Flyy Girl

Flyy Girl #1

by Omar Tyree

From a fresh new voice with talent to burn comes this brash bitter sweet novel about Tracy Ellison, a young girl with knockout looks, slanted hazel eyes, tall hair, and attitude, as she comes of age during the hip-hop era. Motivated by the material life, Tracy, her friends, and the young men who will do anything to get next to them are plunged into a world of violence, gratuitous sex, and heartbreak. Slowly, Tracy begins to examine her life, her goals, and her sexuality - as she evolves from a Flyy Girl into a woman.
A captivating tale, written with fluid narrative and contemporary dialect, Flyy Girl captures the complete feel and sounds of the streets and is destined to become an urban classic.

Genres: Fiction, African American, Urban, Young Adult, Romance, Coming Of Age, Adult

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Omar Tyree, a New York Times best-selling author, a 2001 NAACP Image Award recipient for Outstanding Literature in Fiction, and a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award winner for Body of Work in Urban Fiction, has published 16 books and has sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide that has generated more than $30 million.
With a degree in Print Journalism from Howard University in 1991, Tyree has been recognized as one of the most renowned contemporary writers in the literary community. He is also an informed and passionate speaker on various community-related and intellectual topics. Now entering the world of feature films, business lectures, and children’s books, Tyree is a tireless creator and visionary of few limitations.
Tyree is a popular speaker on the university and corporate circuits. In his “Equation for Life” lecture, Tyree weaves together a full-proof formula for attaining lifelong success in business, as well as everyday living. Ideal for innovation, corporate sales and marketing teams, one attendee who heard the lecture commented, “Omar Tyree’s Equation for Life speech made me rethink my whole life - it has given me the focus I need.” The success of the speeches over the last 11 years landed Tyree his first nonfiction book deal with John Wiley, the number 1 business publisher in the world. The Equation: Applying the 4 Indisputable Components of Business Success, is being released in early January 2009.
As an author, journalist, performance poet, songwriter, screenwriter,entrepreneur, innovator of various creations, and an energetic and fiery speaker, Tyree is no stranger to the world of contemporary urban influence. Tyree became one of the dominant literary promoters of the 1990s, leading to offers of publishing deals by a number of influential mainstream book publishers. In 1995, he signed a lucrative two-book arrangement with publishing powerhouse Simon & S chuster. A few years later, Tyree signed an undisclosed long-term contract that established him amongst Simon & Schuster’s top authors.
His journey as an entrepreneur began in his early 20s when he started the book publishing company Mar Productions, to release his earliest works of fiction. Tyree’s entrepreneurial ventures have evolved to include the Urban Literacy Project as a nonprofit organization to inspire reading, writing, thinking,visualization, application and financial literacy skills among disadvantaged youth and adults. He has also formed Renaissance Entertainment Group, a partnership with self-made multimillionaire Arthur Wylie, to produce Tyree’s body of fiction novels into feature films.
Tyree’s articles have been published in the Washington Post, Essence, Upscale, Ebony, TheDailyVoice.com and several other publications

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for an African American novel class. We finished reading classics by James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, George Schuyler, William Wells Brown, Ralph Ellison, etc...then read Flyy Girl as an example of the new sub-genre of the urban novel within African American literature. While it was an easy read and elicited a smile at times, it was a VERY poorly written novel that made me wince several times at the unsophisticated style and lack of literary style. I would recommend this book for reluctant readers and teens whose parents don't mind sexuality in their reading material. Once concept I did find interesting and am currently writing a paper on is the effect of absentee fathers on adolescent females and their conceptualization of manhood. The main character, Tracy, allows the boys in her life to treat her the exact same way that her father treats her mother-including allowing abuse and putting up with and unwillingness to commit. When her mother finally gives her father an ultimatum, Tracy also stands up to the love of her young life who up until now has been coming and going and using her whenever he feels like it. This really made me think about the fact that young black males aren't the only ones affected by the lack of structure that is becoming normal in the African American family.

[Lilli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book that prompted me to read other books by the author. Unfortunately, this book was a "one hit wonder" compared to the author's later releases.

