Summary

Set in the 1950’s and 60’s, this novel explores America’s history of racial tension and/or conflict from the perspective of a “colored” family obsessed with passing as white (“colored” being the term used, at the time, by both African-Americans and whites). As the narrative explores tensions between those who have successfully “passed” and the young girl whose darkness of skin threatens to undo decades of careful (and mostly successful) lies, it also explores issues related to the relationships between mothers and daughters, and to the relationships between people and their self-images.

Chapter 1 – In first person narration, protagonist Boy Novak (a 15-yearold girl) describes her unhappy home life, which includes a violently abusive father (whom she nicknames the Rat-Catcher because of his job) and a long-absent mother. She narrates her sudden departure from home, during which she takes her one...