Book Review #121: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

I was really looking forward to reading this book. Not only did it look like a really interesting concept, but it was also really unique. I'd had it for a while, but when I heard it was adapted into a Disney+ TV show, I wanted to read it ASAP so I could watch the show too.

Nella is tired of being the only Black girl at work, so when Hazel starts working at the publishing company with her, she's thrilled. But as Hazel rises quickly within the company, and Nella starts receiving threatening notes, she begins to suspect that the new girl isn't what she seems.

I loved the concept but, unfortunately, didn't really like the execution.

I really liked the prologue. I liked the voice that part of the story was told in, and I liked the direction I thought the novel would be going in. Unfortunately it kind of went downhill from there.

Nella's inner dialogue didn't always sound realistic, and sometimes felt like it was for the audience's benefit rather than being the character's actual thoughts.

At the end of 'part one', I understood Nella's perspective, and thoughts, more. But it took a while for me to warm to her as a person. And while a book having an unlikeable protagonist doesn't affect whether it is good or not, when the unlikeable character is supposed to be likeable, that doesn't set things on a good path.

My major problem with Nella, particularly in the first third of the book, is that to me she read as a narcissist who thought the world revolved around her. Every event that happened was perceived as being directly about her, and even when nothing was about her, she made it about her. 

And while part of this is Nella's own feelings, the way the book is written makes Nella the main character of everyone else's world, and that made me take a disliking to her. Even after having read the book, I couldn't really tell you anything significant about any of the supporting characters. I only really started liking Nella when Hazel got worse.

But even with this, I got into the book from the first page and never wanted to put it down.

Tension is created so well. Even when nothing is happening there's always something a bit 'off' that we can't put our fingers on.

But despite this tension, nothing actually happens in the story for a while. It's still an entertaining read, but it takes a while to build to something that takes too long to happen.

A lot of the story is told through anecdotes, and it can be jarring to jump back and forth between those perspectives. Actually, jarring is putting it mildly - I hated the different points of view that told this story. I think it would have been so much more effective as a thriller if we knew nothing outside of Nella's world. Thinking Nella was alone in this, and hinting about other people's lives would have been really scary, and an amazing way to tell the story.

There were a few times in the story when our suspicions were confirmed without giving us time to be suspicious. For example, in one scene Nella saw someone who looked vaguely familiar, but the next chapter was from that character's point of view, so we never even got to speculate who this may have been.

And with this, the element of surprise (and therefore the source of tension) was almost completely removed.

The last 20 pages left so many unanswered questions. And ultimately, I hated the 'explanation' and the way the story ended, which made me hate everything I thought I liked about it in the first place.

Overall, this book isn't what you think it will be. It was an entertaining read that I couldn't put down, but I also didn't like it as much as I wanted to. At all.

2.5/5