CTF writes about the 2016 presidential election, "I had lost my country, and I was not interested in finding it again." I felt and feel this. There is nothing redeemable about the U.S. empire. It's one of the reasons my focus has shifted to the local and to things within my control.

Chapter 1 starts to untangle the idea of DC as a "placeless" city to those who live outside its borders while also being a city where Black Americans are "advocating for full and equal citizenship." What does it mean to live in a city that "belongs to the nation but not to itself?"

"Washington is understood to be a city, yes, but it is more so the capital, the place that represents and contains every other place, and therefore has no particular locality or regionality unto itself. Washington, D.C., is the nation's geographic void."

"When Netanyahu and Trump were elected I thought those were good days, because the truth had come to light. But it seemed not only that the truth was ugly, but also that ugly was beautiful. The people adore the monster, the rich want to look poor." (42)

"America looked gloomier to me than in the pictures. There were crackheads on the streets and cokeheads in the high-rises. And there was what America had done abroad, in Vietnam, in Guatemala, and especially to my people. That makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, how could the devil be the dream?" (23).

The first 3/4 went at a steady pace and towards the end I couldn't put it down. The ending felt a little too convenient. The characters were complex and multi-dimensional, both lovable and frustrating. Wish some of the secondary characters were more fleshed out.

The writing was beautifully descriptive, though the pacing felt uneven in a few places. The ending didn't have the "oomph" I expected, though I appreciate it's challenging to write a prequel to a story we already know the ending to.