Black Friend
Essays
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
From the writer crowned one of the smartest, funniest voices in modern America, this hotly anticipated debut collection of essays offers “a precious glimpse into how Ziwe’s uniquely fearless mind functions” (New York)
Ziwe made a name for herself staring interviewees in the eye and asking, “How many Black friends do you have?” She’s an expert at making people squirm, coming right out and asking the tough questions about race and racism that our culture has made white people experts at dancing around.
In Black Friend, she turns this incisive perspective on the culture at large, with her signature blend of bluntness and warmth that keeps her guests coming back. Throughout the book, Ziwe mixes big-picture concepts like critical race theory and white privilege with pop-culture commentary and her own personal life story. From a cringe-inducing story of mistaken identity via a Jumbotron to an all-too-real fight-or-flight encounter in the woods, Ziwe tackles questions about race head on and in a manner that evokes the way it comes up in the real world—not through deliberate studies of history and theory, which are so important, but in an awkward conversation at a party or a “yikes” comment from a coworker in the break room. The book lives in the moment of discomfort that can be the most truly educational way of unlearning biases. Plus, like everything Ziwe does, it will startle you with how much it makes you laugh.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The comedian and former host of the satirical Showtime talk show Ziwe debuts with a forthright collection of personal essays on identity and race. "Discomfort" offers insight into Ziwe's idiosyncratic brand of humor, revealing that she felt able to ask uncomfortable questions to guests on her show because "I have felt uncomfortable my entire life" as the daughter of Nigerian immigrant parents growing up in New England (she recounts feeling like an outsider as a child for missing sleepovers because her parents "didn't trust other people"). In "How Many Black Friends Do You Have?" Ziwe muses that white guests on her Showtime and Instagram Live programs often answered with "four or five" because more than 10 feels transparently "arbitrary," six to 10 comes across as "commodif the brown people in your life," and fewer than three makes one appear "part of the problem." Other entries discuss Ziwe's encounter with a "Karen" while roaming the woods near her upstate New York Airbnb and feeling compelled to go by a mononym professionally because white people struggled to get her full name right. The intimate selections offer a rare look beneath Ziwe's comedic persona, and the humor amuses (she calls group projects "a byproduct of the stupid rights lobby to hold advanced students who did the homework back from reaching their true potential"). Ziwe's fans will appreciate the energetic mix of comedy and personal reflection.
