Black Coffee discussion

Feel free to join in on this discussion of Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris.

Yippie. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m game

Yes! I’m kinda excited to read this. I’m very interested to see how this plays out.

Looking forward to this one. I also was able to find it on Hoopla.

Thanks for mentioning Hoopla! I ordered a copy from Amazon last night, but just cancelled it because I have access to Hoopla as well. Lol. Thanks!!!

What’s Hoopla?

What is hoopla. I just tried hoopla.com and it wouldn’t come up.

Hoopladigital.com you library has to participate, if they do sign in with your info

Oh. This takes the place of overdrive I guess.

Yeah for some, my library still does both

No Dosha use it in addition to Overdrive. Hoopla has audiobooks and movies as well. Some books I'll find on one and not the other.

Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification. It’s much appreciated.

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification. It’s much appreciated."

No problem

Thanks Shanika!!

i read a lot of good things about the play - I'm really looking forward to reading the book.

I started it, wow. It not like anything I have ever read before. I’m really looking forward to this discussion.

thanks for the hoopla recommendation. not available at LA public library, but got it in hoopla and read it through yesterday. I look forward to re-reading and discussing.... it's a lot to process and unpack ;-)

Did you enjoy it? It looks like a fast read. I started it and then figured I’ll do the two books one at a time rather than simultaneously: I’m gonna stick to Conjure Women right now, but it has certainly peaked my interest and I’m glad to know your thoughts on it.

Not what I expected. Definitely a quick read. Would have loved to see the play then discussed over drinks after lol.

Shanika, does that mean you finished it? I wish I had seen it too. My friend went to see it twice while it was on Broadway. I was trying to save it for July, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to.

Yes I finished it. It was really short.

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "Shanika, does that mean you finished it? I wish I had seen it too. My friend went to see it twice while it was on Broadway. I was trying to save it for July, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to."

That's nice, since you are the one that got us committed to reading this book, in June, in the first place.

I’m looking forward to discussing it too, I’m halfway finished.

Bernie, I know right? LOL 😂

So far I’m not enjoying this play, is anyone else feeling it ?

It wasn't what I expected. But it was extremely short so i finished it quickly.

Shanika wrote: "It wasn't what I expected. But it was extremely short so i finished it quickly."

But did you like it ?

No

Thanks for your honesty. Now I don’t feel alone

Ok. I need to unpack. And I did not know this was written by a black man. 🙄

I guess I need to hurry up and finish it.

I don't think it's intended to "like" in the way you would normally like a book/play. It's intent is to disrupt and to make the audience (viewer or reader) uncomfortable. It hits the mark in that way for sure. It's ugly. This was chosen before the events of the last weeks, but it couldn't be more timely.
(I'm going to read it again to make certain passages fresher in my memory for discussion) it takes about and hour to get through, but to really pull out all the parts to discuss I'll need to get through it again. If I had to choose one word to describe it. UGLY

Ugly. Interesting.

It’s strange. I’m sorry I suggested it. How embarrassing. I’m going to make myself finish it, since it was my bright idea.

Don’t be! It wasn’t a horrible read. It’s just interesting. It’s great for discussion.

The book seems to be picking up for me. Judging Act I, without reading any of Act 2, was definitely not the way to go.

Okay I finished it. I’m ready to unpack when everyone else is. It is by far the most confusing and indescribable thing I’ve ever read. I need to discuss why it happened and how on earth it got such rave reviews.

Lulu wrote: "Ugly. Interesting." For me, the black partners got to see ugly parts of their mates which had not been revealed (even to themselves) in their day to day life. There was a lot of shame in what happened in the "scene" by the participants, and that felt ugly to me. It's not my overall description for the play, because I think it's brilliant, but that's a different layer of discussion. Maybe I view it from a different lens because my sister is married to a white guy, and I, but not she, am biracial. So, I definitely found some things relatable that caused me to enjoy the work.

Well, I have to say, I thought this was going to take place on a plantation from opening to ending. So, when Rihanna starts playing in the background, I got lost. I was completely interested and completely lost; almost like I imagine Alice in Wonderland to be when she fell down the rabbit hole and encountered her first character speaking nonsense.

By the time I got to Phillip, I felt the need for visuals. I wanted to see this dude. I wished I was in row three front and center.

Then we came to Dustin and Gary and I needed to take a break. Good thing I had Conjure Women to turn to. I didn’t need to strain my brain so much.

Then I found out, after a much needed rest that this was a therapy session. Ohhh. Okaaay. But why? It didn’t seem to be working.

It’s June 14 as I write this. I will be back on Tuesday ready to discuss.

Hey everyone! I just wanna get a feel of where we are with the read, group wise. I’m not rushing anyone as we have two months scheduled.

Please post one of the following.

Currently Reading.
Finished.
Will Not Finish.
Haven’t Started, but will soon.

Finished

Ok. I’ll be honest. I’m still trying to process.

(view spoiler)[ Overall what I picked up is no matter how much you love a person, you can’t help but to acknowledge the differences between you. It seems like the “I don’t see skin color” logic is what caused these couples to need therapy in the first place.

Am I wrong with how I’m viewing this? (hide spoiler)]

Lulu wrote: "Ok. I’ll be honest. I’m still trying to process.

Overall what I picked up is no matter how much you love a person, you can’t help but to acknowledge the differences between you. It seems like th..."

Okay, so I don't know how to hide spoilers, I hope I don't do any harm for those who may still be reading the book. That being said, If you haven't finished Slave Play, please don't read my response to Lulu.

Lulu, I believe it is impossible not to see color, unless you are literally blind. You do not have to leave your race to see color. White people describe their race as being tall dark and handsome, fair, milky, light, rosy, olive, pale. pasty and we have not even left one race. The myriad of colors that Black people have are too numerous to count, no need to even try. The racism between light skinned Black people and dark skinned Black people is ancient, again, without leaving the race. My point being everyone see's color. I also think, opposites attract. It is the color difference that acts as a magnet sometimes. "I don't see race" is another lie. How can you not? Your race contributes to your heritage, your actual color to your specific uniqueness. Unfortunately, I think the therapy session was more damaging than finding a solution to whatever the problem was. I'm still trying to figure out if the therapy intensified the problem, (that I've not identified). Can anyone tell me why they needed this type of group therapy.

The more I think about what I read, and let it resonate, the play seems a bit better than it was immediately after I finished it. Not much, mind you, but somewhat. I needed to witness these interactions on stage. It would have taken some powerful actors to pull it off.

So I found this interesting article on the play, it more so gives more people's perspectives on the play. I can honestly see all sides of the argument for and against. I think i'm still in shock over the fact that a black man wrote it.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/5...