Transcendent Kingdom is a fascinating book because it delves into deep questions of life and meaning. Gifty must reconcile her feelings towards her mother, who clearly favoured Nana. Meanwhile, we learn that Gifty’s mother, who has come to live with her, is highly depressed, likely as a result of what happened to Nana and being left by her husband. Thus, she attempts to understand addiction in mice through her work. Gifty is haunted by what happened to Nana and cannot stop thinking about why it happened or how it might have been prevented. Her brother, Nana, was addicted to pain relieving drugs her entire family suffered as a result. We slowly learn that Gifty is somewhat obsessed with this work for very personal reasons. Gifty, a young woman originally from Ghana, works as a scientist who researches neuroscience through her lab work with mice. Yaa Gyasi does this well, proving that she is a multifaceted writer. While Homegoing told the stories of generations of people, Transcendent Kingdom tells the more focused or perhaps intimate story of a woman and her family. While Transcendent Kingdom is equally as wonderful as Homegoing, it is a very different kind of book. Readers of Yaa Gyasi’s earlier work, Homegoing, may be surprised. Transcendent Kingdom is a multilayered story of a Gifty, a scientist who seeks answers for her questions about her brother’s addiction and whether questions of science and religion can or cannot be reconciled.
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