Summary

Washington narrates the next section of the novel from Kai’s perspective. Kai describes his time in Tokyo, where he works with a writer to translate her book. He reflects on the unseen aspects of life and notes that “glass reflects less than 5 percent of the light” (133). He describes the racist confusion that sometimes greets him when he tells people that he, a Black man, works as a Japanese translator.

Kai considers his childhood in a poor area of Baton Rouge. His sister, Bree, suggests that “even with maximum escape velocity, you got pulled back [to Baton Rouge]” (140). Kai attends a state college. When he returns home, his mother tells him that “cooking is care. The act is the care” (141). Bree, who studies in Texas, comes home every weekend. Kai tells Bree that he can no longer return to Baton Rouge. She accuses...