her marriage and younger days.
This novel excels in it’s telling of the struggles of Mother and daughter who love each other deeply but are unable to show it or to ever fully understand the others world view. We know for most of the novel that the family of 4 is now simply Gifty and her mother, but why is revealed in stages over time. Both women suffering abandonment, judgement and at times hopelessness but from different men and in different ways.
The theme of Christianity is central to the book, both how Christian faith is expressed in different countries, churches and denominations and also how being raised in a devout household can colour your every viewpoint long after you’ve stopped practicing that faith and decided that you no longer believe in God which is what Gifty has found. She isn’t comfortable anywhere, not in the scientific community where her refusal to see science as having all the answers any more than God does and certainly not in her Mother’s single minded faith.
The novel isn’t just the story of Gifty’s life but a constant philosophical discussion on science, religion, family, immigration, addiction and I’m sure in reading groups up and down the USA and many other countries, it will have sparked fierce debate on thr uses of animals in scientific testing.
My one small criticism and it is very small is that I felt the last 10% was rushed. Had I been reading a paper copy I would probably have looked for the pages that had dropped out. That said, I liked the ending chapter a great deal and maybe Gyasi did this deliberately in order to have her readers fill in the blanks themselves. It’s certainly kept my mind on the characters since I finished the novel.

I ADORED this novel. Gifty was such a loveable protagonist and your heart breaks for her throughout the novel. I want everything to be ok so she can be happy and hear an “I love you” from her mum.

The insights into the science of addiction and depression really interested me and I felt took the book to the next level. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this considering I’m not even remotely science-y. But, it added a lot to the story and gave context to Gifty’s life.

This comparison has probably never been made, and I’m sure I’ll be the only one to make this comparison, but this book reminded me of Shuggie Bain. Now you might be wondering what a book about a young, white, gay male set in Scotland has to do with a book about a young, black, bisexual (?), female from Ghana.

Well, I thought a lot. They both explore addiction and the effects it has on family. I found it really interesting comparing the cultural acknowledgement of addiction. In Scotland, it’s difficult to hide because of gossip but quite normalised. In Alabama, it’s difficult to hide because of gossip but it’s definitely not normalised. Addiction destroys not only the person but also the family.

In both novels, I saw the child relationship with the mother being explored. They both are unable to speak to their mother honestly, they fear them but love them with all their heart. They’d do anything to please their mothers. This was such a stark similarity throughout I just kept thinking of little Shuggie Bain as Gifty.

Anyway... read this novel!

Transcendent Kingdom is a powerful, impressive new character-driven novel from the author of Homegoing. At its heart is the relationship between religion and science as the protagonist, 29 year-old neurosurgeon Gifty tries to reconcile her faith and answer deeper questions connected to her doctoral research into addiction. The novel moves back and forth in time exploring issues of abandonment, loneliness, mental health and grief. Gifty’s brother, a talented athlete died from a drug overdose, having initially been prescribed OxyContin for a sports injury. Gifty’s subsequent career path and research into neural processes that might help impede addiction assume added poignancy. She is also a carer for her mother who has suffered acute depression ever since the death of her son. The father is absent, having left Alabama for his native Ghana because of institutionalised racism, which underlines the whole novel.

Gyasi handles these difficult themes with sensitivity and compassion. I thought her writing just fabulous and Transcendent Kingdom a more mature novel than Homegoing. She is certainly one of the most interesting and impressive contemporary American novelists and I can’t wait for her next work. Hopefully we’ll get the same release date in the UK as in the US next time.

My thanks to Penguin UK and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Transcendent Kingdom.

This is the story of Gifty, a Ivy League student who is studying neurology - specialising in the reward trigger and addition - and her mother who is staying with her. They are both dealing - in their own way - with the death of Gifty's brother, Nana, from a painkiller addiction. While Gifty's mum prays and stays in bed all day, barely able to move, Gifty focuses her academic research on the addiction that killed her brother.

