It’s meant to show that English is new to him, but the use of broken language for thoughts inside his head is sharply belittling, precludes nuanced characterization, and is also incongruent with the use of standard English for his parents’ dialogue, also presumably “translated” from Romanian for readers’ benefit. Nicu, who’s Roma and brown-skinned, narrates in an unrealistic and dehumanizing broken English (“Her touching help peace my mental / and my body”).
Jess, who’s white, narrates in standard English with touches of vernacular to convey her class. In alternating chapters, they each narrate in first-person free verse. The two underdogs meet in a community service program for kids caught stealing and share a mild romance born of desperation. Jess has always lived in North London, trapped by a stepfather who beats her mother and makes Jess record it on his phone. He and his parents came from Romania because now that Nicu is a grown man at age 15, his father must earn money to pay for an arranged bride for Nicu back in Romania (against Nicu’s wishes). Nicu arrived in “London North” only a month ago.
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