* I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. *

Gifty is a Ghanaian-American research neuroscientist, specialising in reward-seeking behaviour. She comes from a broken home, abandoned by her father, and riven by mental illness and tragedy. From an early age, Gifty was required to support her mother in crisis and, while the local pastor said that God never gives anybody a burden that they can't bear, Gifty is shattered by events, and abandons her mother's religion. She can never quite do so completely without abandoning her mother in her own mind, which makes for a difficult quandary for a medical student.

Gifty and the other characters are so real, and the story is told with such verisimilitude, that this feels like reading a memoir. It's no surprise to read at the end that Gyasi based it on a friend's experiences. This is a very affecting book that continually leaves you engrossed and willing Gifty on to a happy outcome.

One thing I would add is that the book contains details of animal experiments that may upset some readers. ( )

Gifty, the narrator of Yaa Gyasi’s second published novel, is a 27 year old PhD candidate in neurosciences at Stanford, who conducts experiments on mice to elucidate the neural pathways involved in addiction and reward seeking behavior. On the surface she checks all the boxes for a modern immigrant success story: she is the daughter of two Ghanaians who emigrated to the United States to seek better opportunities for themselves and their two children, Gifty and her older brother Nana; she overcame a troubled and impoverished childhood in Alabama to achieve academic success, including a bachelor’s degree from Harvard; and she is devoted to her family, particularly her mother, a devout Christian who worked in menial jobs to provide for her children.

However, there is a darker underside to Gifty’s story. She is motivated to study addiction because Nana, a promising but troubled athlete, became hooked on opioids after a physician gave him a prescription for OxyContin after a sports injury and ultimately died of a heroin overdose when she was young, and the loss of her closest companion and most devoted supporter devastated both her and her mother, who has suffered from severe depression and suicidal behaviors since the death of her son. Gifty, because of her sheltered upbringing, family tragedy, and struggles as an immigrant, an outsider in her home town in Alabama and as a Black woman scientist, keeps her personal life and experiences to herself, and, in many ways, views her mother, late brother and herself from the standpoint of a scientist, as an apparent coping mechanism and because she has yet to learn who she truly is, and this lack of self-awareness greatly impacts and impedes her relationships with friends and lovers.

My impression of "Transcendent Kingdom" was a mixed one immediately after I finished reading it, as I was frustrated with Gifty and her mother, both of whom I found to be inscrutable and, in many ways, unlikable. However, after giving it some thought and watching an interview with the author about the book, I realized that this characterization was entirely intentional on Yaa Gyasi’s part, which made me appreciate what she was doing considerably more. I’ve upped my initial 3½ star rating to 4½ stars, and although "Transcendent Kingdom" is a very different novel than her début, "Homegoing", I would recommend it just as highly. ( )

NA ( )

Really, really, really, REALLY amazing. ( )

Liked this story about a girl born in Ghana who grew up in a troubled religious family in Alabama and becomes a neuroscientist. Calmly moving, but the short, lyrical chapters made for easy reading. ( )