I'm an avid fan of Joyce Carol Oates, yet this book proved to be a letdown on multiple fronts.

Oates frequently shows us a character's emotions and then explicitly tells us, as if we're too obtuse to perceive it ourselves.

Moreover, there's the issue of the plot. The narrator initially informs us that the story will center around how and why her roommate died, but then at the conclusion, reveals that it was actually about something else. While that's acceptable, it doesn't seem to be entirely about that either.

I simply couldn't empathize with either of the main characters to the extent that I cared about their fates. Additionally, I couldn't fathom why Genna exerted so much effort to get Minette to like her. The author attempts to explain, but it didn't strike me as believable.

Overall, this book failed to live up to my expectations as a devoted reader of Oates' works.

I didn't enjoy this as much as The Tattooed Girl, but it was still quite good and engrossing.

It's an exploration of civil rights and races, delving deep into the complex issues surrounding them. However, it also delves into the blackness and whiteness of morality and semantics, showing how these concepts are not as straightforward as they may seem.

So it's very cleverly designed, with its multi-layered themes and thought-provoking ideas. But I was more interested in the civil rights element.

After months of harassment, an African American woman suffers a brutal death during her freshman year of college. Her white roommate is left feeling guilty, haunted by the events that led to her friend's demise.

The book is dark, of course, filled with pain and sorrow. And the ending is bleak, leaving the reader with a sense of hopelessness.

I wonder where all the darkness comes from, and whether Oates writes just to be rid of some of it, at least for a while. She's a fascinating writer, able to create a world that is both disturbing and captivating.

Audiobook.

This captivating book delves into the relationship between college roommates in 1974. One is the academically challenged daughter of a black minister, while the other is the white daughter of a radical white lawyer and a descendant of the college founder. Joyce Carol Oates, as expected, provides beautiful, deep descriptions and layered nuances. The characters are drawn with depth, flaws, and a sense of reality. However, I had a hard time believing Genna as the daughter of radical hippie lawyers. She seemed too naive considering all that was related about her family and too innocent in her relationship with her roommate. Her middle-aged image was more believable.

The book explores themes of guilt, truth, lies, and loyalty. In the relationship between Genna and Minette, it shows how strict adherence to high principles can lead a person astray from their intended path. This is also evident in Genna's relationship with her parents. It's a sad book that shatters the idea that one person can truly know another, which was all Genna ever desired.

So, did I like this book? I preferred it to other Oates books I've read. Although it was longer than I would have liked, the length served a purpose, unlike in some other books. Despite the beauty of her language and her ability to create a convincing reality, I'm not a huge fan.

"Black Girl, White Girl" by Joyce Carol Oates has two main themes. On one hand, we have the relationship of the protagonist (the white girl) with her family. It's a family that has always made her feel that "white privilege" is a kind of guilt (the novel starts in 1974 when Nixon is about to resign), and it's a dysfunctional family that this daughter feels a desperate need to please. On the other hand, we have the account of the white girl's fixation on the black girl, her college roommate. The protagonist wants at all costs to be her friend, win her over, help her... The black girl is an enigmatic character, whom we practically only see through the eyes of the white girl and who, despite the role she plays in the story, remains on the margins of the narrative, seems to slip away.

"Black Girl, White Girl" offers us a snapshot of a brutally mediocre America, described without pretense and without idealism. There is so much more inside than just the simple facts told: the feeling of being a daughter, the pounding anger of an unlikeable adolescent (the black girl), American society seen through the eyes of someone who can't quite understand it (the white girl), the suffocating loneliness of youth, the impotence of a victim in the face of institutions that seem to have always existed only to crush her...

I was reluctant to go back to reading Oates, who didn't convince me at first glance. But after reading this novel, I was completely won over again: her dense writing trapped me and held me spellbound until the last page. I'm drowning in her prose, and reading it gave me the pleasure of a swim in deep but crystalline waters.

