Honestly, I didn’t know how and where to start with a review for this book. It is a hard, realistic and grueling story. So, it is not the kind of book you read, to find a happy end, or to laugh while reading. On the contrary, it is the kind of book you read to realize again and again, how much unfair and hard our human world is. And therefore, I find reviews are always more demanding, but I will try it anyway.
The book’s main character, Gifty, is studying Neurosciences in Standford and the story switches from moments in the lab with her test mices, back to scenes in her family and inner reflections about religion and science. And even though Gifty seems to have some sort of stability thanks to her career in her live, everything else seems to be struggle.
Struggles of a daughter, who is scientist, to understand the values and religious heritage of her deeply depressed mother, as well as her own.
Struggles for a family from Ghana to find their marks in the US, but constantly feeling the rassict pressure to be blazingly brilliant to prove they can build a better life.
Struggles to actually be able to pay enough food for the ever hungry kids.
Struggles to cope with the loss of a family member due to addiction and the wish to scientifically find out what the reasons where.
And in the end it is also about the struggle to find answers to even bigger questions, such as what’s the point of all this is, the differences between humans and animals and the intersection on religion and science.
Even though the story is hard, the book is well written, the language nice to read and the story conveys a lot of important things each and every reader should think about.
