If I Survive You

Description

The book is a “novel-in-stories”—eight interlinked narratives following a Jamaican family who flee political violence in 1970s Kingston for the promised land of Miami. The central figure is Trelawny, the younger son, who is born in the U.S. and spends his life answering the impossible question: “What are you?” Too American for his traditional parents, not “Black enough” for some peers, and confusingly ambiguous to others, Trelawny navigates a life marked by racial suspicion, economic recessions, and the literal devastation of Hurricane Andrew. While his brother Delano attempts ambitious (and often disastrous) business ventures to reclaim his own sense of success, Trelawny survives through a series of increasingly bizarre odd jobs—including answering off-beat Craigslist ads—trying to find a foothold in a country that seems determined to keep him on the outside.