A well-written portrait of the publishing industry today as seen from an Assistant’s perspective, with a timely description of the hardships of being a Black employee. I found the rhythm and pace of the novel very compelling, which made the book unputdownable. It was very easy to empathize with Nella’s character and journey from the beginning, and this made her decisions throughout the novel more difficult to bear, but also sadly sensible and relatable. The reflection on the toll that society’s pressure and discrimination takes on the individual was conveyed very successfully, truly reaching the reader’s heart.

I was given an e-arc by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book deserves the hype it has received, because it is AMAZING. It is funny, insightful, thrilling, and relatable (as a BIPOC but not Black reader). The writing itself is very clever, and I appreciated the little Chekhov's guns throughout.

Can't wait for this to be published so I can recommend to everyone I know.

Set in a prestigious New York publishing house, Zakiya Dalila Harris’ debut follows Nella, the only Black employee on the editorial staff until Hazel is installed in the cubicle next to hers. Harvard educated, the daughter of comfortably off parents, Nella knows that she must work twice as hard as the white editorial assistants, spending much of her time second guessing the reactions of her colleagues. When Hazel arrives, Nella’s thrilled but a little disconcerted by her confidence and social ease which quickly wins her popularity with everyone, from the receptionist to the head honcho. Shortly after Hazel’s arrival anonymous notes appear on Nella’s desk, urging her to leave Wagners. When Hazel’s behaviour turns distinctly unsisterly, Nella begins to wonder if she’s behind what seems to be a campaign to oust her but the truth, it seems, is not nearly so simple.

Harris’ novel pulls no punches, shining a piercing light on the dazzlingly white world of publishing which she clearly knows well through a sharp piece of satire. The result is a great piece of storytelling, often blisteringly funny, with the page-turning pace of a thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it, dismaying though its ending is, and wondered how publishing employees felt as they read it, particularly those of colour who seem as rare on the ground here in the UK as they apparently are in the States.

I was incredibly intrigued by this book from the very beginning but other reviewers are accurate when they say it's certainly a slow burn for a good portion of the book and not a huge amount happens. That said, as a character, Nella was someone I really enjoyed following and I really valued being able to witness her experience as a young black woman, right down to the very small details. This book touches on so many important topics that simply aren't written about enough.

Unfortunately, despite the teases throughout, this book simply didn't quite give me enough. I yearned to know more about the details of what was going on, how it started and why but I felt we just weren't given a complete picture in order for it to make sense to me. The premise was absolutely fascinating but I desperately wanted it to be explored further.

Original take on racial diversity and office/publishing house drama, comedy and thriller at the same time, definitely unexpected! Great debut novel, looking forward to reading more from this author.

The tension and suspense is masterful for the first 94% of this book - I couldn’t believe I was so close to the end without having that much of an idea of what had been going on?! And when we did find out, as another reviewer said... I can’t even exactly articulate what it is that we found out? I think I know, but am not positive. It all got a bit whack towards the end there. But that first 94% was great. FYI the Devil Wears Prada comparison is entirely redundant and lazy.

Without doubt, this is my book of 2021 so far. The Devil Wears Prada meets Get Out as Nella, the only black woman working for white-dominated publisher Wagner Books, struggles to maintain her place when another black woman joins the team.

Hoping they might be allies, Nella soon suspects that Hazel might not have her best interests at heart. Hazel starts making the kind of waves within a short month that Nella herself has struggled to achieve in her two years with the company, causing a range of emotions to surface: envy, insecurity, frustration, confusion. Nella always thought that black girls would have each other’s backs...

The writing is superb and creates a compelling and tense tale with a twist that’s as ingenious as it is sinister. READ THIS BOOK!

I was interested in reading about an explorative study of a professional black woman and the workplace dynamics when another black woman starts working there. I understood there was a thriller aspect to this book, and I expected a gritty, hard-hitting real world threat. Plus the cover is pretty.

I don't generally enjoy multiple POVs or timeline jumps so this put me off a bit, and I thought the writing was a bit overdone in places. Eg. I found Nella's initial reactions fairly farfetched - she gets an anonymous note telling her to leave her workplace and instantly becomes a paranoid and anxiety riddled mess. She can't sleep, she turns up to work late, she loses all of her personal and professional confidence right away... Really? I can see how it tries to build a tense atmosphere but this just didn't work for me. That said, there were some parts that I liked about female friendship, perceiving and reacting to racial microaggressions and the effects of social media influencers. So 50% or so into the book, and I'm thinking OK, maybe a 3 star read - I didn't buy into the tension and I felt zero fear factor, but I was still interested.

