Title: Black Girl, White Girl
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
In Black Girl, White Girl, Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of Genna Meade and Minette Swift, roommates at a Pennsylvania college. Meade, the privileged white daughter of liberal academics, feels the need to make Minette, a black scholarship student from DC, into a friend. Swift rebuffs Meade's attempts at friendship, and soon it appears that Swift is being the victim of racist targeting. Over the course of the year, Swift plunges into a deep depression, and Meade tries to keep her from falling apart, and is surprised about what she finds about herself in the process.
Joyce Carol Oates has written an unreal number of books in her fiction career, and, unfortunately, sometimes it seems to show. In Black Girl, White Girl I found several anachronistic elements (the book takes place in 1975) and overall the writing seemed a bit on the sloppy side. However, as one who has both taught and advised college freshmen, I feel like Oates has her finger on the pulse of the underbelly of what happens to many college freshmen, especially those who might not be as academically prepared as they previously thought.
--originally published 12/12/06
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