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Transcendent Kingdom
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, African American
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Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
From the best-selling author of Homegoing comes a searing novel of love and loss, addiction and redemption, straight from the heart of contemporary America.
As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away.
Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought. Tracing her family's story through continents and generations will take her deep into the dark heart of modern America.
Critic Reviews
"I would say that Transcendent Kingdom is a novel for our time (and it is) but it is so much more than that. It is a novel for all times. The splendor and heart and insight and brilliance contained in the pages holds up light the rest of us can follow." (Ann Patchett)
"Absolutely transcendent. A gorgeously woven narrative...not a word or idea out of place. The range. I am quite angry this is so good." (Roxane Gay)
"A stirringly gifted writer." (New York Times)
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What listeners say about Transcendent Kingdom
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 16-09-20
Things to note, maybe?
Love Gyasi's style of writing, the back and forth from the past to the present keeps the story engaging. The message is pertinent to society's response to depression and addiction, particularly the way families experience it internally and externally as well as from within the health sciences. I didn't anticipate as much Christian influence as there was. Compared with Home Going, which didn't really have any mention of it. Still a wonderful eye opening and deeply meaningful read.
The narrator's voice takes time to get used to. It was quite piercing on the ears initially, especially with earphones. I wouldn't eagerly listen to books read by Turpin again.
1 person found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 01-10-20
Beautiful, thought-provoking, educational
My first genre-love is fantasy. I always liked the idea of being able to reflect upon society through this lens and explore and think about uncomfortable topics without the brashness of reality.
Transcendental Kingdom is not fantasy. It deals with triggering topics head on - mental illness within the black community, living as an immigrant (from Africa to the American South), familial loss, addiction, single parent hood and also the stress that comes with ideas about religion and science and questions why the two are perceived as being on opposite ends of a spectrum. It also explores the nature of complex mother-daughter relationships.
You might think that it's a lot for one book. You might also think it's bound to be gritty, or urban. It's not. It's not romanticised either. How? Well, the story is a personal, even intimate one, following Gifty as she studies neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine, exploring the nature of reward seeking behaviour and addiction. Her wandering mind takes us through her life by the most intricate route - the writer has the most wonderful way of weaving flashbacks into the narrative, making time changes fluid and natural. Gifty's circumstances and mind are unique but her experiences are universal, poignantly expressed and deeply relatable. The book is like those renaissance pictures that you look at and appreciate in one spot but as you stand back and take time to study the whole picture, you realise just how detailed and profound it really is.
Littered throughout the story are interesting studies and theories that will inspire you to do more reading on the topics, should the themes explored interest you. Gifty's handling of taboo is made accessible to all with her curious mind - aware of all social convention and restriction - but still full of wonder anyway. For Audible, Bahni Turpin did an amazing job of capturing the purity of Gifty's mind, the innocence of her questioning that remains even after the changes she experiences growing up are revealed layer by layer.
This is not action based or gritty and dark, but it did hit hard, sneaking up on my emotions and catching me off guard. This book made me shed a tear or two in the last quarter. Easily one of the best reads of 2020 for me.
4 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 29-01-21
Story of science, religion and grief
The book had alot of emotional depth, I could feel being inside Gifty's mind struggling with her brothers addiction..... the grief , mental illness and religion. Struggling to find meaning in what seems meaningless. Like what is the point of it all if we're just going to struggle and die. I've had this same struggle so I can relate.
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- Lizzy h
- 16-11-20
A novel about science and faith
A Ghanaian migrant family in Alabama look for redemption in God but the challenges and reality of life make tge narrator reflect on her faith.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-11-20
I needed to hear this
Sigh.... I respect Yaa so much for writing this. I respect her for being open about tough topics and for unveiling the reality behind how the church reacts to these issues.
She delves into her brother and his drug addition, her mother’s depression and her own struggle with grief.
She shares how through all of it the church turned a blind eye. A blind eye to a struggling teen, a depressed mother and a girl trying to find her way.
This book hit home! It hit home because the truth is the church today (in my experience) has not learnt how to deal with people with mental health disorders. It shuns them or uses prayer as a blanket that should fix all. The reality is... sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes people need more help.
I will talk more about this as I digest the book because it has helped me understand and sympathize so much more with those who have left the Christian faith. Left because they got more judgement than love.
Okay that’s all.... we’re giving this a 4⭐️.
It was good... I just wasn’t over the moon. The rating may change... at the moment that’s just how I feel. Yaa Gyasi is definitely becoming one of my favorite authors!
We will review this more later.
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- Aaron
- 30-09-20
Beautifully performed
Loved it. And the excellent performance made it all the more encapsulating. Couldn't believe it was the same actor reading all the characters. Sad and emotional in places and hits on many themes, immigration, racism, science vs religion, addiction and ultimately is about the main characters journey through family trauma to personal acheivement. Most importantly the main character and her family feel so real and flawed and lovable.
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- Siobhan Ashton
- 19-01-21
Great story but struggled with the narration
The story grapples with many relevant topics such as race, religion, addiction and immigration. It may be triggering in some of these regards, but tells a compelling story about identity and self discovery. The biggest struggle for me was the narrators voice, it felt quite robotic although the Ghanaian language inclusion was well done. The narration may make it difficult to invest in listening to the story, this was definitely the biggest thing to push past. Enjoyed the story but found it a challenging listen to embrace.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-01-21
Can I give this book 10 stars?
I read this book with my body as much my mind. The only thing I didn’t like is that it finished.