“There shouldn’t be any monsters left in Lucille. The city used to have them, of course—what city didn’t? They used to be everywhere, thick in the air and offices, in the streets and in people’s own homes. They used to be the police and teachers and judges and even the mayor; yeah, the mayor used to be a monster.”

Opening the novel, this quote foreshadows the narrative elements of the text. Things are not as they seem, and Emezi openly alludes to the illusion of safety in Lucille, while also condemning the corruption of people in positions of power in current events. Emezi also foreshadows the eventual reveal of the monster in Lucille.

“Bitter knew her name was heavy, but she hadn’t minded, because it was honest. That was something she’d taught Jam—that a lot of things were manageable as long as they were honest […] But Jam trusted her mother for those brutal truths, and that’s why home was the first place she brought the books with the angels in them.”

Bitter is her mother’s daughter, named for the circumstances of her birth. The truth is bittersweet, and so is the tone of Emezi’s novel. Bitter’s daughter being named Jam speaks to this coupling of unpleasantness with pleasure.

“Her mother focused on her, cupping her cheek in a chalky hand. ‘Monsters don’t look like anything, doux-doux. That’s the whole point. That’s the whole problem.’”

Bitter’s quote sets up the entire premise of Emezi’s novel. In the text, it is almost impossible for people to tell monsters and non-monsters apart. Later, Jam will learn that the only way to determine who is a monster is to see what she does not want to see. Jam learns to spot the signs of monstrous actions and eventually finds the culprit responsible for them.