“Page Flipping” is Madame Noire‘s weekly column on books. Stay tuned for more topics, comment or write us at editors@madamenoire.com if you have suggestions!
Lori L. Tharps explores race, class, child-rearing and love in her yummy new novel “Substitute Me.” Reactions that this book garners at various points (in no particular order): guffaw, wince, blush, gasp, clutch pearls, suck teeth.
At the heart of the story are questions about passion (in and out of the bedroom) and the sacrifices people are willing to make in order to achieve true happiness. Narrated in first-person by two women whose very different paths somehow collide in Park Slope, “Substitute Me” leaves readers with entertaining and thought-provoking commentary on modern womanhood.
Main character Zora Anderson is a 30-year-old dreadlocked beauty from the Midwest whose life is not quite as Huxtable-like as her upper-middle class family would like. After dropping out of the University of Michigan, spending four years in Paris as an au pair and obtaining a degree from a random culinary institute in Detroit, Zora finds herself in Brooklyn caring for a white couple’s infant son. She has no real plans for her future and hates the thought of being somebody’s “mammy.”
Zora does not buy into the notion that a 30-year-old woman has to be a Wonder Woman of sorts who magically balances a husband, a child and an executive career. She does however think that she should at least know by now what she wants to do for a living. Madames in post-college cluelessness about that very same issue will find comfort in knowing they are not alone.
In many ways, Kate Carter, Zora’s employer, is Zora’s complete opposite. Kate embraces the Wonder Woman cape with gusto. She gave up her beloved journalism career in favor of her current demanding, thankless, but more lucrative position at a marketing firm. Kate has a handsome ambitious husband named Brad and she hires Zora to help care for her adorable sweet-tempered son, Oliver. Her nanny ad in the paper asks for a “substitute me.”
As Zora becomes just that, working 12-hour days Monday through Friday and taking on more responsibilities than just caring for Oliver, her frustrations with her default career path increase. The appearance of a charming actor/waiter/stripper named Keith provides a welcome distraction and Angel is that loud filter-less girlfriend every woman seems to have.
Tharps offers rather candid commentary about contemporary race relations. The reader gets to see the world through Zora’s eyes as a young black woman and how she interacts with her friends and family sans the “mask” one often presents in “mixed company.” Then, the readers see the world from Kate’s perspective as a young white mother and wife who seems to always try to be politically correct, but has some eyebrow raising conversations with her white friends nonetheless.
Some of the most interesting parts of the book come when the two “worlds” interact and the reader has an understanding of the motivations behind the characters’ actions and words. Tharps explores beauty standards, family expectations and sexuality all through the prism of race. Madames familiar with Tharps’ “Kinky Gazpacho” and “Hair Story” know how capable she is of tackling such important topics.
Some of the secondary characters are not quite as developed as one might hope, but overall “Substitute Me” is a quick read with a well-written story that readers will find engaging. Though the characters are black and white, their actions certainly are not. Readers may find themselves tsking and cheering on the same person at different parts of the story.
“Substitute Me” hits shelves August 24, 2010.
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