The world is vast and far apart, until someone else decides on you and chooses how your life will be. Not by coercion or begging, by surprise and putting you under de facto authority.
In Jerma al-Turjuman's novel, the vast world is a narrow room, and each wall and corner of its corners is a different color from the other. A constant dreadful anticipation of the next moment, and an unknown is coming without good news, but hope.