Gifty
She is the second born after her brother Nana and was born in America. She is a Ph.D. student studying the neuroscience of addiction and depression. She is caring as seen when she takes in her mother to nurse her back to health. She lives in America after her mother won the green card lottery and moved from Ghana. Her brother dies from addiction while her mother suffers from addiction which makes Gifty avoid sex, alcohol, and drugs. She claims that she is studying neuroscience because it is difficult but the real reason is that she wants to discover what is affecting their family and how she can stop it. Their father deserted them and went back to Ghana. Her childhood traumas make her avoid intimacy with people not only at school but also in the lab. She convinces herself that she does not need anyone. Her faith in God withers after her brother dies and her mother suffers from depression. She felt like God had abandoned her. At the end of the book, she is seen to have worked through her fears of getting intimate by dating Han.
Nana
Nana is Gifty’s elder brother whom she adores so much. He was born in Ghana after her mother had prayed and fasted for a baby for so long. He was lovable as a kid with everyone giving him gifts as he was known to be lively and fun. At ten years old, he was already taller than all his agemates and his father encouraged him to play soccer. He sustains serious injuries during one of his soccer games and that marks the start of his addiction. He becomes addicted to the drugs he was given during his period of recuperation. He is a good brother who always protected Gifty from hearing their parents fight and any other thing that would hurt her. His father leaving back to Ghana accelerated his use of drugs to deal with the situation. He moves in and out of rehab a few times before he dies from a heroin overdose. His death causes his mother’s depression and his sister loses touch with the outside world.
Mother
She was born in Ghana and raised in the ways of God through the Pentecostal Church. She does not get married early because she was waiting for God’s time. She marries the Chin Chin man whom she believes was the one God had made for her. Together they perceive two children Nana and Gifty but she adored Nana the most. She went to America by winning the green card lottery visa that gave her permanent residence. She wanted a bright future for her children and therefore migrated from Ghana. She works as a health aide for homes while in America. At some point, her husband abandons her and goes back to Ghana leaving her to take care of the children alone. Her first child, Nana dies from drug addiction and this marks the beginning of her depression. Gifty takes her in, to nurse and brings her back to good health.
The Chin Chin man
He is the father of Gifty and Nana. His name was given to him by their grandmother for he always bought Achomo from her. He joins the Pentecostal church after marrying Gifty’s mother. He agreed to move to America at his wife’s request but on getting there, their problems started. He resented America for how he was discriminated against for being black and would not get jobs because of his race. Eventually, he returns to Ghana abandoning his family in America. He represents all Africans who immigrated to America and never had a breakthrough. He later tries to reconnect with Gifty but fails terribly as he does not know where to start.
Han
He is Gifty’s lab partner at Stanford University where he was researching the reward expectation when imaging is done on the neural circuits. He was a shy person at first and felt uncomfortable whenever Gifty would push the conversation further. Through their interactions in the lab, Han became a bit open and even invited Gifty to a house party at his place. He was so passionate about the future of science fiction and could talk about it for so long. He was a workaholic to the point of sometimes spending the night in the lab. Han had gotten his work published marking almost the end of his study when he asked Gifty out for dinner. He also helped Gifty get over her mother’s death and he is seen to be in a stable relationship with Gifty at the end of the book.