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I seem to be unable to read a book without a mentally ill woman in the background. Mentally ill mothers are, of course, the most popular, but mentally ill sisters don't fare badly either. In this book, we have a mentally ill (I think one would describe her as unbalanced) mother and an irresponsible father. Literary fathers are mercurial, unpredictable, brilliant, incomprehensible, elusive, and irresponsible. Mothers are fucked up, pathetic, ever-present. That the parent who sticks around should be so unstable (drug-addicted, alcoholic, manic, crazy, whatever) screws children up something fierce. Fathers are mysterious and interesting, mothers are boring and smell funny. Fathers are scruffy, mothers are dowdy and age badly.

This book has the added perk of a mentally ill roommate. Yay! Lots of mental illness! Except, the roommate's strangeness (and she is strange) is tampered with by the looming specter of the Unreliable Narrator. This unreliable narrator is an eager, smart, and, given the parentage, remarkably wise first-year college student who would like nothing better than to become her African American roommate's best friend, but is frustrated in this attempt every step of the way. I think that Oates' intention here is to problematize the blacklove of a certain white liberal intellectual, and to some extent she succeeds. Genna, the narrator, is too damn normal and perfect, while the unforgettable Minette Swift is so strange she could be from another planet. Her code cannot be cracked. She resists friendship and attempts at closeness in her roommate with the same exhausting doggedness as she resists sympathy in the reader. However much we try, we do not get her.

It takes intellectual courage to tackle such an unlikeable black character and juxtapose it to a very sweet white character. For this Oates should be respected. But I find myself bristling at the loose writing I encounter in her novels. Like Blonde, this too is a bit too long and unfocused. It makes me think of a runny omelet: the taste is there but it should have cooked more. Or maybe grandma should have diluted the eggs less. Gone easier on the milk. Gotten it right. And the copy-editing is a bit maddening. Presses've got to get their shit together for sure.
One last observation: I enjoyed the way in which Genna's magnetic fascination with Minette is described as constantly bordering on the sexual without ever getting there. Gemma is an asexual character, a stark contrast to her supposedly oversexual parents. Other-love as a substitute for sex?

Perhaps this is a clever exploration of different forms of attraction and desire. It adds an interesting layer to the story and makes one wonder about the nature of human connection.

Overall, while the book has its flaws, it also has its strengths. The complex characters and thought-provoking themes make it worth reading, despite the issues with the writing and editing.

I look forward to seeing what else Oates has in store for us in her future works.

Truth in advertising would necessitate this book to be named White Girl.

On the surface, it is about two college roommates. One is the scion of a white liberal family with a long and illustrious history of progressive politics. The other is the daughter of an African - American minister. However, in reality, it is truly about Genna, the eponymous white girl, and her relationship with her radical chic parents and her intense longing to befriend and gain the trust of Minette, the black girl of the title.

We view Minette through Genna's eyes. Even fifteen years later, when the adult Genna looks back, she still doesn't have a profound understanding of who Minette was and what befell her.

While the book delves into the reasons why Genna and Minette couldn't truly see or know each other, due to both personal and racial factors, I desire that the book had possessed some of the fairness and balance that the title implies. I relished Genna's story but craved more of Minette's.

This book, with its exploration of race and friendship, has the potential to be a powerful and thought-provoking read if it had given more equal weight to both characters' perspectives.

I liked this well enough, but not as much as some of the Oates I've read.

This particular work focuses on two girls who are roommates at college in the 1960s. One is a black girl and the other is a white girl.

It is told from the perspective of the white girl, whose father just so happens to be a prominent civil rights activist.

As is typical in Oates' works, nearly everyone is in some way messed up or a little crazy, which leads to some rather uncomfortable scenes.

While these women don't seem to face as many difficulties in getting themselves into a bad situation and then being unable to extricate themselves, it's difficult to determine whether this is because they are different from many of Oates' other female characters, or if it's due to the relatively protected environment of college.

Perhaps the college setting provides a buffer of sorts, shielding them from some of the harsher realities that Oates' other characters often encounter.

However, it could also be that these two girls have a certain resilience or strength that allows them to navigate their circumstances more easily.

Either way, the story offers an interesting look at the relationship between the two roommates and the social and cultural context in which they live.