However around 70% in - the reason for my 1-star review - the thriller plot twist. I just can't. I can only describe it as farcical. It wasn't difficult to see coming, but I'd really hoped the story would hinge on something real, and this was the stuff of middle-grade, comic-book villainy.

The Other Black Girl was an intense, thrilling and deeply disturbing ride from start to finish, and as a person who is interested in the publishing industry it was illuminating to say the least. Obviously this is a fictional story but the reality of the industry and the blatant lack of BIPOC individuals in publishing is very real. Many of the things Nella experiences in the workplace and the issues raised in the novel in regards to race, class and gender are very real and I feel like Zakiya Dalila Harris captures them all incredibly well, in all their nuance.

From the synopsis you can tell that this is a thriller and it definitely is all that and more. The sense of subtle foreboding, tension is masterful and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading. I quite literally felt my heart race at certain points and several times the story takes some directions I really didn't expect. Especially that ending? It's seriously unreal and I can't wait for the novel to be out and discuss with other readers because I'm dying to talk about it! I want to keep this review short and sweet because this is a novel that NEEDS to be experienced and read first hand

* 4.5 stars.

Get Out meets Devil Wears Prada? SOLD. I've read several mediocre thrillers recently, so this book was a real breath of fresh air. The multi narrative set up laid the foundations for a pervasive sense of tension throughout, knowing something is wrong but not being able to put your finger on it, which also endears you to the protagonist as she goes through the same thing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and can't wait to see what this debut author does next.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

This novel reminded me of the early version of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and in a good way. I found the setting interesting, the characters deep and, for me, an understanding of the struggles a black woman can have when trying to make it in an industry that seems not known for its diversity. I found myself having to google some terms and then chuckling to myself as the narrator mentions how white people don't know about the issue black women have with their hair - an interesting start to the novel. Then, around the 60-70% mark the dynamic changes, with a turn for the worst for our protagonists. Definitely a good read, with a few genres mashed together but, ultimately, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' clinched it for me. Recommended.

Amazing!!! I absolutely loved reading The Other Black Girl and couldn't put it down. Nella is such a well written, real character. I felt as though I were completely on this journey with her, and so many parts of the book made me gasp as they were so true to life. The book manages to portray an authentic look at how existing as a minority in an industry that is dominated by white faces can affect the very core of your being, whilst still creating mystery and anticipation. Fabulous!

I went into The Other Black Girl paying more attention to the "The Devil Wears Prada" comparison than the "Get Out" one. That was a mistake. I didn't initially expect this to be a thriller, but this book had me on edge throughout, with a totally unexpected ending. Said ending was perhaps a little rushed for me though and I would have loved more hints to have been sprinkled earlier on and throughout the alternate narrative of the book. I'm still interested to know more about what happened to some of the other prominent characters and how deep their involvement was.

I loved the storytelling here - the exploration of culture, the expectations of Black women in the workplace, and the nods to the Black childhood and young adult experiences that are universal in countries where you're growing up a minority. The book rang true and Nella and her life felt very real to me.

Personally, I have experienced so many of the micro-aggressions that Nella has been subjected to and I empathised with both her experiences and thought processes. I'm positive that I wouldn't make the same choices Nella made at the end of the book, but then at one point so was she.....

This was absolutely brilliant, I couldn't put it down. The way the author wrote about the world of publishing from a junior perspective was accurate but then to add the additional nuances of what that means for a person of colour gave the story even more depth. It felt like an expose of the inner sanctum of publishing crossed with Get Out and I thought it was fantastic.

Okay so The Other Black Girl is being pitched as one of the best thrillers of the year, except I don’t think it’s really a thriller? I went into this book with completely the wrong expectations and I was left disappointed by it.

I would say that “Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada” is a good comparison, particularly the Get Out part since this book deals with microaggressions, isolation, racism, and all sorts. I think it’s a very good social commentary, but it’s not a very good thriller unfortunately.

I think the book is very slow to start, which is what initially put me off. The thrilling bits didn’t really start happening until over halfway through, and up until then it was more of a contemporary mystery type vibe. I think I’m just not a fan of slow burns in thrillers, I want all the action RIGHT NOW.

I think a lot of people will really enjoy this book and I have no doubt that many Black women and people of colour will find it relatable. Hearing the author talk in interviews about her experiences in publishing is eye opening and also gave a lot of context for this book. Unfortunately, The Other Black Girl just wasn’t the thriller for me.

