Transcendent Kingdom

It just kept getting better the further I read. And by that I mean more uncomfortable but also more vulnerable, more poignant, and so much more relevant; infinitely so in this moment – September 2020 – when the future of humanity hinges on the votes of semiliterate barbarians. Gyasi writes with much more kindness and compassion and feeling than I ever could, but she has little good to say about the horrors of Southern U.S. religiofanatical culture: the lunatically backfiring idiocy of “abstinence” education and the stigmas of mental illness, the smug hatred it instills in the poor and ignorant, the flagrant hypocrisy. And, tragically, the permanent scarring it leaves even on those of us lucky enough to escape it.

But it's much more than that. It's a beautiful book dealing with growth, addiction, Grit, kindness, trust, loneliness, and The Big Questions of life. The first-person narration infuses it with intimacy and authenticity: I felt all the feels, intensely. I related to the narrator, rooted for her, felt her fear and shame and resolve. And, it's a scientifically literate book! About a nerd! I mean, how much better does it get?