Reading Group Guide
Reading Group GuideWith the wit of Sex and the City and the erotic sophistication of Love Jones, this wickedly frank debut novel portrays latter-day black life, the New York City dating game, and the insatiable quest for love. Noire Demain, a Ph.D. candidate at New York University, is a 20-something bohemian with an appetite for intellectual stimulation and eclectic fashions. And she's looking for her own brand of social consciousness in a delectable black man's package. So, when she finds herself an "afro in a sea of perms" at Brown Betty Books, she's not happy about it. Her best girlfriend Jayna stands her up and leaves her to fend for herself in a room full of black urbanites with six figure salaries and summer homes on Martha's Vineyard. This is not Noire's idea of a good time.
But rising above the coiffed and coffee-colored faces is a particularly compelling example of black manhood—Innocent Pokou, a velvety dark, tall, and gorgeous African from Côte d'Ivoire. Innocent is instantly attracted to Noire's energy and beauty. And he's available. An investment banker who belongs to an African elite of wealth and privilege, Innocent is cosmopolitan, ambitious, and intrigued with Noire. Noire's own desire-filled intrigue wins out over her disdain for the Buppie set and she surprises both she and Innocent by giving him her contact information. Before long, they're exchanging e-mails, meeting for drinks at chic places, and finding out that the attraction is indeed mutual.
They may be in love. They also may be totally wrong for each other. Their ideologies—as well as their closest friends—are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Their cultures are equally dissimilar. And with his family in Côte d'Ivoire pressuring him to find an "appropriate" wife, is Innocent willing to get serious with Noire?
Then, as they say, "stuff" happens. A Fourth of July weekend at a beach house with a mix of his friends and hers will lead to emotional fireworks and a bonfire of unexpected attractions. Add the return of a former lover and a journey—actual and metaphorical—for both Innocent and Noire, and suddenly bedroom promises seem made to be broken...unless these two extraordinary people can discover what matters most, what touches deepest, and what fulfills the needs of both heart and soul. A Love Noire tolls the bell for the black urban professional. It presents clashing ideologies at every turn through the lives of Innocent, Noire and their friends and family. It is upon their collective stage that we confront diverse and incongruent black identities, romantic expectations, and social and financial aspirations. Their hearts entangled in a powerful love burdened by the weight of competing interests and fragile chosen identities, Innocent and Noire fight to sustain a relationship that successfully incorporates the best of both worlds.
A daring exploration of color and class within the black community through a no-holds-barred portrait of a relationship, A Love Noire is a refreshing, richly entertaining look at love today.
- Noire observes that Innocent "knew a life that most Americans didn't experience and fewer realized exists in Africa. He made no apologies and felt no contradictions about who he was." Does Noire feel contradictions about who she is? If so, what are her conflicts about her identity?
- Contrast the parents of Noire with those of Innocent. How much do you feel that family influences a person's choice of a partner? Why did Noire choose Innocent? Why does Innocent choose Noire?
- Now look at Grand-mere Demain. What has been her influence in Noire's life, both positive and negative?
- Why is Noire affected by skin color and hairstyle? Do you feel that a light skin tone and so called "good hair" are still given preference in the African American community? If so, why? Do you see this changing in the next decade?
- Innocent thinks this about Noire: "She unnerved him, energized him, extended him into the rough territory beyond himself. But the minute he knew he had her he didn't know what to do with her." Discuss Innocent's character. Why does he not "know what to do with her"?
- Several characters raise provocative issues about being black and American and still celebrating the Fourth of July. What are the arguments? What is Innocent's viewpoint? What is Noire's?
- What do you make of Noire's sexual experimentation with Arikè? Do you feel it is believable in the context of the story? What about her relationship with Professor Fuentes, her NYU mentor? Is there a sexual element?
- Contrast these relationships with Noire's long-time friendship with Jayna. What forms the basis of their bond? At this stage in Noire's life, do you think she shares more in common with Jayna or Arikè?
- Innocent says to Noire, "Lasting relationships aren't built on love. There's compatibility, having similar goals and complementary dispositions, having the will to see it through…" Do you agree or disagree? Do you believe Innocent really thinks that, or is he just having second thoughts about Noire?
- What is the significance of Noire's name? What about Innocent's? Are their names symbolic? Ironic? Think about the book's title. In what ways does it foretell the story?
- Discuss the other young couples in the book: Arikè/Dennis and Marcus/Lydia. Why do their relationships seem to work? What about Jayna? Why does she have difficulty with a long-term relationship?
