Chapter 2: "Where most children are proof of their parents’ love, I was the proof of their criminality." (27)

Chapter 3: "In Soweto, religion filled the void left by absent men." (39)

Chapter 4: "That, and so many other smaller incidents in my life, made me realize that language, even more than color, defines who you are to people." (56)

Chapter 5: "I was a product of her search for belonging." (63)

Chapter 6: "But after a while the bruises fade, and

they fade for a reason—because now it’s time to get

up to some shit again." (91)

Chapter 7: "You do not own the thing that you love." (100)

Chapter 8: "What I wanted was a relationship, and an interview is not a relationship. Relationships are built in the

silences. You spend time with people, you observe them and interact with them, and you come to know them." (110)

Chapter 9: "He was a colored boy in South Africa, taught how to hate and how to hate himself. Who had bullied him that he needed to bully me? He’d made me feel fear, and to get my revenge I’d unleashed my own hell on his world." (125)

Chapter 10: "Being a man is not what you have, it’s who you are. Being more of a man doesn’t mean your woman has to be less than you.” (127)

Chapter 11: "I was everywhere with everybody, and at the same time I was all by myself." (141)

Chapter 12: "But regret is the thing we should fear most.

Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an

eternal question you will never have the answer to." (143)

Chapter 13: "The white neighborhoods of Johannesburg were built on white fear—fear of black crime, fear of black uprisings and reprisals" (151)

Chapter 14: "It’s the Tower of Babel in South Africa. Every single day." (161)

Chapter 15: "McDonald’s, to me, tasted like America. McDonald’s is America." (189)

Chapter 16: "They’re free, they’ve been taught how to fish, but no one will give them a fishing rod." (208)

Chapter 17: "The world doesn’t love you. If the police get you, the police don’t love you. When I beat you, I’m trying to save you. When they beat you, they’re trying to kill you.” (243)

Chapter 18: "I was angry with my mom. I hated him, but I

blamed her. I saw Abel as a choice she’d made, a choice she was continuing to make." (271)

Chapter 2: Noah describing how having children of mixed race was seen as a crime in apartheid South Africa makes me realize how similar it is to the way Rwanda viewed interracial families, specifically during the Rwandan genocide: In general, during the genocide, families of mixed ethnicity, especially those mixed between Tutsi and Hutu, were among the first victims of violence because they represented a threat to divisive ideologies.

Chapter 3: In this chapter's prelude, Noah explains how South Africa holds onto both Christian views and ancestral practices (e.g., witchcraft, putting curses on one's enemies, casting spells, etc.). In Kenya, many tribes, the Maasai, Samburu, and Turkana tribes being the most prominent, have also continued to keep the original beliefs they had before Christianity was introduced.

Chapter 4: Noah grew up in a household where he had to learn different languages: English, Xhosa, Tswana, Zulu, etc. In Kenya, I was also taught and spoken to in different languages. Teachers at my school mainly taught English, and at home, my mom spoke to me in Swahili and Kinyarwanda.

Chapter 5: As Noah described his mother's rough upbringing and the hard journey she went through to survive, I saw a resemblance in my mother. My mother, although she didn't experience everything Noah's mom went through, survived the Rwandan genocide but had both of her parents killed. Since she was the second oldest, she was responsible for her 6 younger siblings while the sibling who came before her got married off. She had nothing but had to make something out of it. I feel that both Noah and I's mothers showed incredible perseverance and determination, even when everything looked hopeless.

Chapter 6: In this chapter, Noah largely speaks about his misbehavior and naughtiness as a child. In Kinyarwanda, we call misbehaving "kwitwara nabi." My siblings and I were constantly messing around and acting like fools when we were younger, and the most used phrase in my mom's glossary at the time was "mureke kwitwara nabi, ntasoni mufite?" That closely translates to, "stop misbehaving, have you no shame?" In the same way that Noah got hidings when he was being mischievous, my mom also flogged my brothers and me whenever we were up to no good.

Chapter 7: Noah mentions how black cats in South Africa are a symbol of witchcraft. Similarly, black cats in Kenya are associated with witches and evil. They are seen as Satanic. How both countries are wary and distrustful of black cats strikes me as interesting, making me think that there are likely other countries in Africa that also view black cats as vile and wicked.

Chapter 8: Noah speaks on the distance between him and his father, and how his father wasn't very present in his life. My father has also been quite detached from the lives of my mom, siblings, and me. He's not there for us in the way that he should be. There's almost no connection between him and me, and the same goes for my brothers as well. The only difference between me and Noah's fathers is that Noah's father wasn't able to be physically around him due to various circumstances. My dad, on the other hand, is very much physically here, but emotionally, he is not available—a choice he's made without considering our feelings.

Chapter 9: As Noah explores themes of colorism and racism in this chapter, he calls to mind something my mother told me about a mixed-race classmate she had back in Rwanda and the treatment he received. My mom's classmate's mother was Hutu, and his father was Tutsi. Naturally, he was ridiculed, just as Noah was, for having been a mix of two races that were supposed to stay separate.

