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readingwhilemommying 's review for:
The Other Black Girl
by Zakiya Dalila Harris
This book has been blurbed as "Get Out Meets The Devil Wears Prada." I have to say, it's pretty spot-on!
Nella Rogers is a 26-year-old editorial assistant who's been working at Wagner Books in New York City for two years. While relatively happy with her job, she's also had trouble getting her bosses to take diversity seriously. As the only Black employee at Wagner, she's tried to hold Diversity Town Halls, but after they are no longer mandatory, none of her fellow employees show up. A hope for a more diverse publishing house--both its employees and the books it publishes--becomes more of a possibility when a new Black girl named Hazel is hired. Nella's hopes of warming to Hazel and working together to bring an enlightened sensibility to Wagner are soon dashed when Hazel becomes the office star and Nella becomes the office pariah. One particular issue is the adverse reaction Nella gets after giving feedback to one of Wagner's biggest authors about the racial stereotypes inherent in his new novel. Then, the notes start coming. "LEAVE WAGNER NOW," the first says. Could Hazel be behind the missives?
The politics of race in a place of business, in particular a publishing house, is the theme running through this book. How Nella has to consistently work twice as hard as her white colleagues to get ahead is the one thread of the theme, while the behind-the-scenes nuggets about how publishers navigate deciding to publish (or more likely not) books by Black authors is the other. Like general issues of racism, these two threads run the gamut from migroaggressions to blatant racism. FYI: Zakiya worked at a publishing house before leaving to write this book, so I'm sure there's many truths in it. One example: How editors put African authors ahead of African-American authors and consider publishing the former "enough" when it comes to "being diverse."
About halfway through the novel, the narrative goes OFF THE RAILS...but in a good way. Suddenly, these real issues of racism and lack of diversity veer into horror territory and Nella's inner turmoil becomes even more fraught as she tries to navigate the sinister forces at play. Who really is Hazel? Why does she seem to immediately get the respect of Nella's bosses, while Nella has had to work for it and still comes up lacking? And who is imploring her to quit her job?
Harris does a wonderful job with this debut! It's engaging, revelatory (I knew publishing had a diversity problem but some of the microaggressions mentioned here were especially galling), clever, twisty, and fun. Highly recommend!
Nella Rogers is a 26-year-old editorial assistant who's been working at Wagner Books in New York City for two years. While relatively happy with her job, she's also had trouble getting her bosses to take diversity seriously. As the only Black employee at Wagner, she's tried to hold Diversity Town Halls, but after they are no longer mandatory, none of her fellow employees show up. A hope for a more diverse publishing house--both its employees and the books it publishes--becomes more of a possibility when a new Black girl named Hazel is hired. Nella's hopes of warming to Hazel and working together to bring an enlightened sensibility to Wagner are soon dashed when Hazel becomes the office star and Nella becomes the office pariah. One particular issue is the adverse reaction Nella gets after giving feedback to one of Wagner's biggest authors about the racial stereotypes inherent in his new novel. Then, the notes start coming. "LEAVE WAGNER NOW," the first says. Could Hazel be behind the missives?
The politics of race in a place of business, in particular a publishing house, is the theme running through this book. How Nella has to consistently work twice as hard as her white colleagues to get ahead is the one thread of the theme, while the behind-the-scenes nuggets about how publishers navigate deciding to publish (or more likely not) books by Black authors is the other. Like general issues of racism, these two threads run the gamut from migroaggressions to blatant racism. FYI: Zakiya worked at a publishing house before leaving to write this book, so I'm sure there's many truths in it. One example: How editors put African authors ahead of African-American authors and consider publishing the former "enough" when it comes to "being diverse."
About halfway through the novel, the narrative goes OFF THE RAILS...but in a good way. Suddenly, these real issues of racism and lack of diversity veer into horror territory and Nella's inner turmoil becomes even more fraught as she tries to navigate the sinister forces at play. Who really is Hazel? Why does she seem to immediately get the respect of Nella's bosses, while Nella has had to work for it and still comes up lacking? And who is imploring her to quit her job?
Harris does a wonderful job with this debut! It's engaging, revelatory (I knew publishing had a diversity problem but some of the microaggressions mentioned here were especially galling), clever, twisty, and fun. Highly recommend!