This book delighted and surprised me. Several times I thought I knew what it was about or where it was going, and then it would take a turn and head somewhere else entirely. Also it is #ownvoices af. The references are so specific to the author’s own life and communities that probably very few people would fully get all of them, but that is part of the whole experience of this novel in my opinion. Parts of it are even written in second person, with the protagonist(s) referred to as “you,” so it’s like there is an intimacy between writer and subject that doesn’t require explanations or translations, and we as the readers just get to be along for the ride. Like Junot Diaz, but without the footnotes, and more heart.