[Roy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book certainly has its fair share of fans. It didn't connect with me personally but many strongly disagree, so victory for Mr. Tyree. He must have done something right to get Flyy Girl on some of the lists I've seen such as "15 Books Every Young Black Woman Should Read". I can't say that this is a novel I'll steer my daughter towards some day. But since it was recently announced that the trilogy (apparently there are two follow ups) will be hitting the big screen soon, word of mouth must be sending quite a few girls to these books, and perhaps she'll eventually decide on her own to pick it up. So be it. Taste is subjective and there is no shortage of titles that have not been critics' darlings but generated buzz and sold like hotcakes anyway. If you see a bit of yourself in a book then the author has done his/her job, and plenty have said just that about Flyy Girl. I just don't happen to be one of them.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A BOOK EVERY TEEN SHOULD READ, ESPECIALLY AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENS
I truly enjoy reading this book because it contain many important messages people seem to miss by only paying attention to certain parts of book such as being sexually active still in middle school, dating trouble makers, wearing nice expensive clothes, ect. When actually the author was writing this to make a point the bad choices Tracy was making could cause her to end up like her role model,Mercedes a drug addict. Tracy is simply a product of her enviorment being raise in a single parent, while the father is off doing god knows what, sometimes not seeing his family for months while still married. Along with her mother working, Tracy has a lot of free time on her hands, as they say "idleness is the devil workshop" Tracy gets into some trouble but pull through. The author, being a male did an immpectable job with writer about Tracy, a teenage girl. The character is very realistic, I felt I have met Tracy before. The imagery of the book is very good even though I was born in 1994 and never live through the 80's ( I love 80's culture) I could envision the setting as if I was actually there. This book brought up alot of things in my mind, for example the adults in my family (who are around the same age of Tracy in the time period the book was written) are always complaining how bad my generation is. This book open up my eyes, Flyy Girl was published in 1993 based in the late 70's to 80's and the people my age are no different from the people in the book. It makes me made when adult act like they never did the stuff people my age, I am not condoning the action of sleeping around, doing drugs,ect.

Even though this is my favorite book I have some issues with the book. I am a honey-caramel with a father from Nigeria and Creole mother but I found it very annoying the only attractive people in the book were light-skin, light eyes, silky curly hair people like Tracy,Patti,Raheema,Mercedes,Beth,Bruce,Timmy,Bob,Charles,(the list is endless) with the expection of Victor. The authors always emphaize skin tones, eyes, and some times hair. Interesting dark- skin people like Keith are descibe as "in times of his evilnes, could look like a blue-black red-eyed wino" or consider not good-looking (page 19)Another problem I had with the book was with Tracy being in love Victor. Maybe because I never sexually or something is reason I don't understand. Tracy and Victor had very few meaningly interaction with eachother so I don't understand why she in love him.

But regardless of how I feel about the book I recommend the book to anyone.
NOTE: I have read this book two times. One time during my freshman of high school and the second during my senior years which was just yesterday.

[Keyona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my first urban lit books and is still one of favorite. This will always be a classic to me.

[Nardsbaby Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Young Girl in Flight

This is a coming of age story during the 80's baby! I liked that part, and how he described the gear we use to sport! Just hearing the title and thinking about the song makes me want to go hang out how we did in "my day!" LOL Dang am I that old!

Tracy, the main character is as superficial as they come. She enjoys a twist of her newfound freedom since her parents separate and she has gone from hating guys, to loving them! She's all about fashion, and guys, nothing else seems to matter. It's a nice story maybe for younger girls and their moms in case you'll forgot what it was like. It was very detailed and honestly that got boring to me! I did like that she finally matured past being all engrossed in her looks, her gear, and her jealousy. Flat-backing is not how a real woman gets on ladies!

[Bonita · Rating 1 out of 5]

one can keep tired of reading about perfect shaped girls, money falls in their laps, long hair, pretty eyes, all the men/boys want them. it's not realistic. yes this is just entertainment, but it was boring.

[Shà · Rating 5 out of 5]

i wasa sophmore high school when i read this one as well. it took me a minute to get into the groove of this one as well. once i did it wasnt bad but it wasnt captiving like the others neither. i must admit. will i buy it and add to my collection? yes would i reread it? no

[chasc.taylor_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

We can all admit that Flyy Girl is an urban fiction classic. I had a fine time and would’ve enjoyed this more if I read it in high school like everyone else 😂😂

BUT the way these parents let the kids run amok 🫨🫨🫨 a 13 year old at parties every weekend with a midnight curfew??

I found this a bit long and repetitive.

[Winter Sophia Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening, Realistic, Page-Turner!!! Excellent Read! I Loved It!

[Myesha-Tiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite Quote: “…Tracy set herself up for misery, searching for the perfect man, like her father, who walked away whenever he wanted.”

