Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
I liked this book. Note the “like” and not “love.”
I had an inclination to read this book because I love every project that Issa Rae is apart of. I love the movies she’s in, the shows she creates, and even her features in magazines! So, when I saw this book on a Target book shelf, I instantly put it into my cart.
Now, this might’ve been where I set myself up to not love this book. I totally judged the book by it’s cover (I mean, what else are covers for??), and without looking at the synopsis or the year of publishing, I committed to a book I just knew I would love.
I thought ABG was going to be a fun, autobiography of Issa Rae’s life and career, and I was so excited. I was half-right.
The book was about Issa’s life, or should I say Jo Issa, since I learned that’s her actual name. This is the part of the book I really enjoyed. In fact, in reading about Issa’s life, her childhood, and her struggles as an ABG, I found myself saying “Yess, sis!” to myself a lot.
I related to Issa’s youth on so many levels; being a black girl in a school of not-so-black kids, struggling with my own blackness, having a complicated relationship with my textured hair, growing up perpetually chunky, and lacking dance skills that all black girls supposedly have.
Though I didn’t really enjoy her flow during these chapters, nor did I like the fact that none of her chapters were really connected or had a clear sequence, I was still very invested in the book. That is, until I neared the end and realized she had yet to talk about the career I so admired!
I was at the end of the book and there wasn’t a single mention of Insecure! I was so disappointed. I also thought it was strange how she could go an entire book without mentioning one of her biggest claims to fame, and that’s when I finally decided to look and see what year this book was published...2015.
Insecure didn’t even premiere until 2016!
So, of course she didn’t mention it...it didn't exist when she was writing this book! I felt so dumb, but also relieved she didn’t just glaze over that nugget of success. That misunderstanding was all on me.
So, now, I need a follow-up book. I need to read the story of Issa Rae post-Insecure success.
After all of this, I would recommend this book, but only to a particular audience, I think. I would recommend this book to black women, appreciators of black women, girls who loveee food, and that’s probably about it. For everyone else, I don’t think you’d appreciate this book too much, but I think everyone should go and support Issa Rae.
Whether that means purchasing and reading this book, or watching some of the work she’s done. She’s a great actress and had an interesting upbringing, which she shared in Misadventure of Awkward Black Girl.
Docking points for the poor flow, seemingly unrelated chapters, I’m giving this book an overall rating of 3.7/5.