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A review by katiegilley
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
4.0
“With heightened awareness of cultural sensitivity comes great responsibility. If we’re not careful, ‘diversity’ might become an item people start checking off a list and nothing more—a shallow, shadowy thing with but one dimension.”
I kept coming up with reasons to clean the house because I wanted to return to this audio again and again. It was so engaging, compelling, and surprising! It’s difficult to put this into a single genre, but it’s equal parts contemporary fiction, thriller, mystery, and sci-fi. I love how the author put together this world without making it fit into a specific box.
This was mostly set in 2018 and told from Nella’s perspective, a young black woman working in the mostly white publishing world. She is thrilled when another black woman, Hazel, is hired and will work in the cubicle right across from her. But Nella becomes wary when she notices that Hazel has somehow managed to make more inroads in their company in three months than Nella has been able to make in two years. How? And then she starts getting scary notes telling her to leave the publishing house. NOW. Are they from Hazel? Or from Nella’s boss? Who would so fiercely want her to leave the company?
This is a searing looking at the publishing industry – the gatekeepers of literature and our cultural touchstones. I loved reading about working in a publishing house: the constant book talk, the stacks of manuscripts, the cups of coffee and tea, coddling sensitive writers. But it also showed how publishers can truly make a difference by considering the stereotypes and tropes they have perpetuated for centuries.
I also felt like it was a call to arms for everyone to believe and honor black stories and people. A major plotline of this novel is how exhausting it is for people of color to always be the one speaking up for diversity and fair representation. This novel is a reminder that we all need to be engaging in the world with a critical eye and it’s imperative that we listen honestly and carefully when confronted with our own unintentional biases.
I kept coming up with reasons to clean the house because I wanted to return to this audio again and again. It was so engaging, compelling, and surprising! It’s difficult to put this into a single genre, but it’s equal parts contemporary fiction, thriller, mystery, and sci-fi. I love how the author put together this world without making it fit into a specific box.
This was mostly set in 2018 and told from Nella’s perspective, a young black woman working in the mostly white publishing world. She is thrilled when another black woman, Hazel, is hired and will work in the cubicle right across from her. But Nella becomes wary when she notices that Hazel has somehow managed to make more inroads in their company in three months than Nella has been able to make in two years. How? And then she starts getting scary notes telling her to leave the publishing house. NOW. Are they from Hazel? Or from Nella’s boss? Who would so fiercely want her to leave the company?
This is a searing looking at the publishing industry – the gatekeepers of literature and our cultural touchstones. I loved reading about working in a publishing house: the constant book talk, the stacks of manuscripts, the cups of coffee and tea, coddling sensitive writers. But it also showed how publishers can truly make a difference by considering the stereotypes and tropes they have perpetuated for centuries.
I also felt like it was a call to arms for everyone to believe and honor black stories and people. A major plotline of this novel is how exhausting it is for people of color to always be the one speaking up for diversity and fair representation. This novel is a reminder that we all need to be engaging in the world with a critical eye and it’s imperative that we listen honestly and carefully when confronted with our own unintentional biases.