By Christy Clark and Vidruma Chaavali
Not to be Overlooked introduces a variety of wonderful but lesser-known books to assist readers in finding their next great reads. This week’s column covers a review of Recitatif and My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine.
Recitatif by Toni Morrison
Review by Christy Clark
When I discovered that Recitatif, Toni Morrison’s first and sole short story, was published over 40 years ago in 1983, I was utterly bewildered. The concerns and intricacies of this story are so socially relevant that it makes you wonder why it hasn’t found its way onto more bookshelves. Nor is there any excuse, with Recitatif lasting for only 40 pages!
Toni Morrison was an American author active from the 1970s until her death in 2019. Her most famous novel, Beloved (1987), is a regular on the school curriculum, and is indicative of Morrison’s adroitness at presenting issues of racism from deep into the past, all the way to the present day.
Morrison tells the story of two girls, Twyla and Roberta, growing up in St. Bonaventure orphanage, which lies beneath the “beautiful dead parents in the sky,” a place where having living, mentally insane parents was more of an embarrassment than a reprieve – thus leaving the protagonists as outsiders. After growing up together, the girls are suddenly separated, before being thrown back together in circumstances a world away from social ostracisation in the orphanage. What sounds like a cliché coming-of-age style narrative, is punctuated by Morrison’s refusal to specify the race of each girl: all the reader knows is that one is Black, and one is white.
It would be a disservice to Morrison’s prowess as a writer to claim that this ambiguous racial dynamic defines Recitatif, and that the narrative would not be thoroughly engaging if she informed the reader of the often implicitly understood fact of race. In depriving the reader, however, Morrison transforms Recitatif into a conundrum, where the reader’s associations say more about themselves than anything solidly provable in the story.
Morrison’s evasive approach ensures that Recitatif stays long in the memory and offers a social commentary just as relevant today as it was when published. So often, people believe that race is an irrefutable fact: whether that be the personalities of white and Black people, their traditions, or the way they speak. The reader comes to know Twyla and Roberta very well, discovering their roots and ways of putting things, yet can never be entirely sure which is of which race.
It’s Morrison’s subtle way of suggesting that perhaps we’re not all that different, that perhaps we only think we are. In fact, by removing the characters’ race from our readerly vocabularies, Morrison completely upends the foundations of this text, leaving questions long in the mind that are typically pre-supposed in society and, ironically, rather black and white.
My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
Review by Vidruma Chaavali
We have always been fascinated by the stories or concepts related to people with fangs. The sheer volume of fans that Twilight and The Vampire Diaries have speak for themselves. Jenna Levine’s debut novel is about the juncture of a vampire and a human cohabitation in a romantic comedy world. It was published in August 2023 by Penguin Random House. My Roommate is a Vampire introduces readers to a fun, euphoric and light-hearted dynamic between the main characters – where we are aware that the male main character is a vampire, yet the female main character isn’t. To top things off, it’s a forced proximity. Jenna Levine takes her time to brew the romance between them which ends up being the quintessential part of the story.
The story opens with the protagonist, Cassie Greenberg, who is looking for a place to stay. She comes across an advertisement where someone who owns an apartment with a lake view is searching for a roommate and charging rent for only $200 per month. Shocked by the bizarre price for such a fabulous place, she contacts the owner, Frederick J. Fitzwilliam. As the title indicates, Frederick is a vampire who has never lived with a human before, looks and talks like a character from a Regency romance novel and has a special talent for growing citrus fruit.
Jenna Levine has written the novel from Cassie’s point of view, but what becomes interesting for My Roommate is a Vampire is the small glimpses of Frederick’s point of view at the beginning of every chapter. Although Cassie’s life is in the spotlight throughout the novel, Frederick’s life and efforts stand out because of the cute notes he leaves for Cassie, his genuine affection toward her and his hilarious internet search history.
Jenna Levine’s strength lies in writing hilarious scenes that make you want to keep reading the swoon-worthy romance. With great banter, instant love and mutual pining, My Roommate is a Vampire is the perfect feel-good paranormal romantic comedy to read at any time of the year.
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