Overview
Naomi Jefferson was born into a comfortable world only occasionally marred by racism - even when she is called a nigger after wandering into the wrong neighborhood, she learns not to let it touch her too deeply. As a teenager in the 1960s, her biggest concerns are when she'll give up her virginity and if you really can't get pregnant the first time, like her friends tell her. But when her adored older brother, Joshua, seemingly the family's chosen one who is destined for greatness, is killed in a tragic car accident on his way to a civil rights demonstration, the rift between black and white America suddenly becomes personal. In an attempt to live up to Joshua's example, Naomi immerses herself in 1970s campus politics. But instead of finding herself, she loses her sense of who she is. She's unsure how to negotiate her way through a world where brothers die for no good reason and the one man she depends on most betrays her with another woman. Slapped in the face with such harsh realities, Naomi makes a decision: Politics are useless, romance is hopeless, and what she really needs is a career. But work and success in the 1980s aren't all they're cracked up to be, particularly since the promotions keep going to the white guys. Just when Naomi starts to think that the only person she can depend on is herself, two people walk into her life who make her believe once again that anything worth having is worth fighting for.Synopsis
Naomi Jefferson, who experiences loss, betrayal, and addiction, believes that the weight of the world lies on her shoulders, until Joseph, her deceased brother's illegitimate teenage son, enters her life and teaches her a lesson in courage and self-love. Simultaneous.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
PW praised this "empathetic portrait" of a woman struggling to navigate the rift between black and white America and resolve issues of work and love. (July)Library Journal
A coming-of-age story of a middle- class black woman growing up in the strife-torn early 1960s. From the author of Sisters and Lovers (LJ 4/15/95).Kirkus Reviews
Briscoe returns (Sisters and Lovers, 1994) to tackle 30 years of African-American history through the wide eyes of an Everywoman protagonist.In early 1960s Washington, D.C., Naomi Jefferson's most pressing issues are extracurricular activities (piano or ballet?), her older brother Joshua's superiority complex, and romance (will she ever be kissed?). Her family, meantime, is being affected by the Civil Rights movement: Joshua's becoming a radical while her parents—middle-class African-Americans who've become resigned to the racism they've been struggling against all their lives—prefer to fight within the system. By contrast, Naomi's new friend Jennifer (who's rich, spoiled, and won't associate with Naomi's best friend Debbie because she's "too dark") accepts the status quo. As children, Naomi and Debbie had always planned to open their own business someday, but they hadn't counted on the (stereotypical) pitfalls of growing up black in America: Debbie gets pregnant and Naomi meets all the wrong men, dabbles with drugs, drops out of college, then loses Joshua to the cause she's only just begun to understand. Thanks to her iron-willed parents and Joshua's best friend Dean, however, she does get back on track, earning an MBA degree and a highly prized position as a unit manager at Systems Solutions, Inc., a major D.C. consulting firm. But when she's passed up for a promotion she's more than earned, she decides to go one step further and fulfill her childhood dreams, professional and personal. Only the appearance of Joseph, the adolescent son no one knew Joshua had, threatens to throw a wrench into the works.
Briscoe's been touted as another McMillan or even a peer of Morrison's, but the stilted dialogue, heavy-handed moralizing, and plodding plot here keep her in a lesser league entirely.