Essay Questions

Is this novel a true story?

The nature of truth has changed so profoundly since the midpoint of the 2010s that determining whether a book is factually true or non-fiction has become a significant aspect of the reading process. The divergence between fiction and non-fiction is all the most important when it comes to a story that may seem unlikely enough to qualify as fiction merely masquerading as a journalistic account.

The Author’s Note strongly asserts and insists that “no facts have been altered” and the facts have been derived from “thousands of records, hundreds of interviews, and many hours of video and audio recordings.”

What is gentrification?

Most of the story takes place in Brooklyn but mainly in two different eras of American history separated not just by time, but by social change. The present-day tale is set in a Brooklyn that is fundamentally different from the borough occupied by relatives just two generations older than Dasani. The difference is not entirely related to the process of gentrification, but that social evolution does play a significant role.

Gentrification is an urban renewal process marked by the redevelopment of neighborhoods and communities which had fallen into the lower socioeconomic sphere to such a degree that they transform into highly sought-after properties. To boil it down to its simplest but most accurate truth, gentrification is a replacement of low-income residents with much more desirable high-income residents. The big question that those involved strive mightily to avoid having to answer, of course, is what becomes of those former residents who can’t afford to stay where many were born and raised.

What is the “Knockout Game” and how does it enter into Dasani’s inspirational storyline?

The Knockout Game is the term given to a particularly egregious act of senseless violence. The entire object of the “game” is to pick a completely unknown and innocent person at random and sucker-punch them into unconsciousness with just one throw of the fist. One of the more stupid elements of the bit of thuggery is the desire for the attack to be caught on video so that it can be enjoyed over and over again. An attack on Staten Island against an elderly female victim also happens to be caught on a store surveillance camera and the attacker’s face is unusually clear and easily identified. It just so happens to be Dasani’s stepbrother, Khaliq.