Point of View

The novel is narrated in first-person past by the protagonist, Kiki. Kiki is intellectual with Nigerian roots and is deeply invested in pop culture and romance. The combination of Kiki’s interests and culture all add up to make Kiki’s perspective and voice very unique and interesting. When Kiki first meets Malikai, for example, she watches him smile at another girl and notes: “He smiled at her. It was interesting. Objectively, as a scientist (fuckboiologist and mandemologist), it was different from the smile he gave me. The smile he gave her was mainstream, pop, radio-friendly. The smile he’d given me was the single released after an artist had established themselves, found their voice, could speak directly to their target audience. The smile he’d given me had more R&B to it” (10). Here, we see that Kiki’s unique perspective creates an interesting...