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A review by tmvallehoag
Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump by Ben Philippe
2.0
This book sold itself as a series of comedic essays about existing in predominantly white spaces as a Black person, which isn't incorrect, but slightly misleading.
The way this is misleading is that it's really Ben Phillipe's memoirs, and they also aren't that funny. Perhaps Philippe's humor isn't my cup of tea, but he relied very heavily on breaking from the narrative and directly addressing the reader to slip his jokes into an otherwise relatively sober memoir. I find that lazy, and a poor method of disguising the fact that Phillipe is, by his own admission in this book, kind of an asshole.
That being said, his prose is engaging enough and his reflections on race relations thoughtful enough that I finished the book quickly. It's not that it's a bad book, it just disappointed me.
Having read some of the one-star reviews, I'd like to make clear: Ben Phillipe is not an asshole because he "hates white people" (he doesn't) or "incites violence" (get over yourself). He is an asshole because these memoirs are about how he systematically alienated every relative and friend in his life, be they black or white, while simultaneously having to navigate being a Black man in white-dominated spaces. Turns out racism is hard on assholes too. The fanciest prose from the best writing institutions in the world can't cover up the adultery, apathy, and general misanthropy endemic to Phillipe's life. I'm happy for him that he is comfortable enough in his skin to out himself like this, but it would have killed his memoirs if he wasn't so good at describing just how bad it made him feel to ruin a marriage via a craigslist hookup.
In closing, I find the title of this book ironic considering that anyone who reads it wouldn’t want to be Phillipe’s friend regardless of his race.
The way this is misleading is that it's really Ben Phillipe's memoirs, and they also aren't that funny. Perhaps Philippe's humor isn't my cup of tea, but he relied very heavily on breaking from the narrative and directly addressing the reader to slip his jokes into an otherwise relatively sober memoir. I find that lazy, and a poor method of disguising the fact that Phillipe is, by his own admission in this book, kind of an asshole.
That being said, his prose is engaging enough and his reflections on race relations thoughtful enough that I finished the book quickly. It's not that it's a bad book, it just disappointed me.
Having read some of the one-star reviews, I'd like to make clear: Ben Phillipe is not an asshole because he "hates white people" (he doesn't) or "incites violence" (get over yourself). He is an asshole because these memoirs are about how he systematically alienated every relative and friend in his life, be they black or white, while simultaneously having to navigate being a Black man in white-dominated spaces. Turns out racism is hard on assholes too. The fanciest prose from the best writing institutions in the world can't cover up the adultery, apathy, and general misanthropy endemic to Phillipe's life. I'm happy for him that he is comfortable enough in his skin to out himself like this, but it would have killed his memoirs if he wasn't so good at describing just how bad it made him feel to ruin a marriage via a craigslist hookup.
In closing, I find the title of this book ironic considering that anyone who reads it wouldn’t want to be Phillipe’s friend regardless of his race.