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A review by oxnard_montalvo
Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
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.
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.