By Yaa Gyasi
This book is about a woman who grows up deeply religious, but through multiple setbacks turns her back on God. As she continues to evolve and mature, she pursues science as her new religion. The plot asks the reader to follow along with her on her journey to combine God and science in her adult life.
Gifty and her brother, Nana, are the first generation in her family to grow up in the United States instead of their home in Ghana. Their parents take them to Alabama, among heated racism and fewer opportunities than those afforded to more metropolitan communities. Her mother, and therefore the family, begin to be devout in their faith, which honors speaking in tongues, being possessed by the holy spirit, and zealotry.
Quickly their father, only referred to as the Chin Chin man, leaves them and returns to Africa. Calls home become less and less frequent as he finds a new wife and creates a different family. Their mother struggles with depression, and has to work many hours to provide for the smaller family now remaining at home. Nana excels at sports, but not at the meager acceptance it garners him in a community that would deem him worthless without this prowess. Gifty’s brother first conquers the soccer field and then the basketball court.
After a critical injury wherein he is prescribed narcotics, Nana drifts into the seductive arms of addiction. He does not return to the basketball court, and then doesn’t come home for days at a time, falling asleep in public parks and alleys after scoring his latest hit. Once he succumbs to overdose, Gifty’s mother’s depression reaches dangerous levels as well.
All of these fuel Gifty’s early maturation, and her pursuit of science. She is getting a PhD in neurological mapping of the gratification centers of the brain in the “present day” portion of the book. Can she marry her past and her present? Science and religion? Intentions and outcomes?
Pros & Cons & Potential Spoilers
Pros
- Very realistic, heart-wrenching descriptions of addiction and depression
- The early relationship between Nana and Gifty is warm and sweet
- Tragedies make Gifty investigate the causes to benefit others
Cons
- Had trouble finding any transcendence – is getting a boyfriend at the end transcendent? I sure hope not
- There is a lack of resolution to quite a few of the themes that are raised
- Not much of an arc – just a constant grind of awfulness it is hard for the reader to get out of or get into