Niru Ikemadu

The protagonist of the novel, Niru is the 18-year-old son of successful Nigerian immigrants and a person struggling to reconcile being gay with the values of his father, who rejects him because he is gay. Much of the tension in the novel derives from the conflict between the values Niru has learned from his father and those he has learned as a Nigerian-American.

As a self-made man, Obi values appearance, success, connection to Nigeria, and doing the right thing. These values have served him well since he left Nigeria. Niru, on the other hand, is the beneficiary of his father's success and thus interprets those values differently or even rejects them. As a young man coming of age, Niru believes in the importance of appearances and success, but focuses on these values in terms of fitting in with his peers. Although Niru understands the significance of Nigeria...