“Distance lends perspective, but it can also shade, misinterpret.”

The book begins with an aerial view of the lot where Broom’s childhood home was. By stepping away, we gain greater context. Broom does this when she moves to Burundi in an attempt to situate her family’s displacement and migration into a more global context. However, ultimately Broom only finds the answers she seeks when she returns home. 

“Fixed details were important to stories, Amelia knew, even if you couldn’t prove them.” 

Broom is concerned with evidence. However, she knows that traditional forms of evidence often do not document histories like her family’s. Oral history is prominent source material for Broom’s memoir. Broom alludes to the reality that all of these details may not be accurate, but that the specifics are sometimes less important than the overall narrative. Amelia, for example, fills in the gaps in her own history.

“The past played tricks, Lolo knew. The present was a created thing.” 

Memory is complicated and history is rarely simple. Amelia’s mother dies in childbirth and parts of her past are unknown to her. However, Amelia also knows that she has control over her own present. However, as Amelia also discovers when she tries to move to Chicago, the past has a way of influencing our present.