Reading about a well to do middle class black family in the 80’s is honestly refreshing to read until the power dynamics and domestic violence within the home brings us back to reality that all that glitters will never be gold and little Tracy is caught in the middle of it all as she tries to navigate growing up with her next door neighbor and best friend Ra-Ra and her sister, Mercedes. Tracy only has her mind set on one thing and that’s being the top Flyy-Girl but is she ready for what all comes with it? Ra-Ra on the other hand is the complete opposite of Tracy and she moves through life with a more cautious nature but will that yield her a different result than Tracy? Mercedes on the other hand is everything Tracy hopes to become, older, pretty, has the fly gear and the guys with status.

[Sergine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was in my early teens, I believe when a schoolmate recommended this novel to me. Even at that time, I was disturbingly unhappy with the style, composition and overall literary flow of this novel. The main character was unrelatable and even if she were, I couldn't find her likeable or even worthy of empathy. I had a rather difficult time connecting with Tyree's prose and was disappointed with his other projects as well.

[AG 🦋 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can I just say re-reading Flyy Girl in my 30s was definitely an experience/trip I’m glad I took. I didn’t remember hardly anything other than Tracy was a “fast ass” and honestly… that’s still the takeaway 😂🤌🏾

Flyy Girl is literally the coming of age story of Tracy (and Raheema) as she navigates the kind of woman she ultimately wants to become … and the kind of man she wants.

What was most noticeable to me was that her father’s actions heavily affected this throughout her life. Her worth was largely dependent on her father’s involvement in her life and while I think he got off pretty easy with his “explanations”… I think this was intentionally written about a father’s role when you think about Tracy’s relationship/view of her father vs. Raheema and Mercedes.

Now is it just a masterpiece? No it is not lol While there was part of the writing that I enjoyed, a large part of it did not hold up for me (the overuse of italics drove me insane). This is not a fast paced or a book for “thrill” seekers.

It could be considered a messy book in the sense that all teenagers are messy — but for the majority of this book Tracy is a middle schooler so you don’t get the messy factor reading it as a 30 year old. I just found myself writing annotations to my younger self… or what I would want MY daughter to know when/if she inevitably stumbles (and steals) my copy the way most of us did back in the day.

Which brings me to my last point.

I used to say “I had no business reading this in middle school!” But looking at it now… and especialllllly with all the access kids have today. I actually probably *would* let my 8th grader read this lol They’re already discussing much worse amongst themselves and if anything, this book read as one long letter as to why teenagers should NOT be having sex LMAO

30+ year old me would give this a 3.5 for overall page-turn-ability. But I’m giving it a four for nostalgia alone.

SN: I am NOT team Victor 🙄 Definitely not putting too much time between starting book 2.

[Rena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I've thought about re-reading Flyy Girl over the years, just to see if it still holds up. It does in some respects, because it tells the truth about what many young black women experience in love and relationships, no matter their upbringing; back then we only wanted to be cool and accepted by boys and yearned for excitement. I accept Flyy Girl for what it is (was), but reading it now, I feel like I'm glad to be past this age.

[Robins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good. I gave it 4 stars because it was another typical book about a hard headed black girl going through family troubles, having sex, picking the wrong dude and ending up with nothing. Even though Im tired of hearing this same concept the book was good.

[Beverlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where to start with Flyy Girl-

1. I promise this is true- I’m just now realizing “Flyy” is spelled with two Ys.
2. Reading a book as a teenager compared to reading as an adult is...different. Some thoughts stand the test of time, others not so much.

I remember reading Flyy Girl as a teenager, I’m thinking maybe 17 or 18 years old. At that age, I thought it was a dope story. Not a life I wished to emulate, not a life I could personally relate to but Tracy’s coming of age was entertaining and so much more dramatic than my life. Twenty one years later I feel surprisingly the same but there are things I don’t think I gave much thought to then but it’s pretty obvious now. For one, Flyy Girl is organized around a central character, Tracy Ellison and the many relationships that comprise her life. She is daughter to Dave & Patti, childhood friend to Raheema (RaRa), Jantel, and Carmen, “little sister”/mentee to Mercedes (Raheema’s older sister), eventual girlfriend to Cash, Timmy, Carl, Bruce, true albeit one-sided love with Victor. Within these relationships Tyree establishes Tracy as assertive, determined, and manipulative, qualities that are valued in a man much more than a woman by society. Raheema is presented as meek, reserved, and pure of heart; a near opposite of Tracy. What’s problematic to me is Tracy is written as always succeeding in getting what and who she wants (excepting Victor) and Raheema is written as yearning to be like other teenagers but lacking social skills due in part to her introverted nature and her abusive father’s control freak personality. None of the characters presented have what’s considered a healthy family structure for Tracy’s parents are separated for several years and have a love/hate relationship and they sort of co-parent Tracy & Jason. Raheema’s parents have marriage based on fear and control with Keith being physically and emotionally abusive to Beth and his daughters. Something to keep in mind is every action, positive & negative, has consequences.
From 13 to 16, Tracy leads a wannabe grown lifestyle. Some would call her “fast”. I personally don’t like that label for a number of reasons, namely it’s a double standard attached to it. Her moment of clarity comes after the end of a violent/controlling relationship with Cash & Timmy. Another thing to remember-no one is perfect and growth is a process that isn’t always linear.
I think the strength of Flyy Girl lies in the details. Tyree does a great job detailing mid to late 1980s fashion and the personalities of the characters. This strength gets to be a little tiresome when Tyree focuses on minor characters such as Bruce and not fully develop Raheema. What makes Flyy Girl a classic is that despite Tracy’s flaws and quirks, this reader wants her to succeed..and get it together as well as Raheema.
Things to read with understanding-privilege concept that dominates the book, gender roles/expectations that should not be typical but sadly still exist.
I haven’t read the succeeding books in this series yet but the edition I read had an excerpt from For the Love of Money and it seems like a possibility.

