Black Girl,/White Girl: A Novel
Where the novel truly stands out is in its depiction of its two protagonists. Genna is a fine portrait of the coruscating effects of guilt on a young soul. Her halting, self-lacerating voice is painfully acute, such as when she ponders whether the persecution of her roommate is just a malicious dormitory prank or something much worse. Yet how swiftly and crudely the personal becomes the racial!
- Working Title.
- The Yellow Rose that binds!
- Chloe (Single Knitting Pattern).
- Not Just For Breakfast Anymore!
As if, beneath ordinary hatred, there is a deeper, more virulent and deadly racial hatred to be tapped. Her family, too, defy liberal expectations. They were of the era of Martin Luther King, Jr. They were of an era when family still prevailed. Given my experience of reading this novel, I may have to remove "We Were The Mulvaneys" from my reading list as I don't think I can bare to read more from this author if this book is any indication of her skill.
Shy Genna Meade is descended from hippie activists and abolitionist quakers.
Self assured Minette Swift is the daughter of a preacher and one of the few Black students at Schuyler College. Can Genna overcome Minette's tough exterior to reach the person underneath she desperately wants to connect to? I actually put this down when I first bought it, after a few chapters I couldn't seem to get into it. I picked it up 2 years later and sped right through. Joyce Carol Oates prose is absolutely beautif Shy Genna Meade is descended from hippie activists and abolitionist quakers. Joyce Carol Oates prose is absolutely beautiful, Genna's 'voice' comes right out of the page to the reader.
While the author paints a painful picture of the main character I did find myself wishing at the end that some of the other 'mysteries' were a little more clear. Still, I found this book haunting. Sep 09, Jennifer rated it really liked it. I saw some other reviews about how the title and inside jacket were misleading, and I too thought it was about one thing, when it really was about another, but I do not think that should dissuade anyone from reading this strangely suspenseful and mildly uncomfortable book.
I say suspenseful because there is a build up to this tragic death that we have all been waiting for since page 1, as Gemma Meade recalls 15 years later the months leading up to the day that her college roommate Minette Swift I saw some other reviews about how the title and inside jacket were misleading, and I too thought it was about one thing, when it really was about another, but I do not think that should dissuade anyone from reading this strangely suspenseful and mildly uncomfortable book. I say suspenseful because there is a build up to this tragic death that we have all been waiting for since page 1, as Gemma Meade recalls 15 years later the months leading up to the day that her college roommate Minette Swift dies.
And while disturbing events do occur that seemingly have to do with race relations at a private northeastern all girls college in the 's, this book is really about the dismantling of two very different young women, one black and one white. While Gemma, raised by a radical civil rights attorney tries to insinuate herself into her black roommate's life in a quietly obsessive way, and Minette, raised by a preacher, who wants nothing to do with Gemma, civil rights, or anyone at all for that matter because her fervent religious beliefs make her so painfully unapproachable it gives a new meaning to the term socially awkward.
It's difficult to observe the slow mental breakdown of both girls, who like many children either want to emulate their parents because they believe them to be right or their parents force beliefs on them without allowing the child to ever question those beliefs. In this case it's both, and neither girl has the mental maturity to find their own path, while simultaneously trying to squeeze themselves into a preordained life. I found this whole book a little unsettling and a little sad, but Oates being my favorite writer I think everything she has written should be read, at least so far.
Nobody does angst and family drama quite like her. Feb 25, Caroline rated it it was ok Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I don't get it, and like the another reviewer, I found the author's infatuation with oily black skin, and greasy nappy hair annoying. Or maybe that's how it's supposed to be. Genna had liberal parents and a father who seemed to protest for civil rights and stressed "White Guilt". And maybe the author wrote the way she did in order to stress Genna's white guilt.
Something that comes from an utter lack of knowing, of never having been around any Black people to know who they are. Of having certain I don't get it, and like the another reviewer, I found the author's infatuation with oily black skin, and greasy nappy hair annoying. Of having certain expectations on what encompasses Blackness and the confusion when none of those expectations are displayed.
