The only things girls should have to worry about their freshman year at college are weight gain, fraternity boys and midterms. But in Joyce Carol Oates new novel, "Black Girl/White Girl," Genna, a well-meaning but sheltered white girl, finds herself in the center of race crimes and the death of her freshman roommate.
The setting is a small, fictitious liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, Schuyler College in 1975. It's Genna's first year there. By chance she is paired with Minette, a black scholarship student, as a roommate. One would hope that their freshman roommate doesn't have as much as an impact on one as Minette and Genna. But one would also hope that their freshman roommate doesn't turn up dead. After being the victim of alleged race crimes and sinking into a depression, Minette dies but, because of "the unvoiced wish to protect Minette's family, and... the unvoiced wish to protect Schyler College... to protect the white faces surrounding Minette," facts in the death were "obscured." But 15 years later, Genna isn't over it. She starts a investigation into her roommate's death.
When Genna begins living with Minette, she realizes how little she knows about life outside her small bubble of a world. She is a simple, but intriguing character and her story is a retrospective buildungsroman. Because the story is told in Genna's voice, Minette is more of mysterious. But, because of this the title is a lie. The two girls are not equal, and although Genna wants to find Minette justice, she is never as human as Genna. Genna is a bit obsessed with becoming Minette's friend, even though she knows very little about the girls. They do become close friends, and Genna is the last person to see Minette alive before her death.
Many of the chapters in "Black Girl/White Girl" are short, few sentence chapters, resembling prose poetry. These sections fall flat. When Minette dies, there is a shadow called, "Now Shadow" that only reads: "I cannot live like this. Fast-moving, casting no shadow." There is nothing wrong with short chapters, but what on earth is Oates trying to do? In the fictitious introduction, written by Genna, this novel claims to be an investigation and a retelling. So why is the vague poetry necessary?
Oates is a prolific writers, who publishes at least one book a year, perhaps because of that "Black Girl/White Girl" feels a little rished. The book shows the failure of the civil rights movement in the personal sphere, even at an allegedly "tolerant" liberal arts college. Some of the most interesting parts of the novel are the scenes when Genna comments on the actions of her racist classmates. Although she knows they are wrong, there is an undercurrent in her comments that suggests she can't hate them for what there doing, because she is white like them. The problem is Oates isn't saying anything particularly new about race relations in America. But Oates doesn't even seem to be looking. The story of Genna and Minette is a entertaining and a quick read, but from a powerhouse like Oates, the reader expects more than a good story.
