For Season 2 Episode 1 we read Shay Youngblood’s Black Girl in Paris

About the Author

Shay Youngblood is a Georgia native indie writer with an MFA in Creative Writing from Brown University.

Book Look

Black Girl in Paris is about a young Georgia girl following in her heroes footsteps to the Black artist Mecca, Paris, we follow the young girl as she struggles to survive in Paris and hopes to make it as a writer.

Bookmark

• “I admire the dedication of the artist, but nothing is certain for you. I am not so brave.” pg. 16 
• “You can’t stop living your life. Everybody is scared, but you can’t let fear rule your life” pg. 53
• “Art is just as important food, ‘cause if your soul ain’t nourished, you one empty mutherf*ker” pg. 184

POV

Felicia didn’t have any strong ties to characters this time around. Sam’s favorite character was Delphine, who is a young sophisticated Black French girl who helps Eden survive her first couple of days and every now and then pops into the story to help with something. The least favorite character was Indigo, a manipulative man who seems to be taking Eden under his wing but really he is only out for himself.

Deep Dive

Sam and Felicia both felt that this was a darker read to start the new year off with. It was a short read but it wasn’t easy to get through. The topics and stories mentioned in this novel were really tough to read through. Eden is just a young girl who wants to live a life where benign black doesn’t hold her back. But, even though she gets a chance to move to France, Eden finds out that life is still difficult.