Sorry. I found this a very difficult book to read. Considering the topic I found it amusing that sharper "editing" was, in my view, certainly required in this book. Yes, the book throws up the pressure that a black employee may well be exposed to in the work environment and why they feel forced to adapt but, beyond that, I found plot and pace lacking and therefore can only give a 2 star review. However, my congratulations to the cover designer. I'm sure it shall certainly help in generating sales once the bookshops open up again

I did not see this coming! The Other Black Girl really surprised me - the shock of the ending as a response to the racism experienced really angered and convicted me. The experience of reading this book will be a powerful tool to open the eyes of white readers. I couldn't believe the ending but this made me question myself as a white woman, and showed me the exhaustion it can be navigating the every day as a black woman in a white industry. Why wouldn't you fight? Because it is so tiring. This really clearly showed me the pressure and prevalence of white supremacy and that if anything is to change we all need to listen and learn, and then step forward to help change the systems around us - those with the privilege need to step forward and shoulder much of the exhaustion in the fight to end what benefits us.

I really wanted to like this book, and the blurb sounded so promising. I was hoping for an insightful story about racism, coupled with a good old thriller. Unfortunately the novel doesn't quite deliver on either count.

The story centres mainly on Nella, a young Black woman working in a publishers, where she is the only Black employee (at least, who isn't cleaning or delivering the post...). She finds the lack of diversity frustrating and isolating, so she's really pleased when another Black woman starts at the firm in the same role. But around the same time, she starts getting threatening anonymous notes. Is it coincidence, or are the two linked?

I found the insight into the frustrations for a Black person working in a predominantly white workplace interesting and thought provoking. My own office is very similar, and it made me wonder how my small number of non-white colleagues might feel about that. The constant anxiety that Black people live with of potential racism is one thing I'd not fully appreciated until the Black Lives Matter movement made me educate myself more. People don't have to be hurling racist abuse constantly for the threat of racism and its impacts to impinge on the daily lives of people with non-white ethnicities.

In fact, if the author had gone down a different route and not made it a thriller, I think she may well have produced a middling or even good novel about the experiences of educated Black women trying to get on in the workplace. But because it falls down as a thriller, it also ends up undermining its effectiveness as a social commentary novel as well.

Firstly, it's very slow for a thriller - not in a 'slow-burn', ratchetting up the tension type way, just in a 'too many words and not enough action' kind of way. For a book all about editors, it could have done with a sterner edit. Too many irrelevant conversations and descriptions get in the way. But once the action does finally get going, we hit the second problem. It is ludicrously far fetched. I can't list all the issues I had with the plot and denouement as I that would mean spoilers. But suffice to say it makes the 'Da Vinci Code' look watertight and plausible. The plot has more holes than Swiss cheese. So many things simply make no sense and are never explained. The sheer ridiculousness of the 'conspiracy' plot potentially undermines the credibility of the more serious descriptions of Nella's experiences in the office, which I'm sure are all in fact well grounded in truth.

My other problem is that the way the story goes ultimately ends up implying that the solution to lack of diversity in workplaces is for Black people to change their personalities, rather than society and workplaces to change. I'm sure it's what happens at the moment (so called 'code-switching') but that doesn't make it the right or only option (I only need to look at the sea of pale faces in my own office to see that). It's true that everyone, regardless of colour, modifies their behaviour at work to some degree - the so-called 'work persona'. But to imply the racism that holds back Black people in the workplace could all be solved if Black people were just different seems to put the blame on the people, rather than on their being judged and discriminated against based on something they cannot help or change and is not relevant to how well they might do a job anyway, i.e. the colour of their skin. I'm certain this is not the author's intention - and perhaps there's even a satirical element intended to make the point of how silly that idea is. But it doesn't come across right and just left me really frustrated.

I feel sorry I can't rate the book more highly as it's an important topic and very relevant, and there are some good and useful points in here. The first part in particular is good. But it's first and foremost a novel, and for me it just doesn't work out. I would consider reading another book by the author, particularly if she ditched the far-fetched thriller stuff and found a more mundane plot to accompany.

Loved the fictional insight into publishing, and found the eye opening look at micro-aggressions in the work place brilliantly conveyed. Loved the character of Nella.
The ending? It threw me a bit,

Ok I admit with this one I was drawn in by its clever cover and I didn’t expect it to hit so hard. I was expecting a story about the very white publishing industry (which I got) but I wasn’t expecting mystery and suspense! A very nice surprise. it starts off a bit slow but gets a lot better a third of the way in. obviously racism and micro-aggressions in the workplace and diversity in publishing are subjects that need to be spoken about more and I think the mystery element was a very clever way of drawing attention to the complex position that the black people who have been successful in breaking into these kind of industries are put in. the shallowness of corporate diversity mixing with a little bit of sci-fi - I think this was a great debut. i feel like it’s not at all my place to try and weigh in on what I thought the author was trying to get across - but it was sharp and offered a lot of insight into the pressure of losing yourself and playing by someone else’s rules to succeed when success is so off limit.