Friday Black

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This article is about the 2018 collection of stories. For uses of Black Friday, see Black Friday (disambiguation).

Friday Black
Friday Black book cover.jpg
AuthorNana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherMariner Books
Publication date
October 23, 2018
Pages208
ISBN978-1-328-91124-7
OCLC1056493398

Friday Black is the 2018 debut book by author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. The collection of short stories explores themes surrounding black identity as it relates to a range of contemporary social issues. The stories are set in a variety of twisted near-future and dystopian settings. The book received an overall positive reception, including the naming of Adjei-Brenyah as one of the "5 Under 35 Authors" for 2018 by the National Book Foundation.

Content[]

Story Originally published in
The Finkelstein 5 Printers Row
Things My Mother Said Foliate Oak Literary Magazine[1]
The Era Original
Lark Street Original
The Hospital Where Original
Zimmer Land Original
Friday Black Original
The Lion & the Spider Original
Light Spitter Original
How to Sell a Jacket as Told by IceKing Original
In Retail Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing[2]
Through the Flash Original

Overview[]

Friday Black takes its title from the consumer holiday Black Friday, which takes place in the US on the Friday following Thanksgiving.[3] A collection of dystopian near-future short stories, the book's titular work follows its protagonist in the form of a department store salesman, as he copes with "vicious, insatiable Black Friday shoppers," while attempting to win a sales contest among employees, in order to give the prize jacket to his mother as a gift.[3][4]

Alternatively the opening piece, "The Finkelstein 5", concerns Emmanuel, who can "dial his blackness" up or down depending on his situation: down to 1.5 for an interview with a prospective employer, comfortably at 4.0 with the aid of a necktie and wing-tipped shoes, and up to 10 when his sense of vengeance bursts forth over the killing of five black children by a chainsaw-wielding white man.[3][5]

The work continues to explore a range of topics, from issues of race in the United States criminal justice system, to the plight of a teenager working to support their family after their father's disappearance, school shootings, and "a dystopian Groundhog Day in which victims of an unexplained weapon relive a single day and resort to extreme violence to cope".[4] In "Zimmer Land", the black protagonist struggles to change the narrative in a theme park where mostly white patrons savagely relish their racial prejudices under the guise of "problem-solving, judgement and justice," while "The Era" presents a schoolboy's dilemmas in a post-apocalyptic society where self-confidence comes only through the use of drugs.[6]

Themes[]

Adjei-Brenyah has said that as he set out to write what would eventually become his book Friday Black he sought to use a form of "magical realism" as a tool for exploring issues such as "race and the depravities of consumer culture and our collective habituation to violence."[3] Speaking to the Wall Street Journal Adjei-Brenyah reflected,

I like to work in that space where, "Is it hyperbole? I don't know." When you kill someone with a gun or a chainsaw, they're just as dead either way. When I say 'chainsaw,' you have to pay attention.[7]

As the New York Times observed, these narratives take place in "prosaic settings", such as malls, hospitals or residential areas, but which are rendered "unfamiliar by adding a surreal, disorienting twist," and employed in the exploration of contemporary issues such as abortion, racism, commercialism, and cyclical violence.[3]

Throughout, the book variously explores the theme of black experience, in a way that works primarily to inspire "empathy for the marginalized and the feared".[8]

Reception[]

The book received generally favorable reviews. The review aggregator website Book Marks reported that 80% of critics gave the book a "rave" review, while the other 20% of the critics expressed "positive" impressions, based on a sample of 15 reviews.[9] Publishers Weekly along with the New York Post listed Friday Black as one of the best books of the week.[8][10] Buzzfeed and The Huffington Post both named it among the top releases of Fall 2018.[11][12]

Kirkus Reviews described the book as a work where "edgy humor and fierce imagery coexist ... with shrewd characterization and humane intelligence, inspired by volatile material sliced off the front pages,"[6] while Newsday praised it as "caustically inventive", with a pervasive anger communicated through "nuance, grace and a probing empathy".[13] Writer George Saunders dubbed the work as "an excitement and a wonder: strange, crazed, urgent and funny."[14]

In response to Friday Black, the National Book Foundation named Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah among their "5 Under 35 Authors" for 2018, chosen by author Colson Whitehead.[15][16] The book was included on the long list for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction.[17]

Friday Black is the recipient of the $75,000 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award[18] and shortlisted for the 2019 Dylan Thomas Prize.[19]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Adjei-Brenyah, Nana K. (September 2014). "Things My Mother Said". Foliate Oak Literary Magazine. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  2. ^ Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame (November 2014). "In Retail". Archived from the original on November 5, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e Alter, Alexandra (October 19, 2018). "'Friday Black' Uses Fantasy and Blistering Satire to Skewer Racism and Consumer Culture". The New York Times. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  4. ^ a b "PW Picks: Books of the Week, October 22, 2018". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  5. ^ Hong, Fernanda (October 18, 2018). "Review: Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah". Columbia Journal. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Friday Black". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  7. ^ Gamerman, Ellen (October 22, 2018). "In 'Friday Black,' Retail Is Bloody and the World Is Ending". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  8. ^ a b "The best books of the week". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  9. ^ "Friday Black". Book Marks. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  10. ^ Dawson, Mackenzie (October 20, 2018). "The best books of the week". New York Post. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  11. ^ Rebolini, Arianna (August 31, 2018). "These Are The Best Books Of Fall 2018". Buzzfeed. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  12. ^ Fallon, Claire (September 1, 2018). "Here Are 34 Fall 2018 Books We Can't Wait To Read". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  13. ^ Seymour, Gene (October 18, 2018). "'Friday Black' review: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's stories of race, retail are audaciously topical". Newsday. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  14. ^ "October Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month)". The Millions. October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  15. ^ "2018 5 Under 35 Authors Announced". The Millions. September 25, 2018. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  16. ^ Charles, Ron (September 24, 2018). "The National Book Foundation singles out the five best young writers in America". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  17. ^ "Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence: Longlist 2019". American Library Association. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  18. ^ "Announcing the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists". PEN America. January 15, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  19. ^ "2019 Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. April 3, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2019.

External links[]

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