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frizabell's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jenfantoni's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. From the beautiful cover, the moving story, and the intelligent prose, I found myself enchanted from the very beginning.
missmash's review against another edition
4.0
If I could have stopped going to the First Assemblies altogether, I would have. Every time I thought I might, I would picture my mother up there at the altar, twirling and falling, singing with praise, and I knew that if I didn’t go to our church with her, she would simply go alone. That she would simply be alone. The last person on Earth who still believed that God might heal her son, and I couldn’t imagine anything lonelier than that.
ylbirda's review against another edition
3.0
I stumbled upon this book through the #ReadWithJenna book club.
I read that joining a book club would be good to improve thinking and logical skills, to discover something new.
So yeah, this was really new to me. I rarely read current literature, lately I've gotten more and more into factual literature, so this really was something different.
The flow of the book was nice, even though there were some parts around the middle which slightly dragged. The end felt somewhat too rushed, there could've been a lot more - especially in the way how Gifty overcome all her problems - or if she did at all.
It was a very interesting combination of themes which I don't read very often about. I think the religious part stuck the most with me, as it maintained it's position through out the book.
I read that joining a book club would be good to improve thinking and logical skills, to discover something new.
So yeah, this was really new to me. I rarely read current literature, lately I've gotten more and more into factual literature, so this really was something different.
The flow of the book was nice, even though there were some parts around the middle which slightly dragged. The end felt somewhat too rushed, there could've been a lot more - especially in the way how Gifty overcome all her problems - or if she did at all.
It was a very interesting combination of themes which I don't read very often about. I think the religious part stuck the most with me, as it maintained it's position through out the book.
snigdha1's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
cosireads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
xannyyylove's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
justine014's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mariab27's review against another edition
3.0
This novel left me with a quiet feeling of sadness and awe. The throughlines of religion, family, death, addiction, and grief were compelling. However, I found it difficult to differentiate among Gifty's various selves, from childhood to adolescence to college to adulthood. This made the novel feel somewhat choppy, hence the 3 stars.
yars_reading_corner's review against another edition
2.0
This is a wonderful book written about addiction and the problems of a Ghanaian family that live in the US and have experienced discrimination and hate both from the black and non-black communities, and the reasons behind addiction. It's a book that feels like two in one since there is a part of it that is about the life of female scientist and also her memoir that have led her to choose the field that she is doing her experiments on.
There should be a trigger warning for trauma and addiction and familial issues but what I really loved the details that went into this book is the fact that it was written based on one trip to a lab and it also shows the entity one has to suppress as a scientist when experimenting on animals because there's no room for compassion when you are trying for "the greater good". And also, there were some passages that were written in Twi which is spoken by a large population of Ghanaians.
There should be a trigger warning for trauma and addiction and familial issues but what I really loved the details that went into this book is the fact that it was written based on one trip to a lab and it also shows the entity one has to suppress as a scientist when experimenting on animals because there's no room for compassion when you are trying for "the greater good". And also, there were some passages that were written in Twi which is spoken by a large population of Ghanaians.