A neighborhood boy they knew named Anton was killed in front of them. One night, while walking around their housing complex, Michael and Francis witnessed a fight that escalated into a shooting. During this period Francis's relationship with his mother became increasingly strained. Francis was popular, he gained a reputation in the neighborhood and he looked out for Michael, who was awkward and often targeted by bullies. They were suspected of being thieves or thugs, and they were funneled into basic academic programs in school that were meant to push them out. As they got older, they began to realize that they needed to navigate society carefully as young black men. While their mother was away, Michael and Francis would explore Scarborough-a neighborhood densely packed with immigrants and people of color-and the Rouge Valley, a lush park that cuts through their neighborhood. Her exhausting schedule meant that they were often left home alone. Their mother worked multiple cleaning jobs and commuted all over the city to try to provide for them. They were both born in Toronto to Trinidadian immigrant parents, but their father left when they were young.

The novel then switches to the past tense and lays out the history and context of Michael and Francis's lives.

Michael still lives in his childhood home with his mother, and it is quickly clear that Francis is gone and neither Michael nor his mother have moved on. After a decade away, Aisha returns to The Park-a housing complex where she and Michael grew up in the impoverished Scarborough district of Toronto-to grieve her recently deceased father. After a brief prologue where Michael and Francis climb a utility pole and speak about memory as a survival tactic, the novel opens in the present with the arrival of Aisha. The narrative often makes sudden shifts between the present and various storylines in the past. Each chapter is further broken up into unmarked sections that move through time in a nested structure of memory that lays out Michael's relationship with and loss of Francis. New York: Bloomsbury, 2018.ĭavid Chariandy's novel is narrated in the first-person by Michael, who has lost his older brother, Francis, and now cares for his heartbroken mother.

The following version of this book was used to make the guide: Chariandy, David.

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