[Michelle Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe I first read this book in 9th grade. I can't believe this book was on a high school library book shelf, hahaha! But I loved it then, and I still love it 10 years later after a re-read.

I first thought Tracy was just a whiny little girl, but she definitely grows up during the story and we watch all her mistakes shape her young mind. She makes all the wrong choices heading into the same direction as her role-model Mercedes, but eventually finds the friends that send her on a better path.
Victor was one of my favorite characters because he never pretended with her. He knew from the beginning that Tracy was just for fun, but he knew he loved her and always looked out for her.

Definitely a coming of age story, and with today's times, kids growing up and becoming sexually active earlier, it's a must read.

[Nakesha Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reread. I first read this book in 1996 when I bought the hardcover version. My young sheltered 15 year old mind was blown! I thought Tracy was so cool, so grown, so experienced. Now that I’m fully grown and much more experienced I can enjoy the book in a different way. Still so good. Five stars for nostalgia alone. However, this book is timeless and fits just as perfectly in our current time as it did back in the 90s.

[Mrs Tupac · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLY READ THIS BOOK
IT WAS GOOD. . .
AT TIMES TRACY GOT ON MY FUCKING NERVES IT'S LIKE THE OLDER SHE GOT THE MORE SELF CENTERED SHE BECAME SHE WAS SEEING DUDE AFTER DUDE IT WAS HARD FOR ME TO KEEP UP . . . NETHER LESS THE BOOK WAS GOOD AND I ENJOYED IT...

[Bookishrealm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good. Some parts did drag and I feel like Tracy could have learned her lesson at a more gradual pace. I love the inclusion of Afro-centric elements. Especially Tracy's poem. It was beautiful. Interesting to see where the rest of her story goes. Full review to come.

[Jasean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book never disappoints. Victor is everything! I just hate how the series ended though.

[ReadnliftwithShar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flyy Girl is one of those coming to age stories that I feel like everyone should read at some point. It was the first young adult books that I ever read. But it’s not everyone’s forte, for sure. Tracy’s boy craziness and tick for tack games was a lot at times but you can’t help but love her. I really think that she mimicked what she was looking for in her home. She was flyy but she had a little bit of the girl next door personality. I appreciated her growth over the book- it took a long time for Tracy to grow up and she experienced quite a bit during her teenage years. Reading this as an adult had me wanting to knock some sense into Tracy. After so many years, a fresh perspective and more experienced eyes was definitely different. I think that a lot of things Tracy and her friends went through are things that still happen. I actually identified more with Raheema’s character growing up but I definitely knew some Tracy-like girls, lol. This is a book that will always be relevant.

[Lizzie Winns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I First read this book back when I was a young woman and I loved it then, And now reading this as an older woman in her forties, I still feel the same, my emotions, my head shaking, my busting up out loud and my understanding what the main character is going through as she experience love, life, and happiness are all still the same. With some heart break thrown in the mix.... Now I have to read the sequel to this book to find out how things went after the main character matured into a grown woman. Will definitely recommend this book to others.

[Mallory]

I'm just so happy to be done with this book. Although I can recognize its importance in its display of hip hop culture, it's just...not...good. The characters aren't developed and their motivations are dragged from one extreme to the other by an author who has no idea how a coherent plot structure works. And Tyree's interpretation of female sensuality and sexuality is just ridiculous, almost pornographic, which is really hard to read considering that Tracy is 11-14 for most of this book.

