Edie says their presence can complicate matters – she tries to convince herself she is a “normal human being” until she sees them. Edie had an abortion at 16 and pretends not to care, saying she “recalls it fondly” but she mentions it so much that you wonder how comfortable with it she really is. She fills in the blanks where she needs to – her mother was an alcoholic who “found Jesus and got clean”, obsessed over her weight and committed suicide, her father was a former naval officer who pretended he was religious and cheated on her mother, sleeping with other women in the family home. Leilani writes in the present tense, which compounds the sense that Edie has not yet processed her past. She finds her own work – fact checking children’s books – dull, and has no friends at work or elsewhere. She works in publishing - which feels pointed, given the extent to which the BLM movement focussed on the whiteness of the industry last year.Įdie is deliberately unfriendly to the other black girl in the office, she says they "see each other's hunger". She is acutely aware of how her skin colour affects her life. What makes it so successful is the way that Edie cuts to the quick in her observations, both making you laugh and empathise with her. New West End Company BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENT.
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