Benji is the narrator of the novel, and in some ways, a stand-in for the author, Colson Whitehead, who also grew up in Manhattan and spent his summers in Sag Harbor. While Benji doesn’t show evidence of becoming a future writer, he is a sharp observer of the world around him, describing his Manhattan and Sag Harbor homes in powerful and often humorous ways. He also has a strong desire to classify the world into understandable categories as he seeks to figure out his place in the world.

At Sag Harbor, he sees the generations in their annual traditions—the children, the teens, the adults, the grandparents—and he wonders what sort of adult he will become. As a 15-year-old, he straddles the border between child and adult, and he looks at the world around him for suitable, authentic models of how to be in the world. He has a strong desire to transform from his insecure, passive, invisible self into a cooler, more assertive, more popular version like his sister did. He sees himself as a work in progress and is always watching others to learn ways to act in the world:

And me? Keeping my eyes open, gathering data, more and more facts, because if I had enough information I might know how to be.