Book Review: “The Other Black Girl” by Zakiya Dalila Harris

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Yet another installment “revenge of the English majors”, with MeToo and anti racism thrown in.  No wonder lots of people are reading it!

The OBG is a story about young, entry level workers in the New York publishing and media world.  In this case, young, female, Black entry level workers.

There is a lot of slice-of-life in NYC publishing houses, which I have no experience with.  So, not only do I not many of get the contemporary cultural references, I don’t get a lot of the details of the city.

The important thing is that I do like Nella, even if I can’t totally grok her experiences.  Although, a lot of what she is going through is, well, very strange.  And not just because of racism.

I have to say, I found this book hard to read in places – not because its badly written, but because the events are just so horribly, familiarly, cringeworthy.  I didn’t last long in corporate America, and this kind of stuff is why.

To be clear—it’s not just race, racism, racial politics.  Everything is a mess of power, privilege, self-interest, and general lack of decent human relations.  Sexual and racial politics amp up an already basically hostile, inhumane situation.

I hated corporate life, and I couldn’t take it for even a year.

I found myself worrying about Nella, and questioning her decisions.  At places, I’m yelling at her inside, “don’t do that!”   But she does.  Kids always do.  (I won’t even bother to mention all the cringing I did at the idiotic white folks.)

Of course, the main thrust of the plot is about race and racism in the workplace.  The title refers to the frequent experience people have of being the Only Black Person in the room.  In this case, events take off when the second BG, the OBG, arrives.  That event triggers additional tensions around solidarity and competition among the BGs.  It ain’t pretty.

I’m sure that the OBG situation is weird enough in ordinary life.  This story goes off into pretty wild directions, and weird doesn’t begin to describe it.  Like any conspiracy theory, it makes no sense from the outside.  You have to get inside to follow along.

Is this what really happens in media companies these days?  I sure hope not. 

Will this fantasy help or hurt people navigate contemporary office politics?  I have no idea.

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1. Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2021.

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