The story's main character is Trelawny, an American-born son of immigrants who grapples with identity, familial and cultural issues through various phases of adolescence and adulthood.

The main character is Trelawny, the young son of Topper and Sanya; they moved to Miami in the 1970s in search of stability after political violence erupted in their hometown of Kingston, Jamaica.

The parents struggle to build a home and find meaning in their new circumstances, faced with long-standing systemic inequities in America, and a feeling of living outside the mainstream.

Much of the book is delivered from Trelawny's perspective, with stories following his coming of age, his turbulent relationship with his father, as well as his struggle to belong in any one place and with any one community.

He begins to take on odd gigs, answering off-beat Craigslist ads, and eventually landing himself a job at a building management office of a Miami Beach apartment complex.

[10] In a universally positive review, Katy Waldman at The New Yorker said that Escoffery's "fiction is marked by ingenuity [...] The book feels thrillingly free".

[11] NPR's Maureen Corrigan felt that the ending of one of the short stories, "Splashdown", and its sink or swim spirit favorably compared to the classic novel Moby-Dick.

"[13] The Guardian's reviewer Ian Williams agreed, and praised the unusual use of second person to cement the "estrangement Trelawny feels from himself" and for the sense of empathy it fostered between the reader and main character.

"[5] In a measured article for The New York Times Book Review, Andrew Martin also applauded Escoffery's "disarming" and "irreverent" humor, along with his ability to make him empathize with the main characters.

However, Martin critiqued Escoffery's pacing, saying that he "wished at times that I was caught more forcefully in a current of narrative momentum with them", and added that parts of the book felt "less than convincing".

[14] In a starred review, Kirkus succinctly called If I Survive You "a fine debut that looks at the complexities of cultural identity with humor, savvy, and a rich sense of place.