A Love Noire: A Novel [Paperback]

Erica Simone Turnipseed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 29, 2004

When Noire, a hip, Afro-wearing Ph.D. student, walks into Brown Betty Books, her righteousness kicks in to overdrive amid the self-identified "talented tenth" who wear their double degrees and five-hundred-dollar shoes like badges of honor. And then Innocent, a well-heeled investment banker from CÔte d'Ivoire, West Africa, walks in and turns her on her head. Innocent seems interested in her -- but he's one of them.

Before meeting him, Noire shunned the "bourgie" world of black-moneyed cosmopolitans like Innocent, opting instead for socially conscious (but economically challenged) artists and urban intellectuals. Their mutual attraction blossoms into lust -- and eventually love -- but it lives in the shifting sands of personal beliefs and professional ambitions that are often at odds.

Set in New York City with jaunts to Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean, A Love Noire is the story of an unlikely couple that transcends all they've known to learn the redemptive power of love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Love blossoms for an unlikely couple in this provocative debut, a romance embroidered with outspoken treatment of issues of race and class. Noire Demain is a brilliant and socially conscious Ph.D. student in comparative literature with a tendency to criticize those who may not share her ideals. The last person she expects to fall in love with is Innocent Pokou, an investment banker from Cete d'Ivoire whom she considers part of "the black bourgeoisie." But sparks fly and, as each realizes that the other is more than a mere stereotype, their relationship deepens. Turnipseed's take on star-crossed lovers breaks no molds, but her voice is strong and confident. She sets convincing and complex characters within the disparate neighborhoods of New York's Harlem and SoHo, the "historic locales in and around black Charleston" and the politically unstable climate of Cete d'Ivoire. Turnipseed's other great strength, much like Noire's, is her fearlessness in tackling touchy subject matter, whether it be spicy sex scenes or exploration of identity politics. Turnipseed's earnest treatment of social issues sometimes becomes heavy-handed and slows the narrative momentum. That, and occasional lapses into melodramatic prose ("The subway was a curious place where bodies touched even when lives did not. Was this a metaphor for life?") are the novel's weaknesses. But its many strengths, including frank dialogue and a fierce intelligence, make this a vibrant, engaging debut.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Splendid.…[It] offers hope that a new class of black fiction will take root.” (Black Issues Book Review )

“What a gorgeous debut novel! The writing is witty, breezy, and sophisticated.” (Yolanda Joe, author of The Hatwearer's Lesson )

“A funny, analytical novel. . . . . ” (--Honey magazine )

“An assured debut . . . . A Love Noire explores the intricacies . . . with vibrancy and grace.” (--Go On Girl! Book Club )

“Turnipseed’s voice is strong and confident. Frank dialogue and a fierce intelligence make this a vibrant, engaging debut.” (Publishers Weekly )

“Enthralling . . . An intelligently written, brazenly breezy blissful tale . . . Brilliant . . . A winner, a triumph.” (--The Blackboard Times )

“Sizzling and sophisticated . . . a provocative, thoughtful love story. . . . A gem.” (--Travis Hunter, author of Trouble Man )

“Page-turning prose as lush as cashmere sweats and as titillating as your favorite stilettos. (--Joan Morgan, author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost )

“A Love Noire is sexy, sophisticated and soulful; a sizzling summer read.” (--April Sinclair, author of I Left My Back Door Open )

“A Love Noire pulsates with depth and consciousness.” (--Tracy Price-Thompson, author of Black Coffee and Chocolate Sangria )

“This tumultuous emotional journey ultimately offers a deeper understanding of love and loss.” (Heart & Soul )

“A juicy tale of love and manners in the modern Diaspora. Sharp and entertaining.” (--Lisa Jones, author of Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex and Hair )

“A captivating love story . . . a first-class novel . . . A great read!” (--Lawrence Otis Graham, author of Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class )

“A refreshing glimpse of love in all its glorious shades of blackness. . . . a smart, sexy, impressive debut.” (--Lori Bryant-Woolridge, author of Read Between the Lies )

“Anyone looking to add a litte spice to their vacations should pick up...A Love Noire...an intelligent romance.” (People )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Amistad (June 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060536802
• ISBN-13: 978-0060536800
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,633,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Erica Simone Turnipseed's debut, A Love Noire, won the Atlanta Choice Author of the Year Award from the Atlanta Daily World. A philanthropist, Turnipseed founded the Five Years for the House Initiative, a fund-raising drive for the Afro American Cultural Center at Yale, her alma mater. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Je ne l'aime pas beaucoup, ce LOVE NOIRE, May 26, 2005

By 

Kharabella "Kharabella" (Somewhere in the midwest . . .) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Love Noire: A Novel (Hardcover)

The title and the description on the inside cover made me raise my eyebrow a little bit. But I could not help but to be interested. The author is a scholar herself, and the character seemed to be living the life of my personal alter-ego -- a Ph.D student at NYU studying comparative literature. I mean, sounds good right? Well, it's okay. The book and the story have promise, but this may also be the story of an author who just tried too hard.

