It's that you're bringing it all. You're bringing us.
-- Stela and Fly's Parents (Love Letter)

Importance: In the novel's opening chapter, "Love Letter," Stela and Fly's parents instruct, warn, and advise their children about complex romantic entanglements. They tell their son and daughter that no matter how special the person is with whom they fall in love, they will always be carrying with them the ghosts of their familial past. The parents' words not only establish the novel's primary narrative stakes and tensions, but introduce the author's thematic interests in exploring the relationship between ancestry and identity.

Honest to goodness? I raised you for me.
-- Narrator (Extermination)

Importance: In "Extermination," Fly's mother, Ellenora, uses the first person direct address in order to convey her story to her son. Throughout the chapter, Ellenora speaks with honesty and openness about her difficult relationship with Fly's father, Gary. Her voice is categorized by colloquial language which illustrates the intimacy and attachment she feels...