- When Noire goes to Jayna for advice about her relationship with Innocent, they reminisce over the advice Noire's mother had given her when she was an undergraduate to wait a year before becoming physically intimate with a man. At the time, both she and Jayna balked at the suggestion as unrealistic and they still don't follow it now. How do you think physical intimacy affects the pacing and intensity of a relationship? Does it have unintended outcomes? What advice would you give Noire or Jayna as they pursue love?
- What are the overarching lessons about love in this story? Who learns them? What kinds of love relationships—romantic, familial—do we witness and how do these relationships grow? How do the characters grow in their understanding of love?
- What do you predict for Noire's future and for Innocent's?
Q. Your male protagonist is from Côte d’Ivoire. What influenced your choice of that background for him?
A. The decision really came from two factors: my choice of a name for him and the fact that I wanted him to be from a French-speaking West African country that had a variety of religious and cultural influences.
Q. You have interests in academia. Is your development of Noire’s character representative of a certain “type” of black graduate student? Are you poking fun at some of her pretensions? If so, which? Do you see a wide contrast in ideologies and aspirations between African American students and African students?
A. Noire’s character is a composite of intelligent, determined, and wonderfully quirky women, and though we find Noire in the academic setting, she has many sister-friends outside of that environment as well. However, I think that there’s a certain intensity to the graduate school experience that makes Noire more strident in her beliefs about the mating games people play and their financial motives for pursuing particular professional paths. In terms of differences in ideology and aspirations between African American and African students (presumably within the U.S. graduate school context), it’s more complex than ethnic and national identity. As with anything else, your cultural and ethnic outlook affects many things about what you believe. And of course being an expatriate in any environment is a big deal. So, among black academics I think you can find as many ideological similarities as there are differences. That’s what is so fascinating; people’s beliefs are impacted by ethnic and cultural assumptions as well as their familial and personal influences.
Q. As an African American woman, have you felt a clash between career goals and personal ones?
A. Certainly! There are only twenty-four hours in a day and sometimes the choices I make professionally can seem to have sub-optimal outcomes for my personal desires. It’s always a negotiation. I think this is true for all women and becomes even more apparent as women make decisions about choosing a mate and having children. This society is not well-suited to supporting a woman’s particular set of concerns around career and family. This is equally true about racial and ethnic concerns. So, as a black woman, I think that the clash can feel quite intense at times. Supportive loved ones, meditation, and prayer are big helpers!
Q. You refer to Richard Wright in this novel both directly and subtly (i.e., Innocent’s firm Wright Richards). Was Wright an important influence on you and your writing? You also have Innocent and Noire compare book lists. Can you give us one of your own?
A. I think that Richard Wright greatly influenced the content of the modern novel because of his provocative honesty about the internal angst and external manifestations of racism in this country. I named Innocent’s investment banking firm Wright Richards as a nod to that. My own book list is too extensive to recount here, but it encompasses writers who take us on a physical journey as well as a pursuit of personal truths. While I tend to prefer fiction—from short stories to epic novels—I also enjoy such lyrical autobiographical texts as Marita Golden’s Migrations of the Heart and Maya Angelou’s Heart of a Woman. I really appreciate stories that show resilience and possibility, and that embrace all aspects of our being—our intellectual, spiritual, culturally-grounded, funny, sexy selves.
Q. Have you been to Africa? Do you feel the journey is an important emotional and cultural pilgrimage for African Americans to make? In your novel, you also send Noire to New Orleans, to an historic Gullah area on South Carolina’s Sea Islands, and to the Caribbean. Are these particular places you would also recommend African Americans visit to explore their heritage?
A. I’ve traveled to several countries in western and southern Africa, notably Nigeria for an undergraduate semester abroad and South Africa for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance. I have also been fortunate to travel to numerous places of interest throughout the African diaspora in Europe, the Caribbean, and North America. (South America is next!) I think that travel is unparalleled for experiencing the cultural richness of a people on a visceral level. For Africans throughout the diaspora, traveling to Africa is poignant because we are the offspring of our ancestors who suffered through the Middle Passage. In the book, Noire talks about black people being the “ultimate survivors.” My own travel to former slave forts and plantations has made me feel the same way as Noire.
Q. Are there elements in this novel that you want to repeat and continue to explore in your writing? What will change in future novels?
A. I am fascinated with the many aspects of human motivation and our capacity for love, so I will continue to explore both in future novels. In my next novel in particular, I look even more closely at intergenerational family relationships—grandmothers, mothers, and daughters; mothers and sons; fathers and daughters—and how these relationships impact our professional choices, love lives, and what we have to give our spouses and children. It’s all so rich!
