I was immediately hooked after chapter 1 and waiting, begging for this book to continue delivering...but it never quite got there by the end. Mostly, I felt frustration in the second half, and I do think the author intended that, so it was successful?

I do have major appreciation for the innovation here. Truly a book that resists classification into any genre.

Bonus points for the wonderful audiobook narrator, Fiona Button, a British actress that I loved having in my ear as I walked around London for a week.

I vaguely remember reading this book after the powerhouse epic of Homegoing, but clearly no details because in this re-read, I was surprised to find that Transcendent Kingdom is actually a quiet novel. Gyasi is an incredible writer, and my favorite chapters were the excerpts from Gifty's childhood diary. Those sections about her brother and his decline into addiction were truly immersive (like the film Beautiful Boy if it was told from the perspective of a sibling).

Much of the novel has Gifty grappling with her faith. In these sections, I wasn't really able to understand/live in her mind. Gifty's main trait as an adult character is her self-reflection and analytical thinking. As a result, she felt a bit hollow, more like a conduit to explore and reflect on big ideas about religion and science than a fully realized being with messy human emotions. As someone who is not familiar with religion myself, I needed more of a foothold/investment in Gifty as a character to care.

A lot of other interesting themes here around inherited trauma, mental illness, and the immigrant experience, but it's a short book at ~270 pages, and these became secondary to the overarching question of religion.