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A review by inkerly
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
3.0
Love Issa, but writing fits the name
I picked up this book because I’ve long been a fan of Issa Rae and her journey from web series creator to HBO star on her hit show Insecure. Like her, I too want to break into writing and film directing someday, and I wanted to read this book because I know she has a great sense of humor and a great journey to tell...unfortunately this book somewhat misses the mark. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good book. I learned a lot about her, and there were parts that made me laugh or feel inspired. But her writing felt very rigid at times, and some parts of the book made me scratch my head.
When she would go into stories of her childhood I felt like I was reading one of those essays that kids had to write in middle school about “What we Did this summer...” It just felt too forced. That may partially be because she is of Senegalese-American descent and a lot of the scenes were intentional in balancing both of her experiences, but the way it was written was for lack of a better word awkward. And not the good kind of way.
However the biggest irony to this book is that throughout the book, she asserts how her experiences in life have only emphasized how much of an “Awkward Black Girl” she is. But to my surprise many of her childhood experiences were very very normal! She’d had more than four boyfriends or “flings”, friends who appreciated her (despite some that also saw her as the “confidence booster” friend) and aside from some embarrassing situations here and there she actually had what most people see as a pretty solid life.
A lot of the so called “awkward” stories she shared were mostly a result of her trying to impress people (I.e lying about knowing how to dance and then putting herself in an awkward position where she has to dance for people at a party, lying to guys about her feelings towards them, lying about her cousins knowing Lil Kim and Puff Daddy,the list goes on) . It’s less so awkward than just childish. Which I think was the biggest fault in the book. As an “awkward” girl myself I was sitting back thinking how lucky of a high school experience she must have had to be constantly invited to parties and having experience with boys
IMO, this book should’ve been “Misadventures of an Insecure Black Girl” because most of her stories revolves exactly around that. And if she’d toned down the cringe writing just a bit (for example, a story involving a cockroach in her crotch area that I did NOT need to know), then I would’ve enjoyed this book a lot more.
I picked up this book because I’ve long been a fan of Issa Rae and her journey from web series creator to HBO star on her hit show Insecure. Like her, I too want to break into writing and film directing someday, and I wanted to read this book because I know she has a great sense of humor and a great journey to tell...unfortunately this book somewhat misses the mark. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good book. I learned a lot about her, and there were parts that made me laugh or feel inspired. But her writing felt very rigid at times, and some parts of the book made me scratch my head.
When she would go into stories of her childhood I felt like I was reading one of those essays that kids had to write in middle school about “What we Did this summer...” It just felt too forced. That may partially be because she is of Senegalese-American descent and a lot of the scenes were intentional in balancing both of her experiences, but the way it was written was for lack of a better word awkward. And not the good kind of way.
However the biggest irony to this book is that throughout the book, she asserts how her experiences in life have only emphasized how much of an “Awkward Black Girl” she is. But to my surprise many of her childhood experiences were very very normal! She’d had more than four boyfriends or “flings”, friends who appreciated her (despite some that also saw her as the “confidence booster” friend) and aside from some embarrassing situations here and there she actually had what most people see as a pretty solid life.
A lot of the so called “awkward” stories she shared were mostly a result of her trying to impress people (I.e lying about knowing how to dance and then putting herself in an awkward position where she has to dance for people at a party, lying to guys about her feelings towards them, lying about her cousins knowing Lil Kim and Puff Daddy,the list goes on) . It’s less so awkward than just childish. Which I think was the biggest fault in the book. As an “awkward” girl myself I was sitting back thinking how lucky of a high school experience she must have had to be constantly invited to parties and having experience with boys
IMO, this book should’ve been “Misadventures of an Insecure Black Girl” because most of her stories revolves exactly around that. And if she’d toned down the cringe writing just a bit (for example, a story involving a cockroach in her crotch area that I did NOT need to know), then I would’ve enjoyed this book a lot more.