Black Coffee discussion

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/a...

Have any of you heard of this author Cait Corrain going around giving negative reviews on POC books? She was doing it on Goodreads, she made several different accounts on Goodreads giving one star reviews to POC and those same accounts gave her books five star reviews lol.

I know many of us read a variety of genres and authors so I was wondering if any of you knew of this or about this author. I’ve never heard of her, I found this on Reddit.

What are your thoughts?? Have you noticed this from other people when reading reviews of books by POC? Do you think reviews of POC books are more harshly reviewed opposed to books by non POC?


I know this is an African American book club but this seemed relevant.

I have not heard of this person. I will keep my eyes open from now on though. I recognize this occurrence in movies by POC, especially movies that star black people. They are never as low as one star when we consider them five stars, but they tend to come in lower than the word of mouth black ratings. I figured that the white people just don’t understand our culture (therefore the movies) enough to give fair ratings. This could be the same thing with POC books. On the other hand, it could be just another example of the normal sabotage that we have gone through since our existence in this country, which sounds more accurate as you describe what is happening on Goodreads.

I haven't heard of her either. It's unfortunate that people still feel the need to denigrate the work of POC in an attempt to elevate themselves. However, I'm not surprised that this still happens.

Soooo....
She's issued an apology in which she basically blames depression and her medication. 😐

I haven't heard of her, but I do know that some people actively review bomb not just POC but other groups they hate as well. This is relevant since we focus on reading African American authors.

Is this known as a parody? I think I remember some authors writing books based on bestsellers and the whole point is to make fun of them. If I remember correctly, they did this to Gone Girl.

Dosha, do you mean like Scary Movie but for books?? I haven’t heard of parody books, I would love to read one because wouldn’t it be a comedy? I’ve never tread Gone Girl but I saw the movie and it certainly wasn’t a comedy.
This situation is not a parody of any kind.


In my experience with Goodreads I’ve noticed people who are not AA tend to review AA books or AA characters more harshly than other books and characters. I figured it was because they don’t understand our culture and customs. To me, that’s understandable because I can’t say that an Asian book would resonate with me like it would for an Asian, mainly due to me not knowing their culture like they do. So I don’t read these books through an AA lens because it’s not written for us in that way. I would not give negative reviews because I can’t relate or because they didn’t center my experience in their book. But this woman wasn’t even thinking about that, she was just being racist and she thought she would get away with it 🙄

Shaylah wrote: "Dosha, do you mean like Scary Movie but for books?? I haven’t heard of parody books, I would love to read one because wouldn’t it be a comedy? I’ve never tread Gone Girl but I saw the movie and it ..."

It's difficult to review characters you don't understand from other cultures, and there are times it's hard for me. This includes a number of white cultures as well. Then there are the newer cultures set up by immigrants that obviously change over time.

Because there are many cultures in each race and it is irksome when I read stereotypes for any race.

As for books, I will go check my average rating of AA books compared to my overall average rating to see how they compare to see if I show bias in my reviews. ETA, it's slightly higher than my overall average rating (3.36 AA, 3.22 for all books)

It's not exactly the same, but it looks like Jeffrey Wright's new movie, 'American Fiction' explores similar themes. It is supposed to be based on an early story by Percival Everett, who wrote one of the best books I've read recently, The Trees. Short version- Wright is a Black author whose publisher wants him to write, "You know. Black stories." I'm definitely interested in the movie and Everett's book, Erasure.

Listen to: Actor Jeffrey Wright discusses 'American Fiction' - https://one.npr.org/i/1219512057:1219...

Literature can achieve a great many things. Two of the best features of literature point in nearly opposite directions: literature can give us something to relate to, and it can expose us to new ideas and new perspectives. The second of these really means we develop the ability to relate to those who are not identical to ourselves, but who are different. Both features are important. To never see a reflection of ourselves in literature is a barrier to even starting to enjoy reading. Unfortunately, I think many people's journey into reading begins and ends at one point: the point that embraces the relatable and rejects the unrelatable. And if someone is used to otherizing people based on race or other such factors, that means there will be no opening for new ideas or perspectives for this reader. A blanket dismissal is the result.

But that's a generous interpretation. More disturbing is that some people's latent racism is such a part of their identity that reading anything that in any way touches on race issues, even to the small degree of giving a perspective other than a white perspective, is too profound a challenge to their own world view to be acceptable.

Zadignose wrote: "But that's a generous interpretation. More disturbing is that some people's latent racism is such a part of their identity that reading anything that in any way touches on race issues, even to the small degree of giving a perspective other than a white perspective, is too profound a challenge to their own world view to be acceptable."

THIS!!!!
also applies to tv, films, and music.

Zadignose wrote: "Literature can achieve a great many things. Two of the best features of literature point in nearly opposite directions: literature can give us something to relate to, and it can expose us to new id..."

Sadly, it's all too common for people to stick only with people they can relate to because it's harder and can be uncomfortable to learn to relate to others.

side topic- i do not think what cait corrain did as review bombing. i think that is when a bunch of folks give a book 1 star reviews becasue of the actions of an author not becasue the story was bad. i do not agree with that but i do appreciate the warnings to not support an author becasue they are an awful person.

Karin wrote: "Sadly, it's all too common for people to stick only with people they can relate to because it's harder and can be uncomfortable to learn to relate to others."

few people of color do this. name a white musician, tv show or film. we know it. MOST (not all) POC will know it. we will get the reference. we can sing the song. we can name the characters. we can name the actors' real names. we can name the authors.

i noticed being around lots of white folks where i live that more than 90% do NOT watch tv shows, films, or read books by POC starring POC. every now and then we have ones that crossover like the cosby show, blackish, Madea. most black music production white folks know of but reggaton, kpop, that took longer for mainstream white folk to learn about.

Fluffy, Jo Koy, Jimmy O Yang, comedians i hae followed for years did not make it big until they crossovered and white folks started following them. then they got bigger shows and tv/movie deals. Kevin Hart, Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, Jamie Foxx - all were Black Famous for years before they became mainstream.

i watched the spanish cable channel, not even knowing how to speak spanish for years as a kid. i loved their talk shows and soap operas. only understood a few words but totally enjoyed it. most of my black friends occasionally watched it too.

so no, i vehemently disagree that people stick only with people they can relate to.

Kay Dee (what is your storygraph name? wrote: "Karin wrote: "Sadly, it's all too common for people to stick only with people they can relate to because it's harder and can be uncomfortable to learn to relate to others."

few people of color do ..."

There is more than one way to stick to people similar to you and even though race is a significant one, it's not the only one. For example, when I was in grade 11 we lived in the States for a year (so I was a junior since I was living here) and that did happen to me just that one year--my friends were white, black, Asian and Hispanic/Latino/Jewish (it hadn't been all that long since Jews were considered to be a different race which is silly since there are white, black and Asian Jews that I known of but there was still a lot of antisemitism), but we were all in a special theatre group through the public schools where you auditioned so we all had a love of acting in common and the theatre person mentality. That's the only time where all of my local friends had the same main interest since it counted for 2 classes per semester and was very intense and during show times we were there after school a lot.

Karin wrote: "There is more than one way to stick to people similar to you and even though race is a significant one, it's not the only one."

very true but we are talking about race not hobbies in this group and thread.

Kay Dee (what is your storygraph name? wrote: "Karin wrote: "There is more than one way to stick to people similar to you and even though race is a significant one, it's not the only one."

very true but we are talking about race not hobbies in..."

Yes, of course. My point was merely that it's common for people to do this in general, but I should have stayed on track.