This is such a moving novel of immigration - from Ghana -, loss (their absent father first, Nana a few years later), grief, and the relationship between the mother and the daughter.was very touching. I loved everything about it; it is beautifully written, and the memories of Gifty's childhood and her trip to Ghana were well woven into the present time story. I loved as well that after reading - through my own choice - books with such flawed main characters, dysnfunctional and self-destructive, Gifty felt so... tidy and reasonable - successful, hard-working, trying hard to be a good daughter, unsure about religion, dealing with her own grief.

"I wanted things just so. I wanted to tell my stories the way I wanted to tell them, in my own time, imposing a kind of order that didn't exist in the moment".

Gyasi has created another absolute masterpiece with this book.

This is a beautifully written story which focuses on the devastating loss of a brother due to drug addiction as well as dealing with a mother who struggles with mental health issues. There are also deeper insights in which Gyasi adds real depth to philosophical arguments around science vs religion, which the character engages in to try and get answers to her family problems.

The bigger questions in this book such as the existence of God and how to live with grief left me thinking long after I put down the book.

Gyasi's skills for narrating a story are a true talent and will leave any reader blown away.

A brilliant read that touches on the subjects addiction, family, loneliness & depression, whilst illustrating a young, intelligent woman's quest to rekindle her religious upbringing with the scientific professional path she chose for herself. Gyasi explores how death & mental health issues leave their indelible mark on family relationships as well as one's understanding of their own identity in a piece of work that succeeds in being ambitious, well-researched, philosophical and lyrical at the same time.

Highly recommended - can't wait to play catch up with the rest of the world and read 'Homegoing' asap.

Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel was the ambitious, powerful if somewhat flawed historical epic “Homecoming” which told, in two diverging and the intersecting multi-generational tales, the missing parts of history in Ghana and America.

This her follow-up is in my view an even better book – and made I think even more impressive by the divergence in style and themes explored of its predecessor. For at heart this is an examination of religious and scientific belief – their clashes and similarities – and about how either holds up refracted through a lens of loss, addiction and underlying racism.

There are some strong overlaps between this book and the Booker-shortlisted “Real Life” – although in this novel the scientific research (here into mice rather than nematodes) is central to the book and non-autobiographical in nature (actually deriving from research done by the author’s friend – see link below) rather than serving as a simply a autobiographical vehicle for an exploration of other themes. I have to say also that I think this is a far more mature and coherent novel than the debut “Real Life”.

The author herself was was born in Ghana and raised in Alabama.

Over time the backstory of our first party narrator Gifty emerges.

She was born in the US some time after her driven and very religious Ghanian mother wins the Green Card lottery and moves to Alabama, with her at the time only child – Nana – to stay with a cousin doing a PhD there, before settling and later joined, rather reluctantly, by her older and rather easygoing husband – known as Chin Chin Man. The family struggle in America – Gifty’s mother works as a home help for the elderly (starting with a bigoted older white man), Chin Chin Man gets a job as a janitor but is weighted down by the overt racism he experiences – but Gifty’s mother joins an Assembly of God church where she gains a community (although move covert racial prejudice is never far from the surface no matter how much she chooses to ignore it).

Gifty too develops a childlike faith – which she expresses via a coded diary written to God – extracts of which litter the book – and the same impulses that drive her to faith drive her to an early interest in science

Back then, I approached my piety the same way I approached my studies: fastidiously. I spent the summer after my eighth birthday reading my Bible cover to cover, a feat that even my mother admitted she had never done. I wanted, above all else, to be good. And I wanted the path to that goodness to be clear. I suspect that this is why I excelled at math and science, where the rules are laid out step by step, where if you did something exactly the way it was supposed to be done, the result would be exactly as it was expected to be.

Nana as a young child is a successful soccer player – but quits after a racist incident – only for a growth spurt to help him discover basketball which does far more to cement both his and the family’s popularity and set out a potential future of College scholarships. But when he is injured on court, his family gradually realise that he has become addicted to OxyContin – an addiction which rapidly spins out of control and leads to his death from overdose. In turn this causes Gifty to question her hitherto unshakeable childlike faith, and her mother to sink into depression and Ambien dependency (with the 12 year old Gifty then sent to Ghana for a period while her mother just pulls herself together).