Genna seemed to want something from Minette. Wanted Minette to play the tragic minority, to bemoan her Blackness and her American experience. To say 'all is forgiven between my people and yours, let us embrace, my Sister! Perhaps if Genna has behaved normally instead of bending over backwards and trying to find someway to relate to Minette, they may have been friends. I know when someone is trying to befriend me because they've never had a Black friend- they try too hard and it's obnoxious and an insult frankly.
Anyways, I take it that the entire time Minette was doing those things to herself, the nasty messages and the like.
And that she killed herself, whether purposely or accidentally, with the candles she lit too near the curtains. Sep 02, Snotchocheez rated it it was ok. I've been a big fan of her dour prose for decades now, and not once have I disliked anything she's bestowed upon us. And then there's the poorly-titled if not -conceived "Black Girl White Girl" We know from the get-go that the black girl dies; we presume the book will be an insightful look as to why this happens. Oates sticks to this somewhat contrived storyline, the novel flows along in typical Oates-ian style: Then something goes horribly awry about a third of the way into it that just about undermines the whole effort It's almost as if Ms.
Oates realized midway through that she hadn't enough material for a complete novel and started padding the initial story with superfluous crap. Here's hoping that JCO was just going through a slump; I still think she's got the chops as a septuagenarian!
Sep 02, Bird rated it really liked it. We're accustomed to thinking of race in terms of it being fraught with tension. It has import; it's a Big Deal. It is an ordinary story about ordinary individuals who are in circumstances that put them ill-at-ease. Genna's circumstances are ones she's grown up with and obsessed over for a long time; Minette's are ones that seem to be re We're accustomed to thinking of race in terms of it being fraught with tension. Genna's circumstances are ones she's grown up with and obsessed over for a long time; Minette's are ones that seem to be recently-acquired, although we learn so little about her in concrete terms that it's hard to say where exactly her troubles come from.
Is this not true of nearly anyone we meet in real life? What is clear is that these characters' troubles are not defined by one easy, black-and-white culture clash, but rather come from many subtle, ordinary, grey-area personal experiences. This novel is great for anyone who relishes character development but doesn't mind an absence of large landmarks. It's all about ordinary details, even within the extraordinary sub-plot. Minette was a scholarship student and one of the few African American women to be let into the college.
Genna, a quiet woman of privilege got to witness the effects of racism first hand as the racist harassment escalated from vicious slurs to something far worse. However whoever was responsible for this murder still remains a mystery to this day. I had never read Joyce Carol Oates before and I thought this may be my chance to experience her writing. The premise of this novel intrigued me and I was looking forward to uncovering the mystery at play. However, this turned out to be a novel about reflecting on the changing times; I was interested in learning about racism within America during the time of civil rights movements but this focused too much on Genna.
I understand that Joyce Carol Oates may not want to write a novel from the perspective of a person of colour, since she is Caucasian and probably could not do the situation any justice. Rather she took on the perspective of a woman of privilege experiencing the issue first hand. This may have made the book a little more autobiographical and allowed Oates to still explore the issue of racism. While I enjoyed this book, I did not find anything special about it. This review originally appeared on my blog; http: This was good, but apparently not good enough for me to remember too well.
I know it was compelling, and had something to do with a self-concious, but proud, young Southern black girl who wound up roommates with a self-hating liberal whitey from Pennsylvania. The black girl's own deliberate extracation of herself from the uppity school's largely white, but even black, female community baffles and intrigues her friend, who guiltily takes pride in having a black friend, and uses it as a token to c This was good, but apparently not good enough for me to remember too well. The black girl's own deliberate extracation of herself from the uppity school's largely white, but even black, female community baffles and intrigues her friend, who guiltily takes pride in having a black friend, and uses it as a token to converse with her ACLU-lawyer pops, who never has enough attention for her, what with all the defending of radical protestors and AWOL soliders he's got going on.
Tragedy strikes when the black girl dies - well, no spoiler there, it's in the first sentence - and our narrator, the scrawny white girl, realizes when her own family divides up, that she really has no home.
