Read for my American Postmodernism class.

This is a novel that endeavors to illustrate and explore the American college experience for a person of color. However, as a white author, Oates is cautious not to assume a false voice on behalf of black college students. Instead, she writes from the perspective of a white girl sharing a dorm with a black girl. What ensues is a juxtaposition of the two, functioning as both a contrast and a bonding for the two characters who are cognizant of their societal differences, and allowing this to serve as the basis for their encounters.

I relished this novel to a great extent because I have an absolute love for campus novels. Merely two chapters into the book, I had already become attached to the voice and the setting. Yet, when studying this novel in light of my broader reading, which happened to be on structural and embedded racism in higher education, there was also a valuable lesson to be gleaned from it, one that I hold dear in my continued interests in Black and African American literature. Although this is clearly not African American literature, it still contributes something to the discourse on racism in American college education, which is continuously overlooked due to the people who enforce it.

Subsequently, I am eager to read more of Oates' work as I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I would recommend it to anyone interested in campus literature. And although it does attempt to be a part of the black experience narrative, I would suggest going directly to novels written by Black writers for a more engaging exploration of that. Nevertheless, I would not pass up this book because I am truly glad we were assigned it to read.

I came across some other reviews that pointed out how the title and the inside jacket were rather misleading. I too had the initial impression that the book was about one thing, only to discover that it was actually about something else entirely. However, I don't think this should deter anyone from reading this peculiarly suspenseful and slightly uncomfortable book.

I describe it as suspenseful because there is a gradual build-up to the tragic death that we've all been anticipating since page one. Gemma Meade recalls, 15 years later, the months leading up to the day her college roommate Minette Swift dies. And while there are indeed disturbing events that occur, seemingly related to race relations at a private northeastern all-girls college in the 1970s, this book is truly about the unraveling of two very different young women, one black and one white. Gemma, raised by a radical civil rights attorney, attempts to insinuate herself into her black roommate's life in a quietly obsessive manner. Meanwhile, Minette, raised by a preacher, wants nothing to do with Gemma, civil rights, or anyone for that matter, as her fervent religious beliefs make her painfully unapproachable, giving a new meaning to the term socially awkward. It's difficult to witness the slow mental breakdown of both girls. Like many children, they either want to emulate their parents because they believe them to be right or have beliefs forced upon them without the opportunity to question those beliefs. In this case, it's both, and neither girl has the mental maturity to find their own path while simultaneously trying to fit themselves into a preordained life.

I found the entire book a bit unsettling and a bit sad. But since Oates is my favorite writer, I believe everything she has written should be read, at least so far. Nobody does angst and family drama quite like her.

Well, it's not entirely unexpected that a writer as prolific as Joyce Carol Oates, who has penned over 50 novels, would produce a less-than-stellar work or two. I've been a devoted fan of her often dour and brooding prose for decades, and until now, I've never had a single negative word to say about anything she's given us.

And then there's "Black Girl White Girl," a title that's not only poorly chosen but perhaps also an indication of a less-than-perfect conception. The story begins with some promise. Our "white girl" is the daughter of a wealthy liberal Quaker family with deep roots in the Black rights movements and the Underground Railroad. She heads off to college in the mid-70s and becomes roommates with our "Black Girl," the sullen daughter of a prominent DC preacher who both disdains her blackness and believes the world is out to get her because of it. From the very start, we know that the black girl will die, and we assume the book will offer an insightful exploration of the reasons behind this tragic event. When Oates sticks to this (albeit somewhat contrived) storyline, the novel progresses in her typical Oates-ian style: a tightly wound, occasionally thrilling character study.

But then, something goes horribly wrong about a third of the way through, and it nearly undermines the entire effort. Oates delves into the relationship between the "white girl" and her liberal parents: her Abbie Hoffman-ish lawyer father and her drug-addled mother. It's almost as if she realized midway through that she didn't have enough material to fill a complete novel and resorted to padding the initial story with unnecessary and rather uninteresting details.

Here's hoping that this was just a temporary slump for Oates. I still firmly believe that, even in her seventies, she has the talent and skill to wow us with her dark and somber tales. But unfortunately, "Black Girl White Girl" just didn't quite measure up for me.

After reading out this book, I am thoughtful.

I need to wait with a review.

It's not that I don't have any opinions or thoughts about the book.

Rather, I feel that I need some time to process and organize my ideas.

The story in the book has touched me in many ways.

It has made me think about various aspects of life, such as relationships, dreams, and values.

I want to be able to express my thoughts and feelings accurately and comprehensively in the review.

So, I will take my time and wait until I am fully ready to write a review that does justice to this wonderful book.

I believe that it will be worth the wait.

