I just finished The Other Black Girl last night. With a chapter left to read I was prepared to write a review on how I didn’t really like it. I was seriously ready to question ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏɴᴛʜ’ꜱ judgment on making this a top 5 book. But there was a plot twist I didn’t see coming.

One of my reading pet peeves is when books carry on with extraneous details that don’t move the story along. GET TO IT! I yell at the author in my head. They seemed to talk about hair and hair supplies in ad nauseam. At one point, I started thinking of all the lengthy descriptions that could be deleted to make the text shorter. I WAS WRONG! The details that I thought were negligible came together at the end and were pivotal to it all. And that’s the point. The characters thought the details were insignificant too & didn’t predict the surprise ending.

Storyline to The Other Black Girl

Anyway, Nella is the only Black person at a prestigious NYC publishing firm, Wagner. As a result, she’s isolated and lives with daily microaggressions. And, of course, she’s powerless to say anything, lest her collegues labele her an Angry Black Woman — the professional kiss of death! So, when Hazel shows up at Wagner, Nella is excited to not be the only one anymore. But that’s also when the creepy notes appear: “LEAVE WAGNER. NOW!”

Oh! And it discusses how much Boston sucks due to its insidious hostility toward Black people. It goes in on Boston the same way I would write about the city. The author knows her setting. This contrasts with the book, “ɪᴛ ᴇɴᴅꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴜꜱ” by Colleen Hoover took place in Boson but, with all the characters being white, glossed over Boston’s noted racism.

I’ve read other reviews that criticized the lack of realism. I have to remind readers —it’s non-fiction! Did you also criticize the book about a centipede and a little boy floating in a giant peach? But I thought the most obvious pieces of fantasy were the parts that made you think — The parts that people have said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” 

Overall Assessment…

The Other Black Girl is a hot suspense with “Get Out” vibes. This book is a must-read among Black women’s book clubs. I’d love to hear the discussions. A first-time author wrote this novel, so don’t expect a masterpiece. I like the plot. I think the author could have polished the way she told the story. But it did leave me wondering if I were in the main character’s position, which path would I choose?

Definitely read this book with your girlfriends and discuss. I’d like to hear what you have to say in the comments!

To read move novels on Black women navigating professional spaces, read Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen

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