Brooklyn

Much of the story takes place in Brooklyn where Sabe and Po'Boy moved after their son Benjamin's death as a child. The home the family occupies in Brooklyn is clearly one of wealth: a brownstone with an "upright piano beneath framed portraits of ancient family members" (76). It is here in which Melody and her family is celebrating her sixteenth birthday, a kind of coming-of-age ceremony. They have a live orchestra playing an instrumental rendition of Prince’s “Darling Nikki" and a slew of food following the ceremony. Afterwards, Malcolm comments on how Melody's family is "bougie as all get-out" (172).

Importantly, the setting of Brooklyn is a backdrop to the drastically different socioeconomic circumstances of Iris and Aubrey's families. While Iris grew up with wealth, Aubrey and his mother lived in poverty, a stark difference which permeated the relationship of the characters. Therefore, although Brooklyn is the home of...