Salvation: a "Transcendent Kingdom" review
Wow. That's all I want to say about Yaa Gyasi's stunning second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, but that's paying a disservice to the scope of this rich literary novel. Filled with immaculate prose, fascinating science, and heartbreaking sentiments, Gyasi's follow-up to Homegoing narrows its scope to discuss the relationship between religion and science, daughter and mother, and the all-consuming nature of addiction and how it sends ripple effects into every corner of our lives. It's easily one of the best novels released this year.
Gifty spends her days as a fifth year Stanford graduate student in the lab, getting mice addicted to Ensure and tweaking their brains to see if they can resist the pull of addiction. She's supposed to be writing a paper due at the end of the term, but she's procrastinating, far too absorbed in her work to even begin parsing out thoughts onto paper. It's a distraction from her mother, who has come to visit but spends most of her time in bed, dealing with depression she doesn't want to take medication for. It's a distraction from her past, growing up in a religious household where she was a pious little girl, escaping into her Bible when not confronting the reality of being one kid of Ghanaian immigrants in a lower middle class household. Within that past is her older brother, Nana, dead at the hands of opioid addiction and a heroin overdose, and the catalyst that proved for her mother and herself. Through a nonlinear timeline, Gifty observes the world around her, how she grew up within the only Black family in her suburban Alabama church, how her notions of being good as a child have morphed into fetishistic play with short-term lovers, and how the very work she's doing has her confronting more with her past than she'd like to admit.
Gyasi's prose is the standout of this novel. I'm a sucker for fantastic prose, and there's something about the way Gyasi straddles the line between understated and descriptive that just captivates me. Call me a simple man, but Gyasi can write. The amount of times I stopped to highlight and take notes while reading this advance copy are too numerous to count. Gyasi's handling of religion, science, sexuality, and relationships is deft and evocative, and it kept me glued to the pages throughout my entire read.
Gifty is a fascinating protagonist throughout the book. I love that she keeps her emotions guarded and distant from whatever she's working on, yet they seep through the cracks regardless. From her short and devastating childhood journal entries addressed to God, to the reflection on past relationships that flickered out because she was afraid of giving too much of herself away, to her desperation to have her mother get better, little pieces barely restrained float to the surface throughout the nonlinear timeline of Transcendent Kingdom. Each bauble revealed is a revelation. Gifty is flawed and not always likable, but she's fascinating and empathetic. I love that she's a queer Black woman in science, I love her dedication to her work, but I also appreciate her communication difficulties and how her study serves as a shield to the parts of her life she'd rather forget.
There's also a lot else working here. Gifty's tentative relationship with lab partner Han is sweet, as is the cautious friendship with Katherine. The back-and-forth timeline is gripping and perfectly dissects the relationship among Gifty and her family, how her brother's drug addiction affected her and her mom and the church community that was thought to be their sanctuary. The discussions on race and racism and science are all intriguing, even if the latter flew over my head. While the ending to the novel does feel somewhat abrupt, Gifty achieves clarity that feels earned, regardless of the sudden time skip. Besides, as a literary novel, this book is focused more on the musings its writing provides; everything else comes secondary, even despite its importance.
Transcendent Kingdom is a powerhouse of a literary novel. Yaa Gyasi's excellent prose, intriguing protagonist, and necessary discussions invigorate this story and will leave me thinking for months to come. I cannot recommend this title enough.
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