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Wow, being a pick me and craving approval is a real disease! It's wild how much people’s desire to be liked, fit a certain aesthetic, or connect with people they see as superior can fuck up their lives. I wanted to shake the main character, Jane, so many times. Also, who walks around in someone else's clothes like that???? Wild! The Kanye West references were hilarious—I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Colored Television is eccentric in the best way—painfully ordinary yet absurd. It's ordinary because Senna perfectly captures how, if given the chance, some people will try to keep up with the Joneses, much to the chagrin of those in real community around them - who know how they're living for real. Jane’s colleague, the professor living in her office, is a quiet character, but she's mad crucial to the story.

I was engaged and amused, but as the book went on, I kept thinking—yo Jane is losing it. Danzy really did that! The writing was sharp and enjoyable. She tackled so many concepts around biracial logic and biracial family dynamics that Black folks have been talking about forever. I won’t dive into it all here, but Danzy does, and she hits the nail on the head over and over. And when she introduces Jane’s father—whew, my god.

A couple of my favourite moments/quotes:

"When they got out of the car, Jane could smell the wealth. Hampton handed the keys to the valet and Jane followed him past the waiting crowd and straight inside, thinking this was one of the things she loved most about LA. It didn't care if it impressed you. It was a sleeper hit of a city. It knew it was winning. It knew it before anybody else. LA knew to act like it had been here before."- 70% in Colored Television by Danzy Senna

"A small, degraded part of her wanted him to make a move-- for the ego rush. At her age, to be sexually desired by a man who had a personal trainer and an electric Porsche, a man who was served egg-white omelets and smoothies by his beautiful assistant during meetings." - 76% in Colored Television by Danzy Senna