The book is set sixteen years later – Gifty is now a studying for a PhD in Neuroscience in California. Gifty’s PhD is on Neural circuits of reward-seeking behaviour – in simple terms she performs a relatively classical experiment on mice who after working out that a lever causes a reward of food, then find it starts giving them random shocks. Most mice eventually stop pressing the lever but a small cohort carry on pressing the lever no matter how frequent the shocks – effectively completely risk-averse reward seeking behaviour (something like addiction in humans). Her work is looking at whether.

optogenetics be used to identify the neural mechanisms involved in psychiatric illnesses where there are issues with reward seeking, like in depression, where there is too much restraint in seeking pleasure, or drug addiction, where there is not enough?

And of course function as a way for her to work through her confusion and shame about why she was unable to save her brother.

At the book’s start, her mother seems to have relapsed into depression and Anhedonia (an inability to drive pleasure) comes to stay with her and this causes Gifty to look back on her past and try to come to terms once more with everything that happened and to try to come to terms with it and this in turn leads her to reflect on her journey through religious faith and scientific belief – and to realise that they are simultaneously in conflict but also two sides of the same coin, and that ultimately neither has really give her the answers she seek but that between both of them and the fundamental importance of relationships there is an answer to be found.

This was a book where I found myself repeatedly highlighting passages.

I felt this was an excellent book and it also felt an intelligent and convincing one. The book is peppered with religious references and bible verse (ones Gifty learned as a child) and as a Christian I can say that they are all quoted in context and with understanding. And the scientific details, which at times get a little complex, are also never less than convincing and seem to fit my (more limited) understanding of the actual science involved (see paper below).

But if that and my review makes this book feel like some form of heavy philosophical tome – it is much more than that. Because at the heart there is a tale of: fraternal heartbreak; of a mother-daughter relationship which never really functions both as a mother-child and then a daughter-elderly dependent; of insidious racism never really seen as such until much later and absorbed more as unworthiness or shame; and even a very tentative attempt at romance which does provide some form of ultimate redemption.

This is a book which poses lots of questions, and while not giving any easy answers (because ultimately the questions are unanswerable), gives plenty for the reader to reflect on.

I thought it was outstanding.

This book has all the hype and deservedly so. I much preferred this to homegoing. I was transported into a completely different life and family and it was captivating.

A sensitive, beautiful and touching approach to addiction and it’s devastating and profound effect on family. I thought that this subject matter might have hit me harder emotionally, however it didn’t make me cry for example.

I’m glad I chose to read this book and I would read more of this authors work in the future

This book shares a brilliantly woven narrative of the life of Gifty as she struggles through the death of her brother from addiction and the struggles of her mothers mental health. Through Gifty’s eyes we travel through time and learn about the trials and tribulations of her life. It was a beautiful read and the characters really spoke to me.

This is the first Yaa Gyasi novel I have read and downloaded homegoing before I even finished this. The best book I have read so far this year and I’m sure it will be up there for some time to come.

This was a stunning novel. An exploration, and meditation on mental health, religion and science. The relationships between the mother and daughter, and brother and sister, were powerful and poignant.
Although heartbreaking, there is so much beauty within the novel and it is beautifully written.
It was definitely my favourite book of 2020.

Finished this one yesterday and I loved it. Yaa Gyasi has a beautiful way with words. It is such a heartbreaking story, but also fascinating, as Gifty explores that ongoing question of God vs Science and whether the two can co-exist. I loved the descriptions of her work in the lab and just the way her mind worked.
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There were a couple of scenes that made me have to stop and close the book for a minute because the racism and/or grief were just too much, and although difficult, I love when a book challenges me and this occurs.
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Two from two for Gyasi from me - I’m a firm fan and will read anything she ever brings out. Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for approving the ebook for me - I also ended up grabbing it from the library.

