hardcover
Published Sept. 2, 2020 by Bond Street Books.
Unsatisfying in that way that means unresolved and complicated, deftly unwhole. Many sharp edges here to trip on as the tensions balance, themes of science and religion and addiction and belief and knowing and honesty and confiding, all these tragic things with holes in the middle.
Can science and God be reconciled? Why are some people prone to addiction? How not to deal with trauma. Struggled to hold my attention or interest.
The juxtaposition of familial trauma and neurosurgery is crystal: sharp and clear. Not an easy read for a number of reasons. My main criticism is that there wasn't much light to break up the dark, but this book is beautifully written and devastating.
tl;dr I wasn't drawn into the central preoccupation with god v science and I just wanted to read a novel about the mom. --Longer: Nothing about the mouse research felt real--she glided through college and grad school in some sort of weird ease, without any depth other than setting her up to do the research that would let her meditate on religion and addiction. She just felt flat. But her mom and her brother--all the details about them hinted at huge rich stories about immigration and fitting in and economic mobility and sports fame. I just wanted to read about those things and not Gifty.
