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A review by okiecozyreader
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
(satire is not my favorite genre)
I think I bought this one because I loved the cover and I thought it sounded interesting. It’s harder for me to enjoy books with an unlikeable main character, in this case, one who seems narcissistic.
Jane had a psychic tell her about a man she will marry. She finds someone who appears to be him, who is planning an engagement to someone else, and she kind of forces her way into his life, believing he is the one. She likewise, is working on her second novel (for 10 years) and thinks it will fix all the problems in her life, mainly her housing issue. She, her husband and their two children basically squat at different houses, unable to afford their own.
I couldn’t tell she had any genuine relationships in her life, and she was ok taking advantage of other people (who she deemed better off), but didn’t like being taken advantage of herself.
Much of the story is about race and being “mulatto.” Jane is mulatto herself and wants to see that more represented in her book and in a television deal she begins to work on. I can’t decide if I feel like it rings true or if it feels cliché. I definitely saw the end coming.
“Jane had discovered somewhere along the way that if you did not have money there were benefits to hanging around with people who did.”
“Jane reflected, not for the first time, that whenever a rich person did you a huge favor—loaned you money, loaned you their house, got you a job, cosigned a loan—the friendship essentially ended. It became a relationship of charity, missionary to a starving child. You could not unsee it once it had been seen.” P251
“'m telling you—if you go after this guy, a world of pain will rain down on your head. [x] will become the focus of your life, like a blimp, taking over your imagination and your thoughts and your life-blood. Enemies, they take a lot of work.” P 262
I think I bought this one because I loved the cover and I thought it sounded interesting. It’s harder for me to enjoy books with an unlikeable main character, in this case, one who seems narcissistic.
Jane had a psychic tell her about a man she will marry. She finds someone who appears to be him, who is planning an engagement to someone else, and she kind of forces her way into his life, believing he is the one. She likewise, is working on her second novel (for 10 years) and thinks it will fix all the problems in her life, mainly her housing issue. She, her husband and their two children basically squat at different houses, unable to afford their own.
I couldn’t tell she had any genuine relationships in her life, and she was ok taking advantage of other people (who she deemed better off), but didn’t like being taken advantage of herself.
Much of the story is about race and being “mulatto.” Jane is mulatto herself and wants to see that more represented in her book and in a television deal she begins to work on. I can’t decide if I feel like it rings true or if it feels cliché. I definitely saw the end coming.
“Jane had discovered somewhere along the way that if you did not have money there were benefits to hanging around with people who did.”
“Jane reflected, not for the first time, that whenever a rich person did you a huge favor—loaned you money, loaned you their house, got you a job, cosigned a loan—the friendship essentially ended. It became a relationship of charity, missionary to a starving child. You could not unsee it once it had been seen.” P251
“'m telling you—if you go after this guy, a world of pain will rain down on your head. [x] will become the focus of your life, like a blimp, taking over your imagination and your thoughts and your life-blood. Enemies, they take a lot of work.” P 262
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Infidelity