Gifty's work at Stanford involved experimenting on mice as she sought to isolate the neurons in the brain responsible for addictive behavior. Gifty's mother found a sense of belonging and community at Pastor John's church, First Assemblies of God. They married and had a child, Gifty's brother Nana, then emigrated to the U.S., settling in Huntsville. Gifty's mother called him “The Chin Chin Man” because the Ghanaian snack chin chin was his favorite food. When she arrived, she did not speak or eat she went straight to Gifty's bed. Gifty asked him to send her to California. Pastor John believed Gifty's mother was mentally unwell again. In the present, Gifty received a call from Pastor John, the leader of her mother's church back in Gifty's hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. She had been sent there by her mother, who was undergoing a mental health crisis at the time. The novel begins with the narrator Gifty, a 28-year-old neuroscientist pursuing her PhD at Stanford University, recalling a visit to Ghana when she was 11 years old. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Gyasi, Yaa.
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