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White Girl
by Kate Manning
Rating:
 PENS!!!!
What if the world
were truly color-blind?
White Girl tells the
story of
Charlotte
and
Milo:
their romance, love
and downfall.
Charlotte
and
Milo
meet up
initially at a college on the East Coast. What is special about
Charlotte
and
Milo,
depending on
how one looks at it,
is that
Charlotte
is a "white
girl" and
Milo
is an African-American male.
Milo
has grown up in a "white world". He grows up in
New Hampshire
to parents that are highly educated and
"refined" in
every sense of the word.
Milo
is a ski
buff and goes on to
win gold medals at two Olympics in
skiing.
Milo
has always been around predominately whites and was once told by an African-American
woman
that he wasn't "black"
enough.
Charlotte
is the antithesis to
Milo.
She grew up in a
family that was
dysfunctional in every sense of the
word. While
Milo
has lived a charmed life,
Charlotte
has always
struggled with having goals and being
accepted.
Charlotte
is a "raving" beauty that
eventually
finds her calling in modeling.
Eventually
Charlotte
and
Milo
meet up after college
and fall in love.
They marry and have a daughter and
appear to live
a "perfect" life. However, on top of
the usual
struggles inherent in any relationship,
Charlotte
and
Milo
have to deal with prejudices and paradigms that American society has
created for not
only African-Americans, but for
beautiful,
white blonds as well.
I found this
book interesting. My immediate question
was about the
ethnicity of the author. Was she
writing from
personal experience as a Black woman or
white? Ms.
Manning wrote from
Charlotte's
point of
view a lot and didn't
allow the reader to "see" a lot
of
Milo's
thoughts and give him an opportunity to
explain his
actions. The ending leaves the reader
wondering how
it all ends. But still, the book did
bring to
surface a lot of issues that should be
addressed in
our society.
Leanna
R.E.A.L. Reviewers
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