Thomas's Reviews > Dominoes

I hate to say it but this may be the worst book I’ve read in years.

It follows a mixed-race, half-Black, half-white woman who’s about to marry a white man. With their wedding coming up, our protagonist Layla realizes that her fiancé’s ancestors likely enslaved Layla’s in Jamaica. Layla goes on a guilt trip about what this means for her and Andy’s relationship.

I’m actually seething as I type this out so let me try to express myself clearly. I was intrigued by this book’s premise and thought, okay, a book that questions romantic relationships with white people, I dig it, let’s see how this goes. But I felt that Phoebe McIntosh did a horrible job of addressing this topic.

I think my main overwhelming frustration with this novel is how Layla, our light-skinned, biracial protagonist, treats her best friend, Sera, a monoracial dark-skinned Black woman. I’ll start with one just absolutely wild incident. At one point in the novel Sera comments on a Twitter video that shows a Black male teenager getting harassed by white police offers. Then, Andy, Layla’s fiancée, comments and “corrects” Sera (he literally says “But worth pointing out – stats show S&S effective at keeping us safe. And don’t forget, plenty of white people get stopped too!”) Sera tells him that his voice isn’t needed, which, totally true.

What’s maddening about this incident is that Layla literally gets angry at her friend Sera for calling out Andy???? Why are you going to get mad at your Black friend for calling out your mediocre white husband for making an unnecessary (and actually racist, colorblind, ignorant) comment on a video about police being anti-Black??? I was bewildered because Layla never even apologies to Sera for her behavior. Layla does bring this incident up with Andy and Andy somewhat takes accountability, which Layla pretty much immediately accepts and forgives him for – meanwhile never even thinking about the labor Sera had to put in to call Andy out for his racism in the first place.

This dynamic between Layla and Sera is continued throughout the book. Layla basically blames Sera for making her feel guilty instead of truly seeing where Sera is coming from. Layla also has this weird reflection about how yes, Sera has faced more discrimination than Layla (it’s implied that Layla recognizes this is because of Sera’s darker skin tone), but Layla then pulls a “if only she could see that I’ve suffered too as a biracial woman.” I’m not minimizing that biracial people face unique forms of racism and alienation but I thought it was just atrocious that Layla continued to center herself. Sera goes through a breakup during the book and Layla never even asks about it or extends Sera care – Layla is just upset that Sera won’t wholeheartedly accept her marriage to a mediocre white man. And McIntosh essentially communicates that Layla’s behavior and mindset is acceptable. Just maddening.

Finally, I thought the dynamic between Layla and Andy was awful to read about. I feel like McIntosh’s messaging was essentially, as long as you name some race dynamics and you love one another, past historical systems of oppression don’t matter. Like wtf??? Andy literally never took accountability for his treatment of Sera and acts like he’s a victim (which is ironic given that Andy is a white man and Sera is a Black woman). Neither Layla nor Andy actually took any action to address the systems of injustice, anti-Black racism, etc. that affect those around them. The message was basically “you love who you love and that’s what matters at the end of the day” with no real critical thinking about the politics of desire, how white people are unjustly glorified in media (including this book itself), how people of color are denigrated and viewed as unattractive compared to white people, etc.

I’d truly not recommend this book, not even as a hate read. I feel like it appeals to white people and people of color who don’t want to think critically about how race and issues of racial justice affect their relationships. And for people who think their friends don’t matter to them that much. Also, the writing was not memorable or impressive. Anyway, I’ll end this review with some books I’ve loved over the years with people of color thriving in relationships with themselves and other people of color: Such a Lonely, Lovely Road by Kagiso Lesego Molope, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal, and Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert.