"Transcendent Kingdom," by Yaa Gyasi

I know I should like, am even supposed to like, the novel “Transcendent Kingdom” (Knopf, 2020), by Yaa Gyasi, author of the best-selling “Homecoming.” I could see that it was well-written and engaged with important themes. It got excellent reviews (although in one or two cases, with slight reservations) from excellent reviewers and publications. But I struggled to finish the book. (I did finish it, but it took a while.) Usually I am interested in themes of race, immigration, family, mother-daughter relationships, education, and the ravages of heavy-duty drugs, all of which this novel addresses. The characters are well-drawn, especially the main character, Gifty, who is also the narrator. Gifty’s family has immigrated to the U.S. from Ghana. Her father returned to Ghana, her mother has psychological problems, and her talented but troubled brother is lost to a terrible fate. Gifty feels, then, that she has to be the successful one. She is studying for a PhD at Stanford, has published and done well in her field, and is devoted to her work with lab mice, hoping to discover what causes addiction and depression. And this, although obviously important work, is where the novel kept losing my attention; there was too much extended exposition about neuroscience for my taste. This is probably a shortcoming on my part, but there it is. I did like the powerful and poignant parts about the family dynamics. Gyasi is obviously a talented writer, and has hit a nerve with her two novels. I will continue to follow her literary progress with interest.