I'm actually rather uncomfortable when it comes to discussing this book. On one hand, I did enjoy the process of reading it. However, I'm white, just like the author. Throughout my reading, I couldn't help but constantly wonder how drastically different this book would have been if it had been penned by a Black person. And further, how my reaction would have been distinct if I were Black myself. It truly feels as if half of the story is absent, and in this era of Black Lives Matter, it seems like that missing half is the more significant one.

I also found myself really struggling to understand the significance of the father's role, his connection to the protest moment, and how all of that related to his daughter's story. It remains a bit of a puzzle to me.

There are several quotes that caught my attention. For instance, "…something strange and wondrous about the family. Something monstrous about the family. The family is a many-headed creature like the Hydra. The family is the locus of obsession. The family is about possessing and being possessed. The family is the transferal of genes from one generation to the next. The family is pure self. The family is a freak. The family is extinct. The family is private life and there is no value in private life. There is no value in any life but the life of the People. The life of the Revolution. In a time of Revolution like our time the private life has ceased to exist as the private life ceases to exist in a time of war." These impassioned words were written by Maximiian Meade in the mid-1960s and I discovered them in an anthology of essays titled World on Fire: Essays of Our Time, which was taught in my prep school in Massachusetts in 1972. I hadn't even realized that I had memorized Max's words, with my father's voice echoing in my head like a sledgehammer-incantation.

Other quotes like "Like a distended wheel the clumsy moment passed." and "Like a moon battered by clouds my brain raced with unwanted thoughts." also added a certain vividness to the narrative.

Overall, this book has left me with a lot of mixed feelings and thoughts that I'm still trying to sort through.

Black Girl / White Girl is a captivating tale that delves into the past of Genna Hewett-Mead.

Fifteen years ago, in 1975, while attending an exclusive women's liberal arts college near Philadelphia, Genna's roommate Minette Swift met a mysterious and violent end. Minette, a scholarship student and one of the few African American women at the college, became a victim of escalating racist harassment.

Genna, a quiet woman of privilege, witnessed the full brunt of this racism, which ranged from vicious slurs to something far more heinous. To this day, the identity of the person responsible for Minette's murder remains a mystery.

I had never read Joyce Carol Oates before, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to experience her writing. The premise of the novel intrigued me, and I was eager to uncover the mystery. However, I soon realized that this was not just a mystery novel but also a reflection on the changing times.

While I was interested in learning about racism in America during the civil rights movement, the book focused too much on Genna. I understand that Oates, being Caucasian, may not have felt comfortable writing from the perspective of a person of color. Instead, she chose to tell the story from the perspective of a privileged woman experiencing racism firsthand.

This approach may have made the book more autobiographical and allowed Oates to explore the issue of racism. Although I enjoyed the book, I didn't find it particularly special. Perhaps this wasn't the best example of Oates' writing, but I'm still willing to give her other novels a try in the future.

This review originally appeared on my blog at http://www.knowledgelost.org/literatu...

"Black Girl / White Girl" is my very first encounter with the works of an author whom I have been eager to explore for quite some time. I was well aware that JCO is an extremely prolific writer, but I was at a loss as to which of her books to start with. So, I made my way to the local library and randomly selected one of the few JCO novels available in the original English version.

Surprisingly, this book is an easy read, even for someone like me who is not a native English speaker. The pacing is excellent, and the writing is highly convincing. The interesting use of repetition, I assume, is intended to mirror the anxieties and distress of the narrating character. I found the character building to be quite interesting, albeit at times a bit puzzling.

Since I am neither American nor born in 1978, I was only superficially familiar with some of the issues addressed in the novel. As a result, I didn't have a very accurate yardstick for measuring the psychological authenticity of the characters. Nevertheless, I did find some of the plot lines to be slightly far-fetched. It was quite difficult for me to believe that there could be people in real life behaving like Minette Swift, Max Meade, or even Genna Meade.

I made the decision (perhaps wrongly) to view the characters mainly as metaphors for the various issues tackled in the book, such as race relationships, social partition, the fallout of 1960s political activism, and dysfunctional families. With this perspective in mind, the book became an interesting and informative read about the US in the 1970s, and it has left me with a strong desire to read more, including factual, non-fiction material, about that particular era.

The title and book description are highly misleading.

Contrary to what one might expect, the book has very little to do with race relations. Instead, it delves more into the dysfunctional relationship of a white girl with her politically controversial father and her own overwhelming feelings of guilt.

The characters in this book are far from likable. In fact, they are not even ones that I could easily relate to or understand.

The white girl makes an obnoxiously excessive effort to befriend her black roommate, despite the fact that everyone else, including the other black students, finds the roommate intolerable.

