Fascinating that almost the first thing I’d note
about this book I really enjoyed is that it’s written by a Black woman and yet
though it was all about being Black in the workplace – and everywhere – that I
never felt thrown out by the language used or the descriptions: as a white woman, I didn't feel my total lack of this other life experience was stopping me from understanding someone else's. It was written perfectly for your average
white bookworm stealing time in Waterstones to enjoy.
I straightaway talk about white and Black 'cos that's what the book is about. Black female experience in a mostly white workplace. Racism, micro aggressions, code-switching, self sabotage, frenemies, paranoia, science fiction, horror and comedy. I'm not going to summarise the plot, I'd just say read it. Then I'd be confused by the responses.
When I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, I was shocked to see how many Black people
hated it. REALLY hated it – the writing,
the plot, the characters: everything. So by thoroughly engaging white readers (the star rating was much better here) and
painting a portrait of contemporary Blackness of one woman…she lost a lot of the
Black reading – the Goodreads section at least - demographic.
I can’t see how, cos I thought it was brilliant, but something was
hugely off for the Black readers, and really right for most of the white
ones. Maybe it’s a huge experiment, a
big joke, related to the actual plot of the book, on the part of the author?? Obviously
I’ve no experience as a Black woman, I’m a middle aged white one. So I’m sure all those people who hate it have
a point and there must be inaccuracies of speech or reported experience that really grate. I can’t see them, as me.
Big memories of the books of The Stepford
Wives [quietly rage enducing and savage social commentary] and Invasion of the Body Snatchers [paranoid
and claustrophobic, mistrust of everyone] for most of the read. It’s not just one genre falsely marketed as a
thriller, it’s several.
I Loved it.
