RE: JCO: grief
Hi Marie
I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to answer you earlier when you asked about the subject of grief in Black Girl/White Girl. (It's been a very busy week for me.) Firstly, it's a brilliant book regardless and deserves to be read. Geena, the protagonist, does grieve deeply for her roommate, but it's a very complicated relationship to understand. I'll try not to spoil the plot. But Geena basically comes to view her black roommate Minette as a sister. In forming this kind of imaginary relationship/kinship with Minette she idealizes a lot about her, overlooking severe problems she has and the fact that Minette doesn't wish to have such a close friendship with Geena. The book mainly explores how this relationship develops and how both girls in the book have some fundamental misunderstandings about each other based on their racial identities, despite trying not to let the racial divide impede the friendship. Geena's desire to have such a close friendship/sisterhood with Minette seems to really come from the shortcomings she has in her own disparate messy family situation. The novel doesn't really deal with "the aftermath" as it were, a person coming to terms with someone's death so much as chart the course of a friendship between these girls. I hope that answers your question about the relevance of grief in Black Girl/White Girl. If you choose to read it, I'd love to hear what your reaction to it was and how you felt the subject of grief was dealt with in the book. In case you hadn't noticed, the paperback is coming out later this month. You also may be interested in Oates' new novel The Gravedigger's Daughter which is also released around the same time. It's a masterful, powerful work which also deals with this theme in its own way and perhaps this can be discussed more amongst the group when it is released.
All the best,
Eric
I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to answer you earlier when you asked about the subject of grief in Black Girl/White Girl. (It's been a very busy week for me.) Firstly, it's a brilliant book regardless and deserves to be read. Geena, the protagonist, does grieve deeply for her roommate, but it's a very complicated relationship to understand. I'll try not to spoil the plot. But Geena basically comes to view her black roommate Minette as a sister. In forming this kind of imaginary relationship/kinship with Minette she idealizes a lot about her, overlooking severe problems she has and the fact that Minette doesn't wish to have such a close friendship with Geena. The book mainly explores how this relationship develops and how both girls in the book have some fundamental misunderstandings about each other based on their racial identities, despite trying not to let the racial divide impede the friendship. Geena's desire to have such a close friendship/sisterhood with Minette seems to really come from the shortcomings she has in her own disparate messy family situation. The novel doesn't really deal with "the aftermath" as it were, a person coming to terms with someone's death so much as chart the course of a friendship between these girls. I hope that answers your question about the relevance of grief in Black Girl/White Girl. If you choose to read it, I'd love to hear what your reaction to it was and how you felt the subject of grief was dealt with in the book. In case you hadn't noticed, the paperback is coming out later this month. You also may be interested in Oates' new novel The Gravedigger's Daughter which is also released around the same time. It's a masterful, powerful work which also deals with this theme in its own way and perhaps this can be discussed more amongst the group when it is released.
All the best,
Eric
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posted by Admin at
4:09 PM
