Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is where Patricia is born and grows up. It is where she lives for the vast majority of the book, until the final chapters when she really starts to change her life. Patricia describes the area of Atlanta in which she lives as either "the hood" or "the ghetto." Her surroundings and the people who live there are very impoverished. Many family members, friends, and neighbors have substance abuse problems and are engaged in some kind of illegal activity, whether that be running a bootleg liquor business like Patricia's grandfather or deadling drugs like Patricia. The issues in her community are therefore about more than poverty. Patricia's surroundings inform her as a child by providing the only examples she sees of what her adult life could look like, aside from what she sees on television. Much of Patricia's journey throughout the book is not only...