Chapter 10: Noah explains the heartbreak his childhood crush, Maylene, caused him to experience on Valentine's Day. I believe that, once upon a time, I did to my guy-friend what Maylene did to Noah. It was 8 years ago when I still lived in Kenya, and I had no knowledge of the hurt I might have caused my friend by "dumping" him for another guy.

Chapter 11: Noah found a way to make money by rushing to be the first one in the snack shop every day during break and having people pay him to buy a snack for them since they didn't want to wait in line. His side hustle made me think of the way many kids in middle school used to resell candy they bought from the store at a higher price to make a profit. As tempting as it was, I never tried to resell candy, but I was definitely a customer. I was always the one buying the candy, and it was 100% worth it.

Chapter 12: Noah talks about his acne and how "puberty was not kind to [him]." My older brother, Elie, went through a similar problem that Noah did, where he felt that acne had been holding him back from "unleashing his full potential" and "getting all the girls." Although I must say, Elie's acne wasn't as bad as Noah's "big, pus-filled blackheads and whiteheads."

Chapter 13: Noah begins the prelude to this chapter by explaining how in every nice neighborhood, there's always one family that does not care to tidy up their house or make it look good on the outside. I can relate to that because in my old neighborhood, our next-door neighbor did not give a rat's butt about how his front porch looked like. It was quite a mess and needed a lot of cleaning up, but he would just never do it, so my uncle and I helped him out and offered to clean his porch for free. He accepted, and we got the job done.

Chapter 14: Noah compares South Africa to the Tower of Babel because of South Africa's eleven official languages and "dozens" unofficial languages. After further research, I learned that at least thirty-five languages are spoken in South Africa. As that number sparked my curiosity, I later found out that Kenya has 68 known languages. Once I did some more digging, I discovered that Papua New Guinea has the most languages in the world – over 800. I find these figures to be mind-boggling, because how can there be so many languages in a single country? It's quite remarkable!

Chapter 15: In the prelude, Noah points out the flaws in America and South Africa's educational systems in the way they briefly teach heavy topics such as slavery and apartheid. My social studies teacher in 8th grade, Mrs. Mertz, mentioned something very similar to our class when it was time for Black History Month. She gave us a warning that she wasn't going to sugar-coat anything with us, as we were about to learn things that we were never taught before. She also said that our eyes would truly be opened after the unit was done. It was a very shocking experience that I appreciate very much, as she taught me not to be surface-level and shallow in my understanding of serious moments in history.

Chapter 16: We lived in a fairly safe neighborhood in Kenya, but a few blocks down was what was considered our "slum." The slum was very similar to how Noah described Alex. Alex was one of South Africa's hoods, while Umoja Innacore was one of Kenya's slums. In Umoja Innacore, there were crimes, acts of violence, and menacing individuals. Umoja Innacore is where I witnessed necklacing. For this reason, Alex and Umoja Innacore are very alike in my eyes.

Chapter 17: My mom used to tell my brothers and me that she beat us so that we would be accustomed to it if the rough streets of Kenya ever tried. In this chapter, when Noah's mom told him that if she didn't punish him, the world would punish him even worse, I realized that both Patricia and mom's justifications for beating their children came from a place of love and worry. Both were only doing it so that their children would be prepared for the worst. In a twisted way, I understand their reasoning. I understand that they only want their children to be ready for whatever this harsh world throws at them.

Chapter 18: Noah's portrayal of Tsonga culture being extremely patriarchal in this chapter served as a reminder of the many other patriarchal cultures and norms that remain all over Africa. Patriarchy in Africa is a complex issue with deep historical roots, an issue that contributes to high rates of domestic violence (best exemplified in this chapter through Patricia's experience with Abel) and other forms of gender-based violence. I may be hoping for a lot, but it is my greatest wish to see that by the time I'm old and frail, this toxic ideology will be gone and no longer have a grasp on Africa.

Epistrophe: "So I ran, and she ran [...]" (16)

Parallelism: "Then she took Andrew, curled herself in a ball around him, and leaped out behind me." (16)

Anadiplosis: "She broke out in a huge smile and started laughing. I started laughing, too [...]." (17)

Rule of 3: "Christian karaoke, badass action stories, and violent faith healers —man, I loved church." (8)

Paranthesis: "The girlfriends of the white men in my mom’s block of flats had every reason to report a black woman—a prostitute, no doubt—living among them." (25)

Anaphora: " 'Why? Why didn't we just leave? Why didn't we go to Switzerland?" (31)

Asyndeton: "My tiny old gran was out the gate, going up and down the block, calling to all the other old grannies for an emergency prayer meeting." (46)

Polysyndeton: "The grannies were chanting and murmuring and swaying back and forth, speaking in tongues." (46)

Alliteration: "Teddy and Trevor, thick as thieves." (153)

Parallelism: "We reached in, grabbed a few, drank the liquor

inside, and then gobbled down the chocolates." (154)

Asyndeton: "Reach in, grab a chocolate, drink the rum. Reach in, grab a chocolate, drink the brandy." (154)

Polysyndeton: "They chased and chased and we ran and ran, and it was awesome." (155)

Anaphora: "Me and Teddy reaching through the

gate. Me and Teddy racing for the door." (158)