Status
Genres
Collection
Publication
Description
"Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada in this electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing. Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she's thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They've only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust. Then the notes begin to appear on Nella's desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW. It's hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there's a lot more at stake than just her career. A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist"--… (more)
User reviews
Quotes: “They rarely asked her about “Black issues” – either because they didn’t want to offend her by doing so, or because they simply didn’t care enough to ask.”
“At a historically Black college, she’d been blessed with the ability to forget white people existed, if only for a little while.”
“It was in seemingly mundane moments like those – when she told a white man something so basic about herself that made his eyes boggle out of his head – that she felt closest to all of the enslaved Black people who were Black long before she was: all of the enslaved Black men and women who impressed white people with their reading abilities; all the Black men and women who had impressed a white person simply by existing.”
“She picked her battles, if she dared pick any, wisely. That was what she had been taught: to stand still for so long that when you started to run, they’d be so dumbfounded that they wouldn’t even follow.”
Thanks to the author, Atria Books and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
Zakiya Dalila Harris’ debut novel has been called one of the buzz books of 2021 by several magazines. I was intrigued by the blurb immediately, a kind of horror version of “The Devil Wars Prada” sounded totally enthralling. For a long time, “The Other Black Girl” could fulfil the expectations, there is a highly uncomfortable feeling creeping around, yet, the end was a bit too much for my liking.
Nella is quite a likeable young woman, hardworking and even though not an activist she is following the Black Lives Matter movement even before this becomes a widespread phenomenon and big news. She imagines being able of making a change in the publishing industry but first needs to get at the position where she has the actual power to do so. Therefore, she is quite assimilated and she swallows comments from her colleagues even though they might be quite offensive for persons of colour. With the arrival of Hazel she seems to get an ally and befriends her immediately.
For the reader, even though there are some chapters which seems unrelated to Nella’s story but hint at some goings-ons beyond her scope, it is obvious that Hazel is not the friendly and reliable colleague Nella assumes, this was an aspect which annoyed me a bit, I didn’t get the impression of Nelly being that naive and credulous at first and would have liked her to be a bit cleverer in relation to what happens at her workplace.
The novel, however, is quite strong at portraying Nella’s feelings as being the only black girl, the role she assigned to as representative of a totally diverse group which is just too simplistic, yet, nobody really seems to care about the concept of diversity, having one black girl is enough. She has other issues than her colleagues, especially the talk about hair was quite a novelty, even though this is a huge topic if you do not have the easy-care blond hair.
Overall, I liked the writing and found Nella’s perspective and the insight in the publishing world interestingly realised.
This story really does a psychological trip on its reader. I kept feeling more and more uncomfortable being drawn into what it feels like to be a black woman in a mostly white professional world.
In this age of focusing on diversity, I loved the opportunity of reading a new novel by a Black writer about the “black experience” and liked that the writer shared what probably were real-life personal thoughts.
I had the Barnes and Noble edition of this book which had “Additional Content” at the end—an additional chapter about Diana and Kenny which, to me, was unnecessary and tiring after having read the conclusion and climax of the book.
Nella has worked for Wagner for a few years, without getting
Meanwhile, there is another group, composed of black women who did resist the drive to get ahead by abandoning their sense of self. Who will win?
An interesting take on what black people, women in this case, experience in society, and the things they do to assimilate.
Around the same time that Hazel starts, Nella starts getting notes telling her to leave Wagner. And some other things happen that make her question if Hazel is really her friend or not. Is Hazel the one leaving the notes? It seems like Hazel is sabotaging Nella’s career at times but is she?
The Other Black Girl has been described as a cross between The Devil Wears Prada and Get Out. I think it has strong The Stepford Wives vibes as well. I was actually hoping it would be creepier based on the hype when it first came out.
There is another plotline that takes place in the past that was a little confusing but by the time it converged with the present day, it made sense. I think this is a book where you discover more about it each time you read it. I may read it again someday and see if that’s true.
The author was an editorial assistant at a major publishing house so I’m assuming that her portrayal of what it’s like for a Black person to work at one is accurate. It’s not surprising – the publishing industry has a long way to go in terms of equal treatment of employees and authors of color. I’d be interested to hear what her former employer thinks of the book!
I was all in for the first half of the book. It was good--the frustrations of being an assistant, the microaggressions, the annoying coffee maker, the new girl (the other black girl) coming in and seeming
I am sure the magical realism crowd will love this. I am not part of that crowd. I love it when it is done well, but this did not work for me at all.
After a prologue set in 1983 where a woman is fleeing New York, most of the
The author had interesting things to say, but the almost fable-like concluding chapters didn't work for me in a novel which had up to that point read as realism. A half star for the very ending, which was, if you buy into the author's premise, a little chilling...