The white girl's fixation on her roommate seems rather obsessive, repulsive, and completely beyond comprehension. It persists even in the face of obvious resentment from her roommate, who unfortunately eventually becomes the target of anonymous racist acts.

Since the novel is narrated by the white girl, who comes across as mentally unbalanced, I constantly found myself expecting that at any moment it would be revealed that she was actually stalking her roommate and responsible for the racist harassments herself.

At what appears to be an obvious stopping point, the narration surprisingly continues, and the black girl becomes more of a footnote than anything else. Her death serves merely as a catalyst, propelling the white girl towards an emotional breakdown in which she must finally confront the truth about her father.

The story, overall, isn't particularly compelling. It's just plain odd. The last part of the book doesn't even seem as if it was written by the same character.

It leaves the reader with a sense of confusion and dissatisfaction.

Genna Meade is the white girl and Minette Swift is the black girl. Together, they share a room at Schuyler's college.

Genna Meade became interested in Minette Swift from the very first time she saw her at the school's open house. She does everything to be friends with Minette and understand her. Genna is the only one Minette has at college. Genna is the only one who understands how hard Minette has it. They are almost like sisters. Or are they?

For Minette is completely uninterested in Genna. She is unpleasant, nonchalant, and disliked by everyone at Schuyler. And her condition seems to be getting worse and worse. A number of racist attacks are directed at Minette, but no one knows who is behind them.

I thought the story of Genna and Minette was very interesting. Genna is such a pushy, naïve, irritating know-it-all with a white savior complex. And Minette is incredibly unlikeable. All the characters are. But the whole strange picture of Minette that Genna has is interesting to read about. I sighed loudly several times. The story of Genna's father was not as interesting. It got a bit messy at times.

This was good, but apparently not good enough for me to remember too well.

I know it was compelling, and had something to do with a self-conscious, but proud, young Southern black girl who wound up roommates with a self-hating liberal whitey from Pennsylvania.

The black girl's own deliberate extraction of herself from the uppity school's largely white, but even black, female community baffles and intrigues her friend. The friend guiltily takes pride in having a black friend and uses it as a token to converse with her ACLU-lawyer pops, who never has enough attention for her, what with all the defending of radical protestors and AWOL soldiers he's got going on.

Tragedy strikes when the black girl dies - well, no spoiler there, it's in the first sentence - and our narrator, the scrawny white girl, realizes when her own family divides up, that she really has no home.

The book takes a strange twist though - possibly a metaphorical one that was just beyond me - but it was enough to shake free the tender insights and leave me scratching my head.

But despite feeling left in the dark about this book's greater meaning, some of the repeated themes in the girls' lives rung true enough to give me a lot to digest. In my own somewhat ongoing battle to better understand at the core my own, and the country's historic racism, these themes provided food for thought.

It made me reflect on the complex relationships between people of different races, the challenges they face, and the ways in which they try to navigate through a society that is still grappling with its past.

Perhaps there is more to this book than meets the eye, and I will need to read it again to fully appreciate its depth and significance.

Nevertheless, it has already made an impact on me and has left me with a lot to think about.

The protagonist of the book, Minette Swift, is extremely unlikable. The other protagonist, the one who tells the story, Genna Hewett-Meade, is less so. The story starts from the end and goes backwards. It is a story about the perception of the world, of truth, of prejudices. At a certain point, the story will veer and perhaps that is where the imbalance lies for the reader. If the reader is a good one, they will become attached immediately and at the end, if the writer wants to shift the focus and the reader doesn't follow...

I don't know if I've made myself clear. I don't mean that I didn't like it. I really liked the novel a lot but, at a certain point, Genna makes us shift our attention. Here, I, as a reader, wouldn't have wanted that. Ending? Oates is still always a well of wonders. Well done. And even more.

The story's unique structure of starting from the end and working backwards adds an element of mystery and intrigue. It makes the reader question everything they think they know about the characters and the events. As the story progresses and Genna's role evolves, it forces the reader to reevaluate their initial impressions and perhaps see things from a different perspective. This ability of Oates to manipulate the reader's perception and keep them engaged until the very end is a testament to her skill as a writer.

The story truly drew me in, captivating my attention from the very beginning.

As I delved deeper into it, I found myself becoming increasingly immersed in the lives of the characters. Their themes of loneliness, separation, and redemption were explored in such a profound and moving way.

The portrayal of loneliness was palpable, making me empathize with the characters' feelings of isolation. The theme of separation added another layer of complexity, as I witnessed the characters struggle with the pain of being apart from those they loved.

However, it was the theme of redemption that truly touched my heart. Watching the characters find hope and a way to overcome their pasts was both inspiring and uplifting.

Overall, the story was a powerful exploration of these universal themes, leaving a lasting impression on me.