In this story, we meet Emma whose ordinary life is upended when her beloved older brother Austin develops an addiction to opioids. In the midst of her brother’s health issue, Emma is also dealing with a strained friendship with her BFF, Becca from whom she seems to be growing apart. So she is half-relieved when her parents send her off to Wyoming to be with family friends while they get Austin to a rehab facility.
Review | Life in the Balance
Veronica’s life seemed like it was on track until her parents announced that her mom is going to rehab for alcoholism. Her mom who was a softball player when she was young, her mom the lawyer, her mom who was supposed to help her and her friends practice for softball tryouts.
Review | Transcendent Kingdom
Transcendent Kingdom is Yaa Gyasi’s long-awaited sophomore novel. Her debut, Homegoing was widely read and loved. In this book, Gifty is a PhD student whose research focuses on desire and restraint and how both factors play into addiction and depression. The story follows Gifty’s life from her childhood in Huntesville, Alabama to the present, alternating between several timelines. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted athlete, first playing soccer in his childhood, and then basketball in his teens, until a game injury led to a brush with Oxycontin which eventually spiraled into the opoid addiction that took his life.
