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sophiegardiner's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Ended up being more of a thriller than I expected. Has the same creepiness and slowly building anxiety of Get Out. I don’t think the idea was as well executed as Get Out, but I liked how it took that idea of being unsafe in a white environment and applied it to an everyday workplace. I really felt Nella’s anxiety and desperation each step of the way. The ending was great.
lozlox's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
3.25
Super creepy slow burn that honestly packed more of a punch than the actual conspiracy reveal.
marhuitre's review against another edition
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
owlsreads's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
2.0
Ashley's review on Goodreads sums up my feelings: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4575939907
loribuhring's review against another edition
3.0
Some random thoughts I had when reading this book:
•This is not horror or thriller in my opinion. Maybe a little mystery but it came off as a generic novel. The way I read through this is that it’s trying to show what it’s like to be black in a mostly white industry. If you’re reading this review, you can see I am white from my profile pic, so obviously I do not know what it’s like to be black in America, only what it’s like to be female. So I do understand the idea/issue of women being pitted against each other.
•It was odd to call “a bat out of hell” an arcane saying. Maybe it was more of a thought that Nella had about the saying based on an experience she may have had that wasn’t made known in the story?
•I thought the way Nella stood up for what she believed regarding Colin’s depiction of a black character was good. However, I didn’t like that later on Vera asked her to apologize to Colin. Maybe that’s a trigger thing for me personally because I remember being asked to apologize to someone because THEY got their panties in a wad, not me lol. Like you don’t get to tell someone to apologize just because you don’t agree with what that person said.
•There seemed to be multiple incidents where the author may have been trying to say “it goes both ways” in terms of races doing the same things. For example, Nella mentioned how a white person will likely get her confused with another black person in the office, but then a few chapters later she couldn’t remember which brunette was in the elevator with her and Hazel.
•Nella has a lot of thoughts and beliefs about white people throughout the story and it’s likely based off of her own experiences being from a predominately white town in Connecticut. However, the story doesn’t really dive into those experiences. I wanted to know what those experiences were.
•I did resonate with a characteristic trait of Nella and that was the fact she’s an overthinker, because I too overthink.
•The fact that Hazel is trying to be BFF with Nella and then turns around and doesn’t really mention the issue with the black character in Colin’s novel… irked me. It seemed petty to me, but let’s be honest, that happens a lot between women.
•The ending felt odd and rushed.
loujsav's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
lovelyday2day's review against another edition
4.0
Great plot. A lot of thoughtful detail that helped keep the reader grounded even with the sometimes disorienting plot twists.
the_eggelstone's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 for this mostly entertaining read, but I couldn’t shake off the felling after having finished it, that there was more potential to the story.
It was not as satirical, biting or sharp as it could have been in my opinion. The story’s tension builds up slowly and the depiction of the publishing house and its inner workings is fun and keeps you going for quite a bit. However, as the story unfolds and it becomes clear where Harris wants to go with her narrative it left me somewhat unimpressed and underwhelmed. The climax also felt a bit rushed and underdeveloped.
It was not as satirical, biting or sharp as it could have been in my opinion. The story’s tension builds up slowly and the depiction of the publishing house and its inner workings is fun and keeps you going for quite a bit. However, as the story unfolds and it becomes clear where Harris wants to go with her narrative it left me somewhat unimpressed and underwhelmed. The climax also felt a bit rushed and underdeveloped.
carsonelainee's review against another edition
3.0
the number one complaint i’ve seen about this book while reading reviews is that people felt like there was so much buildup and that the book was just boring.
but i actually loved the buildup. i thought learning about all the intricacies of office relationships at wagner was fascinating and i think those were my favorite parts of the book.
what i didn’t love was that there was so much buildup to a completely disappointing ending. this book was going to be a 4 star read until i read those last 30 pages. i was so frustrated because i thought things were going to end much differently and i’m honestly just upset. i really don’t think that ending is worth the 350 something pages you have to read to get there.
i will say that i listened to this book on audiobook and i think that was the redeeming factor for the story. so, if you really want to read the other black girl, i would suggest listening to the audiobook. it really is fantastic.
but i actually loved the buildup. i thought learning about all the intricacies of office relationships at wagner was fascinating and i think those were my favorite parts of the book.
what i didn’t love was that there was so much buildup to a completely disappointing ending. this book was going to be a 4 star read until i read those last 30 pages. i was so frustrated because i thought things were going to end much differently and i’m honestly just upset. i really don’t think that ending is worth the 350 something pages you have to read to get there.
i will say that i listened to this book on audiobook and i think that was the redeeming factor for the story. so, if you really want to read the other black girl, i would suggest listening to the audiobook. it really is fantastic.