Review - 'Transcendent Kingdom' by Yaa Gyasi

According to the book jacket, Transcendent Kingdom is a "deeply moving portrait," a "profound story about race," "depression and addiction." And that's what I wanted. I wanted an interesting story that can tie these different and complex topics together and offer me insight that I can take with me long after I've finished this book. But I'm sorry to say I didn't get that.

For all these worthy topics, the book hardly devotes much effort to them. They are sprinkled haphazardly across the pages, a little bit here, a little bit there. No doubt all the right words are said, but it feels so superficial and convenient. (For example: Gifty goes to med school, but not just any school, it's Stanford. Before that she was at Harvard, and afterwards, she ends up at Princeton. Her brother gets addicted to drugs, but not just any drug, it's OxyContin, and he does so after a sports injury.) The distillation of these characters down to their most stereotypical forms makes the treatment of these difficult subjects never feel more than skin deep.

Instead, almost the entire book is pretty much a big pile of pondering about mainly religion and a little bit of science, thinly disguised as a story. But like all ruminations, we are treated to a lot of thoughts without any insight. Gifty spends all this time and effort trying to reconcile the role that religion and science has in her life and her grief. But she never seems to get anywhere, just going in circles and circles. These passages have a stream-of-consciousness style, so it often feels like I'm reading entire entries lifted from a diary without having seeing the red pen of an editor.

I had a lot of trouble relating to this book, in particular its religious element. The book spends a lot of time quoting the Bible, or referencing the Scripture, or using prayer as the sole means to fix issues. Though the book jacket tries to sell this as a spiritual portrayal, it comes across as decidedly (organized) religious to me. In fact, Gifty even talks about exactly that at one point, that she believes in the specific God of the Bible and that the Bible should be taken literally, instead of having a more nebulous belief in a higher being that those who are spiritual would believe.

But even the science part rubbed me the wrong way. Those passages, while having the potential to be interesting, instead feel extremely clinical and detached. It's as if it's written by a robot, instead of a real person with hopes and feelings. And instead of reconciling between science and religion where the two meet halfway, it's almost entirely one-way, with Gifty trying to understand science through the eyes of religion and God, but not vice versa.

Another problem is that Gifty isn't a very sympathetic character. Imperfect characters are ok, as long as they show growth through their narrative. But Gifty never does. The adult version of her sounds exactly like the young version of her that she reminisces about. She comes across as extremely self-righteous about her beliefs, expecting that others be understanding of her when she isn't understanding of them. She seems bent on suffering alone, as if that is a noble pursuit. And when people she cares about tries to reach out to her, she is mean to their face.

The writing style doesn't help either. It reads like a memoir, with Gifty looking back on her life, but it feels detached and emotionless. Since the anecdotes are told in retrospect instead of in the moment, the summaries of those memories come across as heavily telling, and hardly any showing. They're also interspersed throughout instead of chronological, so it adds to the chaotic and rambling feeling of the book.

To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. There are so many things that just didn't work for me, including the writing style, the content, and the execution. I have been looking forward to this ever since I read Homegoing, probably one of my favorite books of all time. But this book is so different that I don't think there is any similarities. If you're wondering whether to give this a go, I'd recommend reading the book blurb to see if it appeals to you, instead of going off of your feelings for Gyasi's previous work.

Readaroo Rating: 1 star