A review by ollie_again
Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America by Sharmila Sen

informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

 

Why do blackface and brownface bother me? Because I have been wearing whiteface for so long. Because my Halloween never ends.

A great memoir about trying to assimilate, to become white, to wear the whiteface and inevitably failing because they are not quite... Pushing oneself into the 'model immigrant' role just to be a scapegoat and the 'bad' immigrant when the situation calls for it. Or how thin the line between two really is, or if there is any line at all.

Sharmila Sen recounts her journey to the US of A when she was a child of a middle-class family in India (specifically Bengal region), her want to assimilate, to blend in with the white majority, adopting white American customs, food, and registering the existing racial hierarchy (and above else learning about the concept of race in America), trying to fit the mold of whiteness, and pushing away everything and anything that had to do with her 'Indianness'. And then reclaiming all of it. Her life in India is interwoven in the narrative, comparing the social stratification there and in the US and more.

The only thing that I didn't like as much in the book were the lists of actors, tv shows, etc. when the author tries to provide examples of things she watched to assimilate or which she missed, one or two would be enough for every time but there's four here, five there, etc. (and as someone who watches maybe two movies a year and has no clue about Bollywood OR Hollywood, my eyes just passed these parts without registering any information.) And sometimes rehashing the same thing in almost the same words, but that was just a minor problem.

Overall though, very approachable and informative read.