First hint that she tried too hard -- the character's name is Noire Demain, which is literally translater as "Black Tomorrow." For a self-described bohemian woman who shuns the black elite(Noire, not me), I thought the name was a little pushy. Too convenient. Second hint? The prose. Meaningless poetic sketches and clouds of incense and sexual haze. Third hint? Forced conflict. Noire is in love with a man named Innocent from Cote d'Ivoire, Africa. Innocent is supposedly the opposite of Noire -- rich and sophisticated, and a member of the black bourgousie. She's too artsy for him and he's too "mainstream" for her. But the only reason that I know that she and Innocent had conflict in their relationship is because the author says so. The author never SHOWS the conflict, using scenes and actions and dialogue. They ARGUE about differences, but there are curiously few scenes in which these "differences" are made clear to the reader. Noire's problem is apparently that she's too intense and passionate, and Innocent isn't -- I think because he's rich and hangs with other rich people. As a reader, I know I'm just supposed to accept that, but I couldn't. I was always thinking, "What was the big deal?" I never really get to understand what happens that makes them argue. Instead, I just got to read a lot of sex scenes.

Lastly, Noire was too confused to be likable for me. I can't figure out why in the world she thinks that an artistic and passionate nature are the antithesis of wealth and professional achievement. In fact, everyone in the story seems to fall for that tired stereotype. But even rich people can be passionate and eccentric.

Maybe all the missing pages ended up on the editor's floor. But in the end, A LOVE NOIRE falls short.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not in love with this book, August 5, 2003

By 

Reader Rabbit "private_storm" (Baltimore, Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Love Noire: A Novel (Hardcover)

I would say that it is refreshing to read a book that has extremely intelligent black people who live outside their comfort zone but I couldn't really get into this book. The characters are old enough to know better. I think everyone can relate to that feeling that you may not fit into the lifestyle of your mate but how many people carry that insecurity into their 30's. Innocent was old enough to know better. Noire was annoying and obnoxious. I applaud the authors efforts for trying to expose people to the world of black intellect but it could have been done in a much better way. There were too many extraneous characters who did nothing to move along the plot and only served to confuse me more. The author tried to tackle every social issue (broken homes, biracial children, racism among light and dark blacks, etc.)that can be found in Black America. I would say this book is worth borrowing but not buying. I give it two stars because it gives a glimpse of a different black america but it was extremely boring.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking At Love From All Angles -- Class, Ethnicity, Family, March 23, 2005

By 

Terrie L. Robinson (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Love Noire: A Novel (Hardcover)

What I loved about "A Love Noire" is that it examines the question most people in relationships have to answer for themselves sooner or later: Is love enough? Or, in the case of us children of the African Diaspora, "Is *Black* love enough?".

Innocent and Noire share race, superior academic credentials, and ambition. And love. That's about it. Despite the fact that Noire is a PhD candidate at NYU and Innocent is a Columbia MBA'd investment banker, they come from different classes -- Innocent's family is among the upper class elite while Noire's family is at best middle class; different ethnicities -- Noire's family hails from New York, the South, and islands off of the Southeastern coast while Innocent's family is from the Ivory Coast (but he and his siblings are, like many elites, "world citizens"); and different family compositions -- Innocent's parents have been married forever and his family composition nuclear, while Noire's parents never married each other and never made it clear to her that their failure to do so wasn't because of her. Added to the mix are the judgments and hangups of their equally well-credentialed friends of African descent as to whether Innocent and Noire's relationship can make it.

At first, Innocent and Noire's differences make their relationship interesting and edgy in a kind of Black "Sex in the City" Big-and-Carrie kind of way. Towards the end, those differences become the bases for their (and others') doubts as to whether the relationship can endure. For me, it raised the question I once had to resolve for myself: How different can you be from someone and still have a lasting relationship with them?

What I hope Innocent and Noire will come to know in the sequel (There will be a sequel, won't there?) is the answer I came to myself: If you share the same values, love can endure. What I enjoyed about this book is that it makes one think about what it takes to make love work, especially Black love.