A powerful and exquisitely written character driven novel that touches on the fundamental philosophical questions of life and family by Yaa Gyasi. It focuses on the trauma and devastation wreaked on a Ghanaian family living in Alabama. The flawed Gifty is a Stanford PhD neuroscience researcher looking for answers to human suffering in science, looking to reconcile it with the childhood religious faith and beliefs that she grew up with in a narrative that goes back and forth in time. She is weighed by the heavy burden grief, the loss of her beloved brother, Nana, a talented athlete whose life was derailed after an injury that culminated in a heroin overdose. Her father went back to Ghana and never returned, leaving Gifty with only her depressed and suicidal mother. This is an outstanding, thoughtful, and hopeful read that details the struggles of the immigrant experience, such as the racism and poverty, family, loss, and grief that is heartbreaking. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.

Transcendent Kingdom is a novel about a woman tracing her own history and reckoning with the realities of America and being from an immigrant family. Gifty was born in Alabama, after her parents came over from Ghana with her young brother, and grew up with the struggles that torn her family apart until it ended up just her and her mother. Now doing a PhD at Stanford trying to understand the addiction that killed her brother, her mother comes to stay with her, and she starts to look back at her life and that of her family, seeing the trauma that led them there.

This novel combines a deep look at issues affecting modern America, particularly the opioid crisis and mental health, with an interesting exploration of religion, spirituality, and science, as Gifty's religious upbringing and scientific academic career come together. The impact of personal emotions and even trauma on scientific research really stands out, as she tries to explain her connection to the mice she's experimenting on in attempts to understand addiction and work out if anything could've been done to help her brother.

The narrative is told a lot through flashbacks, with the present day leading back into Gifty's memories to flesh out what happens to her and her family, and though some people might find this slows down the present story, it works well to get across how reticent Gifty is to share her past with people. This structure also makes some things, particularly her brother's addiction, have a horrifying inevitability, as you know what is coming as soon as he gets injured playing basketball and is given painkillers.

Transcendent Kingdom feels more like a novel of reflection than one where the protagonist does a lot in the present day narrative, and through this it touches upon a lot of interesting and powerful topics that affect people in America and beyond. It was also refreshing to have a novel where the main character's scientific research was going well, and the focus was more on what led them to study that area and other things happening in their life. Sharp and engrossing, the book draws you into Gifty's life and asks a lot of questions about how complicated and entangled different aspects of life can be.

A very well-written and moving book. This focuses on a Ghanaian family now living in America. It deals with themes of mental health, addiction and faith / religion.

A powerful read and highly recommend this.

Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.

I was really looking forward to this book and so opted to read it as soon as I was approved on netgalley. I wasn’t disappointed.
The book tells the story of Gifty...living in America with her Ghanaian mother and for part of childhood her Ghanaian father. The story is told by an adult Gifty ...she follows her childhood back to identify the root of her mother’s depression whilst also considering her own relationship with God.
It’s beautifully written. Gifty is a scientist and there are some bits which for me were too technical but it didn’t put me off. I would definitely recommend

Transcendent Kingdom is a thoughtful and thought-provoking read that covers many themes from immigrant life to drug abuse, pitting religion/faith against science along the way. Gifty is an interesting character and I was drawn into her world and her journey throughout the course of the story. This is very much a character piece, rather than a plot-driven tale, but as such it works well and it held my interest. I didn't always agree with Gifty, but it was fascinating to see how she came to make the choices she did. Gyasi's prose style lends itself well this type of introspective tale, and I would certainly be keen to read more from her in the future. I did struggle to relate to the religious aspects of the piece, not being that way inclined myself, and I did wonder if this book would resonate more with those who do have a faith of some kind. However, that didn't stop me enjoying the work and overall I would give it four stars.

(This review will go live on my blog on 22 February 2021, at which point I will also share on Goodreads and across social media.)