Colored Television by Danzy Senna

Colored Television PDF kept me on my toes! I think at its core is the theme of artists’ struggle to survive and to produce work that is rich and meaningful and well-regarded by the public, especially artists of color. Danzy Senna also does a great job of portraying the difficulties of married life and raising kids, without doing so in a tropey way.

The lack of tropey-ness is what makes Colored Telvision exceptional beyond these core themes – Senna’s voice is so new and funny and sharp.

This is the first book in a while that literally made me laugh out loud within the first ten pages. Senna’s sense of humor can be biting and dark and antagonistic toward people with privilege and power (e.g., white people), which I love. She addresses race and biracial identity in ways that feel fresh and progressive and a bit controversial, instead of relying on tired takes that have already been done.

I feel like some passages in this book may make white people and people of color who align with whiteness a bit uncomfortable, which I believe is a sign of an excellent writer and one who’s willing to take risks. I’ll just say that the way Senna writes about people of color who date white people… she’s my kind of writer for real for that.

I don’t think Colored Television is perfect. There were times especially in the second half of the book where I felt that Senna was straying the lines between a dark comedy and a novel aiming for something a bit more realistically sentimental, which I’m not sure always worked. I also thought a couple of the humorous lines were misses, like a line from the protagonist comparing a picture of her family to Palestinians in the West Bank (uh… what) or a random dig at Gen Z. Still, this one had me flipping the pages and had the energy of a thriller even though it’s solidly realistic fiction. I also liked how she showed that people of color aren’t always great for communities of color and that representation politics can only get us so far. All in all, Senna said something different with this book and for that I’m appreciative!

About Colored Television PDF