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.

I found it very fitting that the Author's Note begins with "Not everyone sits down to write a book but everyone is a storyteller, in one form or other."

Black Cake is a book that captures the feeling of storytelling. The short chapters, multiple POVs & fast context switching mimic the oral tradition of storytelling, where you're left without all the info sometimes, scratching your head, trying to connect the dots. I felt a sense of anticipation throughout for the next reveal and to see if my theories proved accurate. It was more how everything was going to tie together and the tapestry of life this would present, rather than any particular investment in a character, that kept me reading. I think deep character development was sacrificed for maintaining the mystery and propulsion of the plot, but still the characters all felt incredibly human.

I agree with some of the criticism I saw in the book forum that this book tries to tackle many themes without the space to successfully do so, and some storylines feel shoehorned in. That said, I found the main storyline (uncovering Eleanor's history and understanding the relationships in this family) incredibly compelling--a true embodiment of the layered, full, multi-faceted reality of what it's like growing up in an immigrant family.