I am not entirely certain what this book is truly about. In fact, we didn't start off on the right track. For the first half of the book, I felt rather detached and quite indifferent. I was simply waiting for something to capture my imagination. However, then the story picked up pace, and I ended up finishing it in one evening.

I believe I had this issue because I initially expected the book to be centered around race. But in reality, it is fundamentally about a young woman's relationships with the world. There is one woman in particular, but also her family. As such, it is very interesting and did manage to catch my imagination, although I still have some difficulty in accurately labeling it.

So, the question is, why did I give it only three stars? Well, I understand how the narrative functions, but I'm not overly fond of a literary device that makes a book about a woman of color being harassed at university, a woman who is very clearly presented as a black student and even dies at the end, not fundamentally about race but rather about a white girl's relationship with the world. It just seems rather strange to me!

Nevertheless, I am planning on reading more of Oates' works. That's the situation as it stands.

The story is filled with insufferable characters.

There's the pompous Mr. Smith, who thinks he knows everything and constantly lectures others.

Then there's the overly dramatic Ms. Jones, who blows every little thing out of proportion.

And let's not forget the rude and impatient Mr. Brown, who has no regard for anyone else's feelings.

These characters make the plot both frustrating and entertaining at the same time.

Their actions and words often lead to misunderstandings and conflicts, which keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

Despite their flaws, however, they also add depth and complexity to the story, making it a truly engaging read.

Overall, the insufferable characters in this article play an important role in making it a memorable and enjoyable piece of literature.

Shy Genna Meade has an interesting lineage, being descended from hippie activists and abolitionist quakers. On the other hand, self-assured Minette Swift is the daughter of a preacher and one of the few Black students at Schuyler College. The question remains: can Genna break through Minette's tough exterior and reach the person within that she so desperately desires to connect with?

Interestingly, I initially put this book down when I first purchased it. After reading a few chapters, I just couldn't seem to get into it. However, two years later, I picked it up again and read it through quickly. Joyce Carol Oates' prose is truly beautiful. Genna's 'voice' seems to leap right off the page and into the reader's consciousness. While the author vividly描绘s a painful picture of the main character, I did find myself hoping at the end that some of the other'mysteries' would have been a bit more clear. Nevertheless, I found this book to be haunting and it left a lasting impression on me.

Overall, despite its few shortcomings, the book is a captivating read that explores themes of identity, connection, and the human experience in a profound and thought-provoking way.

After having read Oates' 'Black Water', I was filled with an intense longing to explore more of her remarkable work. And so, I came to this particular piece. Oates' characterisation in this book is truly impeccable. She has an uncanny ability to bring the characters to life, making them feel real and relatable. Her control of the plot and narrative is equally enviable. The story unfolds in a seamless manner, keeping the reader engaged from start to finish.

This book has a profound impact as it forces you to look deep within yourself. It has the power to make you discover things about yourself that perhaps you didn't want to notice. Although the political sections of the book dragged on a little, the mysterious characters of Genna and Minette more than made up for it. Their enigmatic personalities and actions kept me completely hooked.

I am most definitely going to be reading more of Oates' work in the very near future. She is such a strong and unique voice in the literary world, and her writing never fails to captivate and inspire.

Oates truly excels in exploring anxiety and neurosis.

One can sense every bit of the tension and social discomfort that exists between Genna and Minette. It's as if one is able to step right into their chaotic minds.

This work not only provides a great snapshot of a specific moment in time but also offers a captivating character study.

However, I wasn't overly fond of the subplot involving Genna's father. It was one of those elements that either required more in-depth development or should have been completely omitted.

Nonetheless, this is just a minor criticism. Overall, the exploration of the main characters and their complex emotions makes this a remarkable piece of writing.

It leaves the reader with a profound understanding of the human psyche and the various manifestations of anxiety and neurosis.

The vivid descriptions and the ability to bring the characters to life make it a truly engaging read.

Despite the small flaw in the subplot, the overall quality of the work shines through.

It's a testament to Oates' skill as a writer and her ability to create a story that both intrigues and captivates the reader.