Yaa Gyasi

Deeply compelling novel that begins with two sisters in what is now Ghana in the eighteenth century. One is captured, transported across the Atlantic, and sold into slavery. The other marries a British colonial official, and remains in Africa. The novel traces the lives of their descendants up to the present, telling powerful stories and creating compelling characters. The parts that take place in Africa were fascinating to me, because I know so little about it. The parts that take place in the US were emotionally devastating.… (altro)

TW: death, trauma, racism, addiction, mental ill health

This is an excellent and almost unremittingly painful read. The POV character is the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants to Alabama, where she grows up in the only black family in her church. She is working on her PhD in neuro-science as the book moves back and forth in time, largely (entirely? I can’t recall and I read the audiobook so can’t check) through the writing, or rereading, of her journal. Transcendent Kingdom deals with the strains of immigration, racism, evangelical Christianity, family breakup, relationships, mental ill health, drug addiction, overdose, and death. The experiments the protagonist is doing require surgery and implants into the brain’s of mice.

Transcendent Kingdom is very good, but be sure you are up for it, because there are not a lot of breaks from the depth of sorrow the book conveys. Perhaps it would not have as harsh an effect on people who have not been affected by any of these things in their own lives, or who have more slack around them than I currently do. I read the book because it deals with sibling death, and I lost my brother a couple of years ago. His health was impacted by his own addictions which, combined, led to his early death, and I believe that everyone in my family struggles with the effects of generational trauma. So although my story is not the same, it is similar enough, and close enough still, to make this a very hard book to read.… (altro)

From the 1700s until the present day, the slave trade has poisoned American and Ghanian society and all involved.

"When someone does wring...it is like a fisherman casting a net into the water. He keeps only one or two fishtail he needs to
feed himself and puts the rest in the water, thinking that their lives will go back to normal. No one forgets that they were once captive, even if they are now free." (p. 242)

For Maame' descendants, the consequences reverberate over generations filled with loss and grief, and remembering is painful:
"Hell was a place of remembering each beautiful moment passed through the mind's eye until it fell to the ground like a rotten mango, perfectly useless, uselessly perfect. " (p.28)
Each chapter combines a personal vignette with historical context...most living their lives"the way most people lived their lives, on upper levels, not stopping to peer underneath. "...characters affected by historic as well as contemporaneous events.

After reading this novel, readers will hopefully remember this important message:
"Now we come upon the problem of conflicting stories...Whose story do we believe, then? ...We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, 'Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? (p. 226)… (altro)