Gifty, the first-person narrator, was born in the U.S. after
her parents and older brother, Nana, moved to Huntsville, Alabama. Gifty’s mother battles depression, and her
brother becomes addicted to opioids after an ankle injury. His promising future as a basketball star
never materializes, as his recidivism drives Gifty to wish for his death, which
finally comes after his umpteenth relapse.
The introverted Gifty studies neuroscience at Harvard and then does
post-doc work at Stanford. For me, her
research on reward-restraint behavior in mice is fascinating, especially given
that her mission is to find a cure for drug addiction, years after her brother
has died of an overdose. Some mice
become addicted to Ensure, even after she applies an electric shock randomly
when they press the lever to release the Ensure. Ensure would seem to be a
relatively harmless addiction, but this book underscores how over-consumption
of almost anything is unhealthy if the consequences are sufficiently dangerous. A happy story this is not; it is an addiction
story wrapped in an immigration story, with lots of other themes, including
guilt, blame, hypocrisy, and loss of faith.
The author has a fluid writing style that helps ease the pain, and we
read on with the hope that Gifty, who has already overcome seemingly
insurmountable obstacles, will be able to soar in her personal—and
scientific—endeavors.
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