What personal setup is unique about this story?
Set in the vibrant, exciting backdrop of Harlem, Ricki feels like an outsider in her family, never quite fitting in or meeting their expectations, while Ezra's past is a long and painful journey that takes him from one heartbreak to the next. Ezra is preoccupied with the idea of legacy; and later, so is Ricki. On this backdrop evolves a powerful love story.
Does Ricki succumb to the idea that Black culture is given value when it's sanctioned by white people?
Despite almost one hundred years of gap between Breeze's 1927 interview with Olive Randall and Ricki's 2024 interview with Clementine Rhodes, the two journalists kind of imply the same idea, but Ricki pushes back on this fiercely in more than one way, citing examples from her own life.