Danzy Senna, a novelist who’s built a career around writing about the mixed-race experience in America, has penned a satire that speaks to the unique struggles of life as a public intellectual and artist. Jane, a novelist, and her husband Lenny, a painter, are struggling to really land in Los Angeles—their housing is always transitional, neither of them are making ends meet with their art careers or adjunct teaching roles, and their kids are demanding their time and attention. Jane is struggling with her behemoth second novel, a ten year long project that grapples with the history of mulattos in America—spanning multiple timelines and decades with intersecting narratives. She feels that this book, her magnum opus, is her family’s ticket to middle class luxury, and will catapult her career to new heights.
But when her agent responds with, “you’re doing yourself a disfavor by writing about race again — by writing about, you know, the whole mixed-race thing. We’d love to see you expand your territory”, she’s forced to seek other creative outlets. The autofictional elements of this novel definitely add a layer, as Jane is met with harsh criticism for pursuing the type of work that Senna has been committed to throughout her career—and readers familiar with Senna’s work will definitely pick up on their shared passion for representing the everyday lives of mixed race people in America and their unique experience in the world. Unlike Senna, Jane turns away from the world of literature when she uses a friend’s connection to Hollywood to rebrand herself as a television writer. Jane hides the rejection from her novel and pursuit of television success from her husband, as she fears judgement given his strict moral code to uphold the virtues of art over commercial success and widespread acceptance by the very fickle public.
She begins taking meetings with Hampton Ford, a successful television exec who’s recently signed a massive deal to produce more diverse content for the network. Ford is drawn to Jane’s idea to create a show that follows a mixed race family that looks much like her own, a comedy that would avoid tragic tropes and the pitfalls of surface-level representation. What Ford expects from Jane is, “the greatest comedy about mulattos ever to hit the small screen … The Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies … Pinky meets — I don’t know — Modern Family. Imitation of Life meets, like, Everybody Loves Raymond.” Jane is taken with Ford’s enthusiasm for her work, and feels that she’s finally found a champion for her specific voice and narrative. She respects her husband’s dedication to his anti-capitalist view, but to give her kids and her family the idealistic middle class life she’s always wanted and to pull them out of this transitional housing, she knows she needs to hustle.
What follows is a funny and sharp series of twists and turns that see Jane transitioning from a struggling novelist to a promising television talent. Jane’s observations on the art and entertainment world are funny and and incisive, and her efforts to better the lives of people around her whatever the cost are entertaining and relatable. Senna has crafted a genuinely unique and specific satire that addresses our current moment.