Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

This is the 2nd review for today.

Transcendent Kingdom is the Adult level selection for All CT Reads, spearheaded by "our" Kym Powe.  You can read more about this event here: https://sites.google.com/view/allctreads/home

Although this is listed as "adult", I find it absolutely high school/YA appropriate.  

I LOVED this book!  Sunday morning I had a rare house to myself.  My husband and son were out, the laundry was going, and it was drizzly.  I read this in that one morning.  I could not put it down.

Gifty is a PhD candidate at Stanford in California.  Now a quick side note, I just got back from Christmas in California, so many of the places mentioned I recognized. She is experimenting on risk-reward behavior in mice, a cause near to her as her star high school basketball player brother died from an overdose after an injury left him addicted to painkillers.  

We flash back and forth to Gifty's childhood as the very dark daughter of a single mother who immigrated from Ghana in rural Alabama.  Gifty's mother is Christian and finds her place in the church.  Faith is very important to the family.  

As Gifty grows, she finds science to be her calling, which is often in direct challenge to her faith.  Her classmates in undergrad call Christianity a dangerous cult.  On the West Coast, she finds open sexuality at odds with her Southeastern upbringing.  

This really was an amazing examination of the intersections of race, gender, culture, religion, and education.  Just like it is difficult for me to be a pro 2nd Amendment teacher sometimes, Gifty has to decide between sharing about herself or smiling and nodding.

Find this on display soon.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.