The Other Black Girl

This was one of my book club’s June picks, and honestly I did not enjoy this as much as I wanted. The book started off decent, but the pacing was way too slow to be classified as a thriller. The storyline got pretty confusing at times, and by the end, I was just kinda over it. This is a no for me.

read for tbr jar picks my reads vlog: coming soon

this book was a quick and easy read for me. i appreciated the commentary, particularly the subtle nuances of code-switching which were very relatable. the exploration of navigating a white workplace as a black woman, including figuring out if another black woman in the office is an ally or not, was well done. despite these strong points, i found the overall story underwhelming. the plot felt long and drawn out, and the quick resolution in the last 10% of the book left me disappointed. and i hated the plot twist. i'm really grappling with having a 3.5-star time for 90% of the book and then a 1-star time in the last bit. my rating for this one was extremely hard.

Had to give back to the library- about 10% in.

They really need half stars on goodreads because 4 is too low but it just wasn't quite a 5 for me. Still highly recommend!!!!!!!!!

After I bought this book, I heard the miniseries was better so I watched it and I do not feel the need to read the book now. The miniseries was very entertaining with an innovtive plot.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book. It was entirely too long and boring to be honest.

3.5

Amazing debut novel

I expected this book to be good, but damn. The story really sucked me in. I am going to be thinking about it for a while.

I enjoyed the actual process of reading this book, though the overall plot was a bit convoluted. It was not very clear what was happening with the POVs until far too long through the book, and then the climax/wrap-up seemed rushed.

I thought I knew what was going on for a large period of time. I guess I knew a little bit of it, but there were several twists that I didn't see coming. I'm still not sure how I feel about it all. I think I am supposed to be uncomfortable with the ending, but then I start questioning myself. So that keeps me thinking about the book after finishing it . That's a good thing. There are a few details that didn't seem to be wrapped up. But maybe I am supposed to be wondering about these things.
So if you want to be surprised by what is going on and you want to be left unsettled, read this one.

I think the fact that i'd seen this book likened to a well known thriller film spoiled my enjoyment as throughout I was waiting for the mystery to evolve into something resembling it.

I enjoyed this! I wanted to know more about Shani/Lynn/Kendra's secret network but I thought this was a sharp debut.

A meta, disturbing exploration of the publishing world.

Nella is a young Black editorial assistant at Wagner, a prestigious publisher that, decades prior, put out Burning Heart, a book by two Black women that lit up the world, before one of its editors mysteriously vanished.

For years, Nella's been in a delicate tug-of-war, trying to push for diversity at work while not endangering her career. Then suddenly, she's given the bare minimum: another Black girl to work with. Hazel.

I thought this was going to be more [b:Such a Fun Age|43923951|Such a Fun Age|Kiley Reid|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557181911l/43923951.SY75.jpg|63995465], then it turned out to be more [b:We Cast a Shadow|40163362|We Cast a Shadow|Maurice Carlos Ruffin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1533657073l/40163362.SY75.jpg|62303738]. It veers from contemporary into more thriller territory, and I can't tell how I feel about the twist. It's supposed to invoke unease, but it feels a little...silly? Which makes me feel evil to say.

Regardless, I think the questions it raises are unique and important.

Is it harder to be the sole Black employee, or to be constantly compared with the only other Black person? What is the psychological toll of not being able to be fully yourself at work, of having to assimilate to an environment set up to exclude people like you? What are the long-term impacts of having to filter yourself for a third of your life, just to be able to afford food and shelter?

What do you have to sacrifice to get in the room with the table you want a seat at? What principles do you have to sideline? Who do you have to let down, or leave behind? How much of yourself can you bring to the top? What personal concessions do you have to make to reach the glass ceiling you want to shatter?

The Other Black Girl is a piercing look at the failures of the publishing world, but also America as a whole, as onus is placed on Black Americans to pretend the white spaces alienating them are doing a good enough job. As Nella's perspective is simultaneously sought out and shut down. As diversity is embraced as an abstract concept by people who burst into tears when handed tame criticism wrapped in plenty of coddling. It's a look at who needs to change what about themselves, in order for things to finally, actually change.

i feel like they did this book so dirty. i went into this thinking i was going to be thrilled and kept at the edge of my seat. but no all i got a was a contemporary with a speculative twist. i'm so frustrated right now that i can't put my disappointment into words

i feel like they did this book so dirty. i went into this thinking i was going to be thrilled and kept at the edge of my seat. but no all i got a was a contemporary with a speculative twist. i'm so frustrated right now that i can't put my disappointment into words

Nella Rogers is an editorial assistant at Wagner Books. She encounters countless micro aggressions at work, her diversity initiative elicits alternative examples from the aggrieved staff that include left-handedness and nearsightedness, and she can't help but wonder if her desire to become an editor is hampered by her race. Enter the OBG “Other Black Girl” in Hazel-May McCall. Looking Erykah-meets-Issa with thick locs, a grandfather who died protesting against a 1961 busing bill, and herself founding a Harlem based initiative called “Young, Black ‘n' Lit” Hazel feels to Nella at once more “authentically black” and yet somehow more palatable to her white coworkers with her adept code-switching.

When one of the company's white bestseller's latest work which explores the opioid epidemic lands on her desk, Nella wrestles with how to advise against the cringeworthy, cliched and more than a little racist pregnant black addict stereotype named Shartricia Daniels. With two black women on staff, things should start bending towards progress, but it's not how Nella expects.

This was a fine reading experience that ticks up the tension to full blown thriller, but where it really shines is in the subsequent discussions it elicits. This is something you want to buddy read so you can poke at some of the notions explored within around respectability politics, micro aggressions, diversity in the workplace, and how skinfolk ain't always kinfolk. It's timely too given the recent pressures and protests in publishing around works from Mike Pence, Jonathan Mattingly and Jeanine Cummins.

I liked the idea but not the execution.

I really liked the parts of this set in the world of publishing! I'm not sure the secret society aspects totally worked for me, which might be because I'm white, might be because this is a first novel, or...other? I think I might have preferred a novel that was a more straightforward contemporary story of being a Black woman in publishing without the added twists? But that's just like, my opinion. I'll definitely be looking forward to whatever Harris writes next.

I don't even know how to describe this book. Wild ride.

Starts out as an indictment of racism in the publishing industry combined with an All About Eve plot, but then things get really weird. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time to come.

Wow. Hard to write about this one without spoiling it. My advice - read it soon before you hear too much. I had heard a bit about the book that had me guessing some things too early, but I'm glad I read it so soon after it was widely available. There are MANY ways that this book will have me thinking about it for a while. It got a lot of buzz and didn't disappoint.