I loved this book.

I am so glad I read this before I read her other book "homegoing".

Like most books, I went into it blind. I am so happy I did. At first I didn't think the dual timelines we kept getting and within very short chapters, were a good idea. Buuut, I was pleasantly proven wrong because it worked for the book.

The way Yaa integrates religion, science and spirituality is just so well executed. it's so well done.

I love this book. I found myself relating with some of the question she would ask. It sometimes felt like reading my intrusive thoughts on paper.

I would highly recommend this one. ( )

TW: death, trauma, racism, addiction, mental ill health

This is an excellent and almost unremittingly painful read. The POV character is the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants to Alabama, where she grows up in the only black family in her church. She is working on her PhD in neuro-science as the book moves back and forth in time, largely (entirely? I can’t recall and I read the audiobook so can’t check) through the writing, or rereading, of her journal. Transcendent Kingdom deals with the strains of immigration, racism, evangelical Christianity, family breakup, relationships, mental ill health, drug addiction, overdose, and death. The experiments the protagonist is doing require surgery and implants into the brain’s of mice.

Transcendent Kingdom is very good, but be sure you are up for it, because there are not a lot of breaks from the depth of sorrow the book conveys. Perhaps it would not have as harsh an effect on people who have not been affected by any of these things in their own lives, or who have more slack around them than I currently do. I read the book because it deals with sibling death, and I lost my brother a couple of years ago. His health was impacted by his own addictions which, combined, led to his early death, and I believe that everyone in my family struggles with the effects of generational trauma. So although my story is not the same, it is similar enough, and close enough still, to make this a very hard book to read. ( )

AMAZING!! I could not put it down... I laughed and cried while reading this story about, family, race, addiction, science, and religion. Major themes: Acceptance, Forgiveness, Love. ( )

Didn't have the emotional impact of Homegoing.. a little too pat ( )

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4EGVKuPBaf/

Yaa Gyasi - Transcendent Kingdom: As a sophomore effort, somewhat disappointing - she’s obviously an excellent writer, but this isn’t her story (see acknowledgments). #cursorybookreviews #cursoryreviews ( )