Roots

**Roots** is a rooftop farm in New York that Shavir works and lives at. The building of the farm also houses the underground scheme of dog raider activists that Shavir is a part of.

## General Information

Roots is located in Brooklyn, New York1. The project was originally started by Judy, the main ruler of Roots, and some of her friends, collectively called the West Street Project. After seeking shelter in the building after the Global Supply Crisis, the team made a deal that allowed the building to be a permanent shelter for them. Along with making the building legally inhabitable in their cubicles, the West Street Project were able to build a farming system2.

The rooftop garden system spans several building rooftops, all connected by wooden bridges3. One of the gardens, named Prince Gardens4, is where the Roots workers often take refuge after working hard at the other gardens. The farm often runs into trouble due to the climate crises that affect it, such as high temperatures and the hailstorm that destroyed much of their harvest toward the end of the novel5. The farm utilizes various technology to help grow their vegetables through the tumultuous climate, such as headlamps and special foil6.

The farm partners with Soma, the coffee shop that Shavir works at, to provide vegetables for their sandwiches7.

## People

**Judy** — The main leader of the Roots building operation. She allows Shavir and the rest of the team to use the basement of the building as a base for their dog raiding operations, though she voices her concerns about it and asks about finding a new base often8. Shavir was fond of her but also called her "the only person [she] knew who matched her mother's ability to make her feel bad"9.

**Tara** — A member of Roots, twenty-six years old and of South Asian descent10. She and her parents came from Kolkata, India after a devastating flood in 204511 and lived temporarily in a Texas refugee camp, where her mother died and only she and her father Dipak survived12. In Kolkata is where she grew her affinity for animals13, and she is portrayed throughout the novel as someone who takes a lot of risks because of how much she cares for the dogs. She has a close relationship to Lenny, another member of Roots who acts like a father figure to her, as well as Shavir. She knew Lenny and Shavir before the Global Supply Crisis and was part of the team that conducted the first dog raid14.

**Lenny** - A member of Roots. An older member of the group, Lenny is characterized as a realistic thinker and also as a second father figure to Tara. He was a professor at a community college who lost tenure due to his candid honesty toward others about their poor thoughts and actions; he is also the person who inspired the dog raiding operation15. He is described to have dreads and a baritone voice16.

**Finn Larsen** — A Roots sponsor17, an urban landscape architect18, and Shavir's ex. Finn is the son of a famous architect and helps out with Roots and the dog raids on his own time. He is especially helpful to the team because he owns a big enough car and has money to help out in dire situations, such as when Tara needed to get bailed out of jail19.

**Zeno Randers** — A veterinary technician from Bloomsbury Veterinary Clinic20. Zeno helps the underground dog raiding scheme by chipping each dog they receive to make them seem as if they were legally owned21, and he helps to verify one of the dogs when Tara and Shavir are caught in a police altercation22.

**Nacho** — A part of Roots and an original member of the West Street Project. His backstory is unknown, but in the current timeline he is a "dedicated farmer and activist" who also helps with the dog raids23.

**Troy** — A member of Roots who also works as a bartender at Buddha's Kitchen, a vegan restaurant in SoHo24. He is twenty-two years old, new to the Roots team, and implied to be from an upper middle class background, having grown up in Manhattan25. According to Shavir, he benefits the Roots team with his good raid-target-scouting skills and "deadpan attitude"26.

**Simon** — A member of the dog raiding team that helped receive the dogs when they were delivered to new owners27.

## Footnotes

1. Weik von Mossner, 13.
2. Weik von Mossner, 51.
3. Weik von Mossner, 110.
4. Weik von Mossner, 109.
5. Weik von Mossner, 259.
6. Weik von Mossner, 49, 186.
7. Weik von Mossner, 12.
8. Weik von Mossner, 49.
9. Weik von Mossner, 49.
10. Weik von Mossner, 57.
11. Weik von Mossner, 207.
12. Weik von Mossner, 57.
13. Weik von Mossner, 57.
14. Weik von Mossner, 58.
15. Weik von Mossner, 58.
16. Weik von Mossner, 160.
17. Weik von Mossner, 114.
18. Weik von Mossner, 28.
19. Weik von Mossner, 96.
20. Weik von Mossner, 65, 153.
21. Weik von Mossner, 55.
22. Weik von Mossner, 65.
23. Weik von Mossner, 51.
24. Weik von Mossner, 52.
25. Weik von Mossner, 52.
26. Weik von Mossner, 52.
27. Weik von Mossner, 91.