Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Gifty is a highly respected scientist; an expert in researching the exact mechanism of the brain in choosing a reward or not. But at home, Gifty is the child of her mother. In Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi explores the hold of family on members and the pain that can it bring.
When her two children were little, Gifty’s mother abruptly left Ghana for the United States, where she was sure they would have a better life. Eventually, their father followed. And, then he left again, phone calls eventually petering out. Gifty was never sure about the role of a father.
As a teenager, Nana, Gifty’s younger brother, plunged into the physical delights of basketball, practicing endlessly at home and at school. Until after a sprained ankle, a careless prescription for painkillers instantly turned him into an addict. All the love and anger showered on him by his mother and Gifty could not overcome his brain’s insistence on ever-more-frequent satisfaction.
Gifty’s research life in a university lab is tranquil compared to her family life. A reputation for extremely meticulous work was born from her desire to escape what she could not control. Because research is emotionally safer, her personal life is almost non-existent.
After Nana’s death, their mother cannot recover any kind of equilibrium. Her deep faith that regularly took them all to church lost its efficacy. She had prayed for her son – had God ignored her?
Because Gifty is a kind, responsible, loving daughter, she brings her severely depressed mother into her apartment to live. Without any meaningful interaction developing between them, Gifty struggles to understand any kind of faith. She sees her mother subsumed by relentless grief. The pastor’s good words seem to have no effect on her or Gifty, who has already given up on organized religion. Yet, she finds herself talking to God – in a way, recognizing that scientific research doesn’t deny God. The human urge to have faith and express it confuses her, in part because it is so persistent. She can’t seem to break into the future until she has answered these questions from her past.
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