The premise of the story surrounds the life of a Bahamian-born, Haitian man who is trying to come to terms with his identity, as he has lived the U.S. and schooled in the U.S. for a great part of his life. Truly, the story is a story about trying to find one's own identity when that identity is stretched between three very different countries.

This book was pretty interesting and something that I was able to relate with personally. As a Mexican-American, I constantly straddle both worlds and understand completely the struggle to find an identity when nowhere feels quite like "home." The author seemed to be saying that by not having a "home" anywhere between these countries and instead needing to find home within oneself. I enjoyed his narrative integrating race and racism between the countries he's lived and the countries that all are a part of him. I enjoyed the story and I learned a great deal about Haitian culture, and more about the devastating natural disaster that hit them not all-too-long ago. I think that this story would perhaps make a good film, as I would love to see Haiti as the author had seen it as a boy. However, I did find quite a great deal of the story very-repetitive and the writing was not as strong as I would have liked.

Does the country we grow up in define our identity? How much does our heritage shape us and what's the influence of the country we now live in? Will immigrants always be "the other" or is it ever possible to fit in? And at the some time maintain ones own cultural identity? These are questions all immigrants can relate to.

Besides his individual story the author tells us about Haiti, the difficult immigration process and racism in the USA, even blacks against blacks, being poor and the value of education.