In journaling to God, Gifty refers to her as The Black Mamba. However, Gifty's mother's name is never mentioned. Gifty's father is only ever referred to as the Chin Chin Man, a name he earned for the deep-fried snacks made of flour, sugar, milk, and butter that he convinced Gifty's Ghanian grandmother to give him for free. Her story begins before she was born, when her mother and father meet in Ghana. Instead, they are more thoughtfully given to readers to keep us wanting more. The scenes from her past are not in chronological order. Stories from Gifty's past are interspersed with moments from the present day. Gifty, the narrator, is conducting research on mice as a PhD candidate in neuroscience while also tending to and worrying about her depressed mother who rarely gets out of bed. In Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi writes of pain and loss so vividly the reader feels it, as if they are actually experiencing it themselves.
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