See a Problem?
The book takes a strange twist though - possibly a metaphorical one that was just beyond me - but it was enough to shake free the tender insights and leave me scratching my head. But despite feeling eft in the dark about this book's greater meaning, some of the repeated themes in the girls' lives rung true enough to give me a lot to digest, in my own somewhat ongoing battle to better understand at the core my own, and the country's historic racism. Dec 20, Abigail Hillinger rated it it was ok Shelves: Although this book took quite awhile to get into pages, to be precise , I'm glad I read it.
Joyce Carol Oates has written a ridiculous number of books, and I was worried her style would be like the female version of Nicholas Sparks--not quite chick-litty or romance, but just I don't know, 'cheap'. I consider her death more of a breakdown. However, I felt disconnected a lot, and confused at other parts; I'm not sure if the conclusion I reached at the end of the book is the correct one; and I didn't really believe in Jenna's character a lot. It wasn't that I didn't like her I just didn't believe her.
I might pick up another book by her, since there are so many others to choose from Sep 30, Allison rated it it was ok. Joyce Carol Oates is a very smart author. She knows a lot about location, a lot about history, and a lot about language.
Bookshout App
However, as a reader, I often find myself feeling very aware of these things as I read her books: Instead of enhancing her stories, it often fragments them for me, the reader. I thought it was quite cunning to veil the true intent of the story throughout, but I found that by the end, I should have been able to discover that this was in fact the true intent all along instead of being just as surprised as the main character was to discover what the true story was about.
Because I was so surprised, I found myself disappointed. I wanted to know what really happened to Minnette Swift. Was the racism all faked by her, or was some of it real?
Was her death completely accidental? Perhaps this would be a better book to teach in school, with its history subtext turned main text Either way, it does not encourage me to return to Oates' work in the near future. May 19, chucklesthescot rated it did not like it Shelves: This was a dreadful book with appalling characters. Minette is the 'Black Girl' from the title, a preacher's daughter. She is the rudest, most obnoxious, spiteful bitch that you can imagine and goes out of her way to make everyone despise her. Genna is a complete wimp of a doormat who lets Minette walk all over her and you get the impression that she is too scared to admit she hates her in case people thi This was a dreadful book with appalling characters.
Black Girl,/White Girl
Genna is a complete wimp of a doormat who lets Minette walk all over her and you get the impression that she is too scared to admit she hates her in case people think she is racist. I wanted to slap Genna for continuing to excuse her room mate to everyone else and covering up for her behaviour. What was the point to this book? Minette obviously had a chip on her shoulder about life in general and faked racial attacks to paint herself as a victim. The real victims in this story were the other girls who fell under suspicion for the so-called racist attacks.
And Genna's decision to lie to cover up for a girl who sneers at her friendship and looks down on her is just incomprehensible. Snitch on the bitch!
- Navigation menu.
- .
- !
- ?
I hated the two girls so much and the plot really infuriated me to a point where I celebrated her suicide. One of the worst books I've read and I won't be going near this author again. Jul 14, Cris rated it did not like it Recommends it for: Sep 13, Jennifer rated it did not like it.
I can't believe a writer as talented and respected as Joyce Carol Oates would write such pointless drivel. Every single character is unlikable to the point that I hoped they all died, the plot is all over the place and the narrator is a dumbass. The title and jacket summary are misleading, too: Please note that your username is an e-mail address. Download your e-book s from your bookshelf. Specialty Booksellers Interest-specific online venues will often provide a book buying opportunity.
International Customers If you are located outside the U. About Product Details Praise Fifteen years ago, in , Genna Hewett-Meade's college roommate died a mysterious, violent, terrible death. HarperCollins e-books On Sale: Seven Days in May by Kim Izzo. Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day.
Heathcliffs I Have Known: Year Year X Tell us more about what you like to read so we can send you the best offers and opportunities. What kind of books do you like to read? Scene of the Crime mystery fans. From the Heart romance readers. Book Club Girl book clubs. HarperCollins Children's Books books for young readers.