Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - The Other Black Girl

Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

35 reviews

forrestalexander's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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jaynereel's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

hmm so I loved the setting of a publishing company and the book started off strong before slowing wayyy down before picking back up at the very end. the ending definitely threw me - I totally wasn’t expecting it and was very intrigued, but it happened SO late! once the plot twist happens at like 95%, the book is essentially over. some confusing elements and not totally clear on the satire - wish the plot twist was earlier on so I got to read more about the whole concept and flush it out more, but overall I think this would be a great read for book club for discussion and I would in fact recommend. and I’ll definitely watch the adaptation!

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marissasa's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The ending of this book and the implications of the final reveal were really well done and thought-provoking, but it just took so long to get there. The first 75% of the book felt like it was dragging on for so long and I was not engaged with a lot of it, which is sad to say because the topics and themes in this book are really good ones that I think the author had a lot to say about. I just couldn't get over how slow it was, and how we were thrown into a bit too many points of view amongst the different chapters and how that lead to more confusion and unanswered questions than anything else. I am glad to hear that this is getting a TV/film adaptation though because I think it will do better in that medium where we get to see the tension and off-putting nature of the characters and situations portrayed visibly as opposed to just described in paragraphs upon paragraphs in the main character's mind.

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tesseliza's review against another edition

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4.0

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hannah2186's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

4.5

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readbeales's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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seawarrior's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'd been waiting to read this book for a while so maybe it was inevitable that it didn't live up to my expectations as a mystery novel. However, I don't regret having spent time with it and absorbing what it had to say.

In creating the political environment of Wagner Books and Nella's personhood the writing was strong and sharply observant. Nella felt like a person who could feasibly exist and it was easy to empathize with her motivations and anxieties as she navigated routine microaggressions from her coworkers and the strangeness of Hazel's possible sabotage attempts. Yet the numerous times facets of her personality and viewpoints were revealed through extended flashbacks was disorienting, which I also felt from the book as a whole. It was difficult keeping up when the chapters switched perspective to a different woman, and wasn't sure if this was meant to be a deliberate effect on the reader or not.

My other primary issue was that the final reveal of the conspiracy each of these women were involved in, and that Hazel was using against Nella, was stunning but not necessarily satisfying. By the time its secrets were unraveled, this overarching conspiracy felt almost silly in comparison to the realistic tone the novel already established. Regardless, it does serve to well illustrate not only the ruthless competition that Black women encounter in the workplace, but the exhaustion of enduring it and maintaining agreeable even when encountering massive insensitivity from white coworkers.

The Other Black Girl may not be a debut with perfect execution, but it has a point to make that is worth paying attention to. I would still recommend reading it and look forward to Harris' future works.

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mlthomas234's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Really like Nella’s storyline, up to and including the end. Loved how Hazel’s character evolved (from ambiguous to sinister). I also liked how Nella was never the “perfect” black girl and was very aware of all the ways she might be seen as “less black” because of her upbringing, who she dated, when she started thinking about social issues, etc. given all of that, I️ wish we’d seen her struggle a bit more with Hazel’s question at the end rather than it being skipped over directly to the epilogue. What went through her mind? Did she really consider it? For how long? What was the turning point?

I️ also had trouble following the storyline of the writer/author pair of women and the resistance— pretty much everything outside of Nella’s story, the chapters were interesting on their own but found it difficult to follow on how they all connected. Ultimately, I️ just accepted them for their high level message (“something is not right, got it”), and kept reading. Thinking back I️ wonder what would be lost if those scenes weren’t included? They made things more confusing which isn’t the same as making the mystery more interesting.

Overall, Harris did a great job delivering on what was promised: a sharp thriller that explores the dynamics (and fears) of what it’s like to be a black woman in the workplace.

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jodierose14's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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babayagaofficial's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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