Summary

At the beginning of the novel, the protagonist describes a dream in which the world fractures “like/a thousand puzzle pieces/that just don’t fit together/anymore” (8). Afterwards, the only reliable things in in his life are music and Chapel. Chapel is his girlfriend and the daughter of a reverend. She practices abstinence and hides her romantic relationship with the protagonist from her disapproving parents.

The protagonist proceeds to introduce his family before finally identifying himself as Blade in the fourth poem of Solo. Blade reveals that his father named Rutherford is a former rock star who now suffers from crippling drug addiction. He even once unintentionally allowed Blade to ingest cocaine during a party where he was too distracted and inebriated to intervene. According to Blade, Rutherford grew dependent on illicit substances following the unexpected death of his wife named Sunny. She...