MashReads Podcast: 'New People' is a sharp novel about race, disguised as a suspense thriller

Danzy Senna knows what kind of novels you think she and other black writers will deliver: "We're expected to write that long overdue slave novel. We're supposed to write in a state of seriousness and sadness and out of respect of history. And we're supposed to write only autobiography. We have to have the blues or the Bible ... With a mixed race character, it's supposed to be very tragic. She's supposed to feel betwixt and between," says Senna.

So when she set out to write her novel New People, Senna did just the opposite.

New People follows Maria and Khalil, a biracial couple living in Brooklyn in the '90s. They seem to have the perfect life: Maria is a scholar researching Jonestown, Khalil is about to launch a new internet venture, and they're planning a wedding together.

However, when Maria becomes infatuated with a poet in their peer group, she finds herself entangled in a web of lies and transgressions that will leave readers' pulses racing with fear and sheer discomfort.

"I'm interested in narratives with black protagonists that don't follow an expected script," Senna explained while talking to MashReads.

Yet, while the novel is set up as a thriller, the book is also a sharp critique on race and the way we write about it. While Maria is spiraling in her obsession with the poet, she is critiquing the world around her: How does she think the world will see her if she's in a relationship with a dark-skinned man vs. a light-skinned man? Does that matter to her? How does she want to present herself to the world? What will the world actually see in return?

It's a delicate line to walk, merging thriller with social commentary (think Jordan Peele's Get Out), but for Senna, that balancing act opened up a world of opportunity when writing.

"Race can be so heavy and talking about it can be so laden with duty. Once you put in a story that universal pleasure component of the thriller, you can get in a lot of ideas without people noticing that they're being educated in some ideas," says Senna.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we talk to Danzy Senna about her novel New People. Listen in to the episode above.

As always, we close the show with recommendations:

• Danzy recommends A Separation by Katie Kitamura. "It was such a pleasurable read but sort of unsettling in all the ways that I like." Danzy has also been reading through novels by French writer Emmanuel Carrère. "Class Trip is an amazing novel."

• MJ recommends Release by Patrick Ness. The book is a day in the life of a queer kid in Seattle as he deals with a going away party, issues at work, and the like. "I've been on this queer YA binge, and this book has been so good. It's been so good."

• And you can read Danzy's essay about Oreo, "An Overlooked Classic About the Comedy of Race," here.

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