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I’m sure you have family waiting for you.’ She speaks slowly, as if I am stupid.

Now, follow the signs to pick up your things. You’ve been standing here all this time and your luggage is still at baggage claim. The agent treats her as if she is stupid because she has an accent and struggles to get the English words out: In the opening scene of the novel, Fabiola asks a TSA agent for information about her mother, Valerie Toussaint. This incident leaves Fabiola untethered in a strange country with family that she has only seen on social media.įrom her first interaction in the United States, Zoboi uses the narrative to emphasize Fabiola’s otherness. The agents suspect, correctly, that her mother plans to remain in the country illegally. Her status makes it easy for her to enter the country, but customs agents detain her mother in New York. Although Fabiola has no memories of America, she was born in Detroit, making her a U.S. Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost.In American Street by Ibi Zoboi, the protagonist, Fabiola Toussaint, is a Haitian American teenager traveling to the United States with her mother. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess the grittiness of Detroit's west side a new school and a surprising romance, all on her own. On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie,a good life.īut after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola's mother is detained by U.S. In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture. American Street is an evocative and powerful coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Everything, Everything Bone Gap and All American Boys.