[Ms. Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can remember reading this and seeing some of my "friends" at the time experiencing some of the same scenarios that Omar talked about. This is about teens, fast teens, boys not yet men, the promiscuity that prevailed in the 80's, and growing up. I read this over 15 years ago and still remember. I guess that says something~

[Ashely Sanford · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG OMG OMG! Omar outdid himself on this book. I read this in 10th grade. I can't believe my mom bought this book for me, but I guess she did for a reason. I wanted to be just like Tracy when I read this. this book was definitely a great page turner. I really enjoyed it. Every young girl should read the 'Flyy Girl' trilogy.

[JazzyRacquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

♥ This Was My First Read Of Urban Fiction! This Book Is What Made Me Fall In Love With Urban Fiction ♥ Thos Book Is An EXCELLENT Read ♥

[Nic · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could bestow negative stars, this book would have earned them handily.

First, and let me say that this is the LESSER problem I have with this book, Flyy Girl spends hundreds of pages following young teens (think "thirteen") in abusive, manipulative sexual relationships. The book is five hundred pages long, and for about four hundred fifty of them, no character speaks or thinks anything that is not directly related to sex. There are about three swear words per page on average, many of them used in anger, but many used in extremely tiresome expressions that confound by being apparently well-intended: "You got some pretty-ass eyes," "You cute as shit."

One character who the author describes repeatedly as a "nice guy" cheats on, then dumps, his girlfriend because they've been dating for a few months and she hasn't had sex with him. She's fourteen.

The above would already have made it not my type of book at best, but this book is vast, lonely galaxies away from "at best." This leads me to the point that bothered me even more about this book than horny tweens: the writing.



A few things the author does:

- Describe the skin tone, hairstyle, eye color, and full outfit with brand names of clothes, of almost every character to appear. Even the ones who don't get names, like every random stranger a character dances with at a party.

- Switch haphazardly between viewpoints, sometimes for a paragraph, sometimes half a scene or half a chapter. The author seems paranoid about the idea that the reader might not know every single solitary thing the author intended, even if the character has no reason to know it. For example, whenever someone lies, he says "s/he lied" right there in the speech tag. After most lines of dialogue, especially in tense scenes, the author includes a bland, blunt sentence or two to tell us exactly what the character is thinking. Heaven forbid there be tension caused by not knowing exactly what someone's up to, or that he should try to show someone's motivations or feelings.

(It's worth a note that for most of the book, this makes it crystal clear that none of the characters has any redeeming characteristics. The guys are shameless, abusive horndogs, and our female protagonist is a jealous, manipulative, gold-digging man-stealer.)

- Give frequent descriptions of shopping trips, including lists of the objects characters bought, told with all the interest implied in the combined terms "shopping" and "list."

- Make value judgments about characters and their actions, giving the book a badly-written-moral-text feel. He continued to steal, deviously, sticking up stores and everyday citizens around the city. His friends feared his destructive path. Timmy was developing into an all-out criminal at the tender age of sixteen.

- Frequently use speech tags that tell you things the dialogue already told you - responded, retorted, challenged, repeated, admitted, pleaded, insisted - sometimes adding even more unnecessary words - "But what about you? Are you gonna get help or something?" Tracy asked, concerned about her.

- DIALECT. "What 'chew be doin'?"

- Include slang terms in quotations and explaining them, even if their meanings are obvious. Lisa, on the other hand, was real light-skinned, or "damn-near white."

- Constantly use phrases like "leave out of there" and "inside of her room." Everything is always "inside of," as in, "he turned and walked inside of the living room." It's as if the author feels prepositions will get lonely by themselves.



Also, remember the physical descriptions I mentioned? These are often worked into passages in bizarre, awkward ways. She shook her earrings-wearing head.

The plot, if it can be called that, is episodic and strange, veering off into tangents about the quest of a minor character to get laid or the arrest of another minor character for stealing. Amazingly, none of this is interesting, probably in part because none of the characters is worth caring about.

The best part? I was assigned to do a project on this book wherein I create and perform a book talk to promote it.

[Jasmine · Rating 1 out of 5]

i think i read this in 8th grade or maybe it was freshman year of high school. i just recall girls eating this up like it was candy. after having it recommended to be for the fiftieth time i borrowed it from a fellow classmate.

i was appalled and found it disturbing. i especially remember thinking about all of the girls that pushed it on me and i wondered if they liked it only for the shock value. i wondered if reading it made them feel cool. and then i wondered why i was friends with them.

mlech. pass.

[Joyanne8f]

I think this book is very interesting. It has so many details. I can relate to it because I am a teen dealing with the decisions and consequences of life. I love this book, and think anyone in their teenage years.