With a writing style alive with the rhythms and riffs of jazz, Jeffries deftly examines the questions of identity, race and family in a provocative, moving and often hilarious memoir. Too light to be black, too dark to be white, finding a place in race-conscious American society as the son of a black father and Jewish mother was a challenging journey for the author. Following a different path to his more wayward siblings, he discovers conflicts within himself that have as much to do with Kafka as with Ellison. The truth he learns - you must create yourself.