Reviews

Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates

stellahadz's review

mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This is my first Joyce Carol Oates novel, and I know she's very highly regarded, but I wasn't impressed with this book. There were two very interesting storylines: Genna's relationship with her family, their privilege, and their history; and her relationship with her roommate, Minette, whom she tried and failed to befriend before her untimely death. I didn't think either storyline was fleshed out to the extent that it deserved, and the characters felt very flat, despite having interesting backstories. Ultimately I just wasn't sure what the point of the story was, and I also wasn't a fan of how the Black characters were described sometimes (lots of focus on their bodies and how they spoke). I don't know enough about Oates as a person to know whether that's a reflection of her own biases or Genna's. I was expecting it to be a mystery novel, or an exploration of white guilt, or maybe a bit of both, but ultimately it didn't deliver on either of those things (although some of the musings on white liberalism seem pretty ahead of their time for a book written in 2006 by a white author?) 

I'm definitely willing to give Oates another shot, because she's written so many books that I feel like there's bound to be something I like. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Hate crime, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

rickwren's review against another edition

2.0

Normally I love Joyce Carol Oates' writing, but this was one book that dragged on and on and on. I think the most annoying thing for me was her insistence on foreshadowing the violent end of the subject. It took so much of the descriptive power away from the story and when we get to the climax, I was still in Ho-Hum mode. I wouldn't recommend this book because it doesn't show anything new in race relations or add anything to our view of the turbulent 1970's. It seemed like a book that she wrote just to get some of that guilt and memory out of her mind and onto the page.

oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition

2.0

A book I think started out as two separate stories; I couldn't quite figure out if the lack of characterization was a stylistic choice: seeing "black girl" Minette only through the eyes of our unreliable, obsessive narrator, she never really becomes real. She's a series of vague events and catch phrases- interactions, the significance of which, no matter how mundane, are only ever seen and made meaningful through 'white girl" Genna's perspective. You get the sense that Genna isn't a very good judge of character and that idea is rammed into your eyes every other line.

Genna is eager to please, and doesn't seem to function like a human because of it. Both girls are cowed, living in the shadow of bombastic, righteous fathers at the expense of their own personality. That's were the story ought to be, but that's not where the story is, though it tries to be.

Ultimately unsatisfying, this book.

lminique's review against another edition

2.0

The title of this book is misleading. It is told from the white girls' point of view, has some aspects of racism, and an unrequited friendship. The white girl is eager to be liked by everyone and the black girl is very outspoken and rude. This story is basically about the dysfunction of the white girls' radicalist family (mostly her father) and her guilt. I found that all the characters were unlikeable. The premise of the story was actually a good one, it just fell short for me. I actually rate this a 2.5

aliceb0505's review against another edition

3.0

Jag tyckte om den, mer i slutet än i början, men jag tror inte riktigt jag fattade allting, mycket amerikansk politik från 70-talet osv

wrentheblurry's review against another edition

3.0

About halfway through the book it started to lose steam for me. I'm glad I kept going, though I'm not sure the extended ending was necessary. It did provide plenty of closure, I guess.

Oates offers strong character development, something I always like. Genna is clearly defined. Minette is very strongly detailed; I found myself thinking "'Scuseme!" several times after finishing. What kept me from really liking the title is that Minette is not a likable character, so Genna's strong feelings for her throughout the book never seem justified. It just feels strange and off-base.

Having only two major characters enable Oates to really focus on bringing them to life, though Genna's parents certainly plays an important role, and the more minor characters are well-developed too.

I would read more from this author, though I might look more closely at its ratings first.

book_girl_1098's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

spinstah's review against another edition

3.0

I liked this well enough, but not as much as some of the Oates I've read. This one focuses on two girls who are roommates at college - a black girl and a white girl - in the 60s. It's told from the point of view of the white girl, whose father happens to be a big civil rights activist. Per usual, nearly everyone is somehow messed up or a little crazy, and that makes for some uncomfortable scenes. While these women don't seem to struggle as much with getting themselves into a bad situation and being unable to get out, it's hard to say if that's because they're different than many of Oates' other women, or if it's because they're in the relatively protected atmosphere of college.

fantine729's review against another edition

2.0

I purchased this while waiting for a flight from Hartford to Detroit, choosing it over another book I already had in my hands because I had always wanted to read something by Oates and, as the mother of 2 black girls, I found the synopsis interesting. Now I wish I had that other book! Though I know that you should never judge a book by its cover, I felt that this book never lived up to its description. It kept the pages turning, barely, but the ending left me thinking "WTF?" There was nothing mysterious in the roommate's death, in my opinion! The plot sold simply was not the plot that was delivered, which alone wouldn't really matter much, except the book was schizoid. As for the race issues that so compelled me, I feel that this book could have been written about two white girls with the same result. The best that I can offer is that it killed the time on two flights for me.

feglet98's review against another edition

3.0

I thought this was an interesting story but it was bit hard going and slow in places. Also the characters were not particularly likeable and I felt the whole time I was reading it that I was missing something.