
Lori Tharps has already well established herself as a nonfiction writer navigating the politics of Black hair in Hair Story and her witty, observant memoir, Kinky Gazpacho. Now she's taking her turn at fiction in Substitute Me. Tharps explores the nanny-employer relationship in this head shaking, "uhn" inducing novel. Zora Anderson is the classic underachiever. Lingering between self-discovery and complacency, she transplants to New York and sublets a friends apartment. For income, she falls back into being a nanny and her near perfect job slowly but surely gets into emotionally dangerous territory. Her charge, Ollie, is the infant son of Kate and Brad. Kate is career-oriented and Brad has a career that's just a job to him and other aspirations that his wife doesn't necessarily support. Kate's ad stating that she's looking for someone to "substitute me" gets her more than she bargained for.
This book is so many things--an entertaining read, a conversation on race, gender, and class, a look at today's working moms, etc. What stands out for me most is what this novel explores regarding what some may view as the modern mammy and crossing boundaries. It's just ripe with debate. A refreshing component is characterization. The people inhabiting Substitute Me are often not depicted in literature that features Black main characters. Zora and her fellow nanny friend are both cultured, worldly women who are merely on a pit stop in life as caretakers. Tharps does a great job of contrasting eccentric and confident painter, Angel and Zora who's afraid to admit she just might like being a nanny because her family wouldn't approve. Kate is the typical career woman coping with fitting in her other roles of wife and mother. Her and Brad's banter on race and class are classic. While the supporting hold their own, this novel is ultimately Zora and Kate's stories.
Lori Tharps' writing shines here in Zora's observation of Fort Greene and Park Slope neighborhoods of Brooklyn:
This book is so many things--an entertaining read, a conversation on race, gender, and class, a look at today's working moms, etc. What stands out for me most is what this novel explores regarding what some may view as the modern mammy and crossing boundaries. It's just ripe with debate. A refreshing component is characterization. The people inhabiting Substitute Me are often not depicted in literature that features Black main characters. Zora and her fellow nanny friend are both cultured, worldly women who are merely on a pit stop in life as caretakers. Tharps does a great job of contrasting eccentric and confident painter, Angel and Zora who's afraid to admit she just might like being a nanny because her family wouldn't approve. Kate is the typical career woman coping with fitting in her other roles of wife and mother. Her and Brad's banter on race and class are classic. While the supporting hold their own, this novel is ultimately Zora and Kate's stories.
Lori Tharps' writing shines here in Zora's observation of Fort Greene and Park Slope neighborhoods of Brooklyn:
Fort Greene was populated mostly by Black people, with a smattering of young hipster Asians and White people sprinkled in the mix, and Park Slope was an inverse mix of mostly White people, with enough spots of color to make it feel multicultural in a Coca-Cola-commercial kind of way.
And here on being Black and living in Paris v. New York:
"Yeah, but Paris does it better. With more style." Zora shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it. Paris is just Paris. She calls you to her with no judgment and offers all of her charms to you. Paris is like a sensuous woman." Zora laughed at what she was about to say. "And New York," she finished, "is a whore."
I only have one teeny tiny qualm about a minor detail. I find Kate's ignorance of Zora Neale Hurston's existence kinda implausible since she holds a degree in English literature. Even if she is white. But our fabulous author is a college professor and may have more insight on this than I, so I digress.
What's important is that this is a great quirky brown read navigating the lives of Black folks who are well travelled, aspirational, and some even bilingual. Do get book, get friends and family to as well, then engage in some awesome discussions.
I received this book from the publisher.
Challenges
Quirky Brown
POC Reading
What's important is that this is a great quirky brown read navigating the lives of Black folks who are well travelled, aspirational, and some even bilingual. Do get book, get friends and family to as well, then engage in some awesome discussions.
I received this book from the publisher.
Challenges
Quirky Brown
POC Reading