New People - Danzy Senna
New People is excellent! It follows Maria, a few months away from her wedding and a comfortable, if not happy, life, but irresistibly drawn to another man. This new man is unequivocally black, unlike her light-skinned, “racially nebulous” fiancée, and Maria herself. This is a telling detail, shedding light on Maria’s troubled relationship with her multi-racial identity— “black and looking white”—and the question at the heart of the book: who’s black and how? The question is not new, sure, but New People mines it both for dark comedy and drama, delivering biting commentary on race and plenty of surprises for readers. Be prepared to sit in astonishment by the end—Maria is a character to be reckoned with.