Dancing in the Dark

Caryl Phillips is the perfect writer for Black Lives Matter-era America. A good many of his works address the African diaspora—and he is brilliant. This is the fictionalization story of a black man who worked in vaudeville (minstrelsy) at the turn of the twentieth century. Bert Williams is in this mo......more

Dancing in the Dark is a fictionalization of the life of Bert Williams. Though it isn’t as well read as it could be, and the description makes it seem quaint, Philips uses the life of Bert Williams and his hardships to paint what it means to be black in the public eyes. Very few novels capture black......more

Very good 📖. The duality black people live is and has been a difficult road for generations. We were brought here against our will. We saw what the so called 'American Dream' was, so we wanted it for ourselves also. But when non blacks see us with the trappings of it, they're 😠 😡 and do their best t......more

I feel bad giving this book such a low rating when it appears so many others enjoyed it. It was the writing style that brought it down for me. The sudden changes in perspective, third person omnipresent, first person, third person limited, and then 'newspaper' articles, and wow, it just ended up doi......more

I heard of Bert Williams from the “Music From 100 Years Ago” podcast. He was funny and emotional. “I’m Neutral.” Who was this guy? I’m not sure I got that answer here. I feel this was more George Walker’s story than Bert’s. I felt for Ada and her trying stand out. Lottie went through a lot in her li......more