- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: Riverhead (HC) (May 10 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1573222755
- ISBN-13: 978-1573222754
- Product Dimensions: 21.5 x 14.5 x 2.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,772,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
A young biracial woman's postcollege year in New York proves psychologically challenging in Senna's muddled second novel. The unnamed narrator has landed a prestigious fellowship and a job as a reporter at a big New York magazine, not to mention a "strange lovely" new boyfriend who moves her into his apartment faster than she can say "nice place." But when Andrew-who thinks she's white-introduces her to his Andover pals, racist comments send her on a hunt for independence and a place of her own. An older co-worker, Greta Hicks, comes to the rescue with a sublet offer from her hairdresser's cousin; it's in a "transitional" Brooklyn neighborhood, but, hey, the rent's cheap. The narrator, habitually musing on her secret history, slowly gets used to Brooklyn style as Greta insinuates herself into her life. Her love life rebounds when she's assigned a story on talented Ivers Greene, whom Greta calls "the great ghetto artiste" and who becomes the narrator's new beau. But Greta's being creepy-she suggests they give each other bikini waxes, for one thing-and then she starts spying on the narrator, berating her, stalking her, etc. The first half of Senna's novel works in places, particularly when she outlines her narrator's growing sense of alienation from Andrew, her fatigue with racial politics and her difficulties in adapting to New York life. But the second half turns increasingly lurid and cartoonish, particularly when Greta's relationship to the wild previous occupant of the narrator's apartment is revealed. Senna addressed similar issues of race and identity with verve and panache in Caucasian, but this follow-up shows signs of the sophomore slump.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Senna's fine debut novel, Caucasia (1998), tells the story of a young girl struggling with her mixed-race heritage. The unnamed narrator in Senna's second novel also has a black father and a white mother, but this is a strained and peculiar tale, one that could be pitched as a tragic mulatto meets Psycho in Brooklyn. The narrator has left Berkeley for New York with a fellowship position at a prestigious magazine. Low on funds and all alone, she sublets a grungy Brooklyn apartment at the suggestion of a co-worker, Greta, a woman twice her age but of the same ambiguous racial identity. The apartment has a very bad vibe as the absent tenant's unpaid bills pile up and men leave obscene messages. Then Greta goes from being chummy and eccentric to pushy, possessive, and, finally, terrifying. Senna's strung-tight and relentlessly creepy novel features some ludicrous plot elements, but it is suspenseful, and the anguish her vividly realized mixed-race characters feel when confronted with hostility from both ends of the racial spectrum is, sadly, all too authentic. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
This year....it's about COLOR,
By Sutura (Detroit) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Symptomatic (Hardcover)
Wow! I have read no less than three powerful books about COLOR since 2004 began.Of the three books--"Don't Play In the Sun" a memoir by Marita Golden, "Flesh and the Devil" a love story by African Kola Boof and Symptomatic a college lit piece by Danzy...I have to give the highest praises to Kola Boof's book, because it featured both the dark skinned and the lightskinned-nearly white plight as well as covered the history leading up to this problem and intricately focused on a bold solution by the African author..that we all just become black again, basically. "Symptomatic" is very well written, and the first half of the book is fantastic and plays like real life, but the second half is kind of a cheap shot psycho story. I get the feeling the author didn't know where to take the book. No matter how she tried to avoid the "tragic mulatto" stereotype, that's really how I saw the heroine and her sicko friend GRETA by the time the book ended. As for "Don't Play In the Sun", that was really good book but it didn't cover the issue of COLOR as well as the book "The Color Complex" did. It was OK. But again, I encourage everybody who is black,no matter what shade to check out "Flesh and the Devil" by Kola Boof. It's incredible and it's on point. Save your money on "Symptomatic" and pick up Danzy Senna's excellent first book "Caucasia". Now that book definitely told the story in a good, powerful, truthful way.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Review,
By Juss Books "Juss" (Brooklyn, New York USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Symptomatic (Hardcover)
Captivating.I enjoyed this book as I identified strongly with the protagonist who is coming into her own. Although the protagonist is black she is fair to the point that she can pass for white and although that is not my dilemma (smile) I identified with her as for me she wanted people to see her for who she is and its not about denying who you are but also forging an identity for yourself. The plot twists in this book, especially one, takes you through, but is a ride worth taking. I commend the author, Danzy Senna, on her writing style as I was right there in the trenches and felt that I was reading about me and not about a character out of a book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Sophmore Effort!,
By
This review is from: Symptomatic (Hardcover)
I really enjoyed this novel. I felt as I read that I was experiencing a dream. The story reminded me of "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man" which was also about a person of mixed heritage and how they fit, or don't fit into society. I like Danzy Senna's style of writing, which for the most part keeps the story rather plain yet revealing of subtle everyday changes. While I think her first novel was brilliant, I can't say this novel fell short at all. Work after something particularly well crafted always seems lesser than the previous work. But this story right from the beginning captivated me and made me want to know where it was going. I must say the ending wasn't that surprising but pleasing all the same because you felt like you took a journey and it led you to a place of interest. I say ignore the negative reviews and give this book a chance because it might move you more than you think.
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