The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl derives its title from the Shorty Award-winning series created by its author Issa Rae. Unlike the series, the book is autobiographical entailing personal essays that chart and address Rae’s childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In it is a mix of humor and uncomfortable stories where she laughs at her own misadventures at different stages of her life.
Raised in Maryland suburbia, Rae grew up with a setup that typically would not be considered ‘black’ thus delving into the notion of black identity. For instance, in the chapters “ABG Guide: Connecting with Other Blacks” and “When You Can’t Dance” she challenges the idea of being black as a single concept. Her humorous accounts are self-deprecatory in how she calls attention to her social anxiety, insecurities, and blackness.
As a black woman in Hollywood, Rae focuses on media representation of African-Americans particularly women in the United States. In her assessment, black characters have usually not been portrayed in a three-dimensional manner that fully emulates reality. Rae asserts, “I needed to see more from my movies than the extremely tragic black woman, or the magic helpless Negro, or the many black men in dresses.” Thereby, advocates for fully-fledged representations of black womanhood that are inclusive of different body types and natural looks.
The New York Times bestseller is a real reflection of a millennial woman in the current times where traditional notions are confronted and toppled. Kirkus Reviews wrote “Her unwavering candidness, the sheer energy of her voice and the fact that she clearly finds herself to be terrific material make her a charismatic, if occasionally exasperating, narrator worth rooting for.”
