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A major dynamic in the novel is the general Caribbean immigrant experience of longing for home, coupled with the realization that one might never be able to return to one’s home country as it was due to factors far beyond control and the need to pursue economic opportunity. Interestingly, the novel does not only explore the experience of Caribbean immigrants who travel to the United States to establish their lives, but also the long history of Asian immigrants to the Caribbean islands and their struggles to feel at home in a new land, generations past the initial immigration journey.

The entire premise of the novel is focused on the characters’ quest to find an understanding of Benny and Byron’s mother’s sense of home and the re-creation of their fractured family bonds. As she tells her story on the audio tape, the siblings’ family...