Age: High School
Culture: Haitian immigrant
First line: "If only I could break the glass separating me and Manman with my thoughts alone."
City: Detroit

I enjoyed all the pieces of this book but, unfortunately, there were so many that I did not love it as a whole. One part that felt lackluster was the detention of Fabiola's manman in New Jersey. Her detention drives Fabiola's bravery throughout the book in order to get Manman released but there is only one phone call between the two. It baffles me that there would be so little communication access or information. Perhaps this is the case, but I wish there was more discussion about it.

I loved the seamless, matter-of-fact inclusion of Fabiola's Vodou religion and Pri's attraction to females. Both Fabiola and Pri are comfortable with this part of their identity and don't spend the book defending it--it's just flavor to the story and their characters. And this is where Zoboi excelled. Her characters where full of dimension and distinction. The love interest, Kasim, felt unique from many male love interests I've read. He was forward and smooth and expressive in his sexual attraction to Fabiola. The relationship was very cat-and-mouse-esk which is off-putting to me but may be appealing to other readers. Although, even giving props to this unique relationship, this was perhaps that which unglued the story and detracted from the other storylines.

All in all, an excellent contribution to fictional immigrant stories--especially from an author who has lived one--with a touch of magical realism through the real-life inclusion of Vodou gods, but I wish the plot wasn't as scatterbrained.