Hello my lovely readers! This is my fourth book of the Personal Five Challenge and what a trip down memory lane! Let's get into it.
SYNOPSIS
The daughter of an ambitious mother and the product of an exclusive New England prep school, African-American journalist Hope Robinson is sick of proving herself over and over to white professionals...tired of the automatic distrust she gets from the black community...and has had it up to here with black -- and white -- men who don't think she's good enough. It will take both a crisis and a journey back into the worlds Hope grew up in before she can confront the roots of her rage -- and finally free herself to be who she wants to be.
The daughter of an ambitious mother and the product of an exclusive New England prep school, African-American journalist Hope Robinson is sick of proving herself over and over to white professionals...tired of the automatic distrust she gets from the black community...and has had it up to here with black -- and white -- men who don't think she's good enough. It will take both a crisis and a journey back into the worlds Hope grew up in before she can confront the roots of her rage -- and finally free herself to be who she wants to be.
MY THOUGHTS
I read this book during a transformative period of my life. I wrote about it briefly in the Books that Shaped Me series three years ago (woof, time is flying!) and I'm glad that I chose this book for the prompt Book that Shaped Your Reading Taste as part of the Personal Five Challenge.
I first received this book in 2013 as a Christmas gift from my mother. From my library to your library she wrote on the first page of it. At the time, I was working at my first journalism job in a small town in Texas. Reading about a young Black journalist who had to navigate a predominantly white newsroom, uneasiness from sources all while figuring out her racial identity, felt like I was reading an autobiography about myself.
It was incredibly self-affirming to read a book that felt like me and read like me. It's what started me on my journey of finding more self-reflective books. Shortly after I read this one, The Ice Cream Girls came into my orbit as did Kinky Gazpacho and Go Girl! These were all such reassuring books and I'll never forget what it felt like to read those books at that moment in my life. I'll cherish that time period always.
Re-reading it now that I've been in the news industry for 15 years and all the changes that have come with it (especially, racially) is a reminder of how far I've come in my identity, pride and acceptance of being a Black woman. Don't get it twisted. I've ALWAYS been proud of being Black. But being a "quirky" or "plain Jane" Black woman can have it's challenges and I used to shy away from to fit in with everyone else. Nowadays, you're going to see my authentic self and deal with it!
Also, I did an author spotlight on the author, if you want more information on her!
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