Transcendent Kingdom

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Transcendent Kingdom
Cover of first edition
AuthorYaa Gyasi
Audio read byBahni Turpin
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAlfred A. Knopf
Publication date
September 1, 2020
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback), e-book, audio
Pages288
ISBN978-0-525-65818-4 (hardcover)
OCLC1119065931
813/.6
LC ClassPS3607.Y37 T73 2020

Transcendent Kingdom is the second novel by Ghanaian-American author Yaa Gyasi, published in 2020 by Alfred A. Knopf. Transcendent Kingdom was found in Literary Hub to have made 17 lists of the best books of 2020.[1]

Summary[edit]

The novel follows 28-year-old Gifty, a PhD candidate in neuroscience in her fifth year at Stanford University, and her Ghanaian-American mother, who is suffering from a deep depression.

While experimenting on lab mice for her research, Gifty gets a call that her mother is not feeling well. She sends for her mother so she can take care of her and is overwhelmed by the remembrance of the first time her mother fell into a similar depression, when Gifty was 11.

Gifty's mother and her father, affectionately nick-named The Chin-chin man, were Ghanaians who met and married late. They had a brilliant son, Nana, and after his birth Gifty's mother, seeking a better life for her child, relocated to Huntsville, Alabama where a cousin of hers was studying. Gifty's mother was forced to take menial jobs, eventually become a caretaker to abusive and racist elderly patients. Gifty's father eventually relocated to America to be with his family but was only able to find unstable work as a janitor.

Gifty was born a few years later, and was an unwanted pregnancy.

The family was anchored around Nana's prodigious gifts as an athlete and their mother's fervent religious zeal which Gifty inherited. Never settling in Alabama, The Chin-chin man eventually returned to Ghana for what was initially supposed to be a short trip, never to return. Shaken by his father's abandonment, Nana quit soccer, a sport which he had been proficient in, and in high school joined basketball. After injuring his ankle in a low-stakes game Nana was prescribed opioids and quickly became addicted, seeking out heroin to allay his cravings. When Gifty is 11 her brother dies of an overdose and her mother falls into a deep depression, taking to her bed and unable to care for herself. After she tried to commit suicide Gifty is forced to seek help and is sent to Ghana while her mother recovers, staying with her maternal aunt and briefly reuniting with her estranged father.

Nana's death and Gifty's mother's attempted suicide push Gifty away from religion. A bright scholar, she attends elite universities and chooses a path in neuroscience studying addictive behavior. Her past and her continued belief in God mark her as an outsider and she has trouble opening herself up emotionally. In the present, unable to help her mother she finally reaches out to a colleague of hers who supports Gifty as she attempts to help her mother.

In an unspecified future time, after Gifty's mother has died of natural causes, a now married Gifty who is flourishing as a scientist and runs her own lab continues to attend church.

Reception[edit]

The book drew positive reviews upon publication.[2] The Washington Post named it "a book of blazing brilliance".[3] USA Today called it "stealthily devastating"[4] while Vox gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.[5] The novel also received positive reviews from The New York Times Book Review,[6] The New Yorker,[7] The Boston Globe,[8] The Guardian,[9] Chicago Review of Books,[10] and The New Republic.[11]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Awards for Transcendent Kingdom
Year Award Result Ref.
2020 Prix Médicis étranger Longlist [12]
2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction Longlist [13]
Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist [14][15]
Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist [16]

"Inscape"[edit]

In 2015, in Guernica magazine,[17] Gyasi published a short story titled "Inscape," which features some of the characters in Transcendent Kingdom in somewhat different situations. In "Inscape" Gifty is a forty-one-year-old professor of English studying Gerard Manley Hopkins instead of a twenty-six-year-old neuroscientist, her mother's mental illness is more severe, Gifty's attraction to her friend Anne is more intimate ("My whole body ached at the mention of her name"), and she has no brother.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Temple, Emily (2020-12-15). "The Ultimate Best Books of 2020 List". Literary Hub. Archived from the original on 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  2. ^ "Book Marks reviews of Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi". Book Marks. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  3. ^ Charles, Ron (August 25, 2020). "Yaa Gyasi's 'Transcendent Kingdom' is a book of blazing brilliance". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  4. ^ VanDenburgh, Barbara (September 1, 2020). "Review: Yaa Gyasi's 'Transcendent Kingdom' a profound story of faith, addiction and loss". USA Today. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  5. ^ Grady, Constance (September 9, 2020). "In the ruminative new novel Transcendent Kingdom, a neuroscientist searches for the soul". Vox. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  6. ^ Freudenberger, Nell (August 31, 2020). "In Yaa Gyasi's New Novel, a Young Scientist Tries to Understand Her Family's Pain". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  7. ^ Wood, James (September 7, 2020). "Yaa Gyasi Explores the Science of the Soul". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  8. ^ Mengiste, Maaza (September 3, 2020). "Faith and fury in 'Transcendent Kingdom'". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  9. ^ Collins, Sara (February 24, 2021). "Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi review – a profound follow-up to Homegoing". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  10. ^ Saleem, Rabeea (September 10, 2020). "Generational Trauma and Reconciliation in "Transcendent Kingdom"". Chicago Review of Books. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  11. ^ Wilson, Jennifer (November 6, 2020). "Yaa Gyasi Versus the Identity Trap". The New Republic. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Première sélection du Prix Médicis 2020 : 15 romans français dont "Yoga" d'Emmanuel Carrère et 13 ouvrages étrangers en lice". France Info (in French). 14 September 2020. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  13. ^ "2021 Winners". Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence. 18 October 2020. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  14. ^ "2021 PRIZE". Aspen Words. Archived from the original on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  15. ^ Schaub, Michael (2020-11-10). "Longlist for Aspen Words Literary Prize Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  16. ^ Flood, Alison (2021-04-29). "Women's prize for fiction shortlist entirely first-time nominees". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  17. ^ Gyasi, Yaa (June 15, 2015). "Inscape". Guernica (The Boundaries of Taste). Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
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