The Narrator

The first-person narrator is six-years-old at the novel’s outset, and he gradually ages into his teen years as the plot progresses. He goes unnamed for the entirety of the novel, and as the work is semi-autobiographical, it is implied that his point of view is based in large part on the author Justin Torres’ own childhood perspective. When the narrator is first introduced, he shares an extremely close bond with his two older brothers, Manny and Joel. Their perspectives of the world are so closely linked that the novel’s first several chapters are written in a collective first-person “we,” rather than the more conventional singular first-person that the narrator adopts later. Despite their experiences of their community’s racism, parental neglect, and even severe abuse, they manage to survive their childhood trauma by relying on one another.

The narrator is introduced at what is revealed...