Colored Television by Danzy Senna (BOOK CLUB February 2025)
We can’t wait to discuss this “biting” and “provocative” book with you all!
I know I’m not the only one itching to turn the page on January and move on to February. And a new month means a new book club pick! In February we’ll be reading Colored Television by Danzy Senna. This book is described as “a dark comedy about second acts, creative appropriation, and the racial identity–industrial complex.”
From the Good Reads summary:
“Jane has high hopes her life is about to turn around. After years of living precariously, she; her painter husband, Lenny; and their two kids have landed a stint as house sitters in a friend’s luxurious home in the hills above Los Angeles, a gig that coincides magically with Jane’s sabbatical. If she can just finish her latest novel, Nusu Nusu, the centuries-spanning epic Lenny refers to as her “mulatto War and Peace,” she’ll have tenure and some semblance of stability and success within her grasp.
But things don’t work out quite as hoped. In search of a plan B, like countless writers before her, Jane turns her desperate gaze to Hollywood. After she meets with a hot young producer to create “diverse content” for a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a “real writer.” She can create what he envisions as the greatest biracial comedy to ever hit the small screen. Things finally seem to be going right for Jane—until they go terribly wrong. “
Senna herself characterizes this as a dark comedy, one where she tried to write about and poke fun of herself and other writers like her. Danzy Senna is an American novelist and essayist. She is the author of six books and numerous essays about race, gender and American identity, including Caucasia (1998), Symptomatic(2003), New People (2017), and most recently Colored Television (2024). Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Vogue, and The New York Times. She is a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Fun fact: Senna is married to Percival Everett, author of James, the 2024 National Book Award for fiction winner.
In Colored Television, Senna explores the complications of race, creativity, the “media-industrial complex” and family amid the backdrop of L.A., a city that has become increasingly hostile to the creative middle class.
Colored Television came out in September of 2024 to mostly rave and positive reviews. It was named a top 10 book of the year by the Washington Post and a New York Times Notable book of 2024. It was called “the New Great American Novel” by the Los Angeles Times and Kirkus Reviews called the novel, "brilliant, of-the-moment, just really almost perfect". Good Morning America picked it for their book club this past September, calling it provocative, biting and promising that it will keep readers “gasping and guessing.” All things you hope for in a book club book!
Colored Television has an average rating of 3.61 stars on GoodReads with 11,104 ratings and 1,666 reviews.
This book seems right up my alley and I’m very excited to read it and discuss it with you all!
We will be meeting on Tuesday, February 25, at 6 pm PT/9 pm ET to discuss this book! Zoom links and reminders will be forthcoming!
Happy Reading!
Colleen (and Laura)
Further reading/watching:
In This Fleet, Funny Novel, a Writer Makes Art and Sells Out in Hollywood (New York Times)
Danzy Senna's 'Colored Television' spotlights difficult realities of life with humor (PBS News Hour)
The Book Show | Danzy Senna - Colored Television (WAMC Northeast Public Radio)
GMA announcement of Colored Television as Book Club pick (GMA Facebook page)
Colored Television by Danzy Senna review – race as performance (The Guardian)
Is Hollywood exploiting race? There’s no business like show business in Danzy Senna’s takedown of identity politics (Los Angeles Times)