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A review by jw2869
Zora and Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal by Yuval Taylor
3.0
The book provides great context for the work of Zora and Langston and how their friendship, and their shared link to Charlotte Mason, influenced their art. The book touches a great deal on the role of white philanthropy as both a boost for these prominent authors (in terms of financial stability, networks, and platforms) and also as an inconvenient harness that constrained their artistic freedom and expression.
With that said, I spent half of the book cringing. Learning of the great lengths that both writers went to maintain the affections of their benefactor can't be described as anything other than debasing. The last third of the book which focuses on the deterioration of Zora and Langston's friendship felt like I was reading a 1930s gossip rag (these folks were the original creators of shade). Sadly, I closed the book with less respect for both writers. In trying to humanize the story of their friendship (or at least I'm guessing that's what the goal was), the book ended up presenting both Zora and Langston as petulant, calculating, cruel, and stubborn. I'm not sure this added much to their legacies.
With that said, I spent half of the book cringing. Learning of the great lengths that both writers went to maintain the affections of their benefactor can't be described as anything other than debasing. The last third of the book which focuses on the deterioration of Zora and Langston's friendship felt like I was reading a 1930s gossip rag (these folks were the original creators of shade). Sadly, I closed the book with less respect for both writers. In trying to humanize the story of their friendship (or at least I'm guessing that's what the goal was), the book ended up presenting both Zora and Langston as petulant, calculating, cruel, and stubborn. I'm not sure this added much to their legacies.