The Word on Street Lit

Featuring Nikki Turner, Niobia Bryant & Ni-Ni Simone

By Vanessa Irvin Morris, The iSchool at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA -- Library Journal, 02/18/2010

This is going to be my last column, as I have an overflowing plate. In addition to my full-time teaching duties, this year I am writing a readers’ advisory guide to street lit for ALA, and I am also writing my dissertation. I want to thank everyone who reads this column. I've appreciated your support these past two years.

In my research thus far, I have worked with fellow public service librarians to gain a better understanding of urban fiction from various angles and to reach a consensus on what street lit is and what it is not. One thing I appreciate about this genre is that it continuously defines itself and is uncompromising in its presentation and message: "It Is What It Is."

This month’s column features novels that attest to that credo. Full of attitude and hands on hips, these are women’s stories that show urban women from all walks of life living and loving on their own terms and charting their own destinies. Along the way, they run across loves won and lost, friends cherished and betrayed. But through it all, it’s about living authentically and not being ashamed of being who you are and where you come from. It is what it is.

Pick of the Month

Turner, Nikki. Relapse: A Novel. One World: Ballantine. Apr. 2010. 279p. ISBN 978-0-3455-1105-8. pap. $14. F
Beijing was a child of two worlds, moving between her father’s stable middle-class life and her mother’s gritty world of the streets. While visiting her mother as a ten year old, she witnessed a teenage boy kill a perverted drug dealer in order to save her life. Fast-forward to the now-adult Beijing, a lovely, accomplished woman working as a celebrity VIP concierge for a major hotel chain. On a business trip to Las Vegas, she meets an ex-con-turned-rapper who brings a truckload of complications into her life, including drugs, the underbelly of the entertainment world, and kidnapping. Managing her street-living mothers and sisters only adds to Beijing’s problems. And just when things couldn’t get messier, a certain teen boy now grown walks back into her life.
Verdict THIS is what street fiction is about. Street lit queen Turner (Forever a Hustler’s Wife; Riding Dirty on I-95) continues to establish the standards for the genre with a well-developed plot and thoughtfully rendered characters. Readers get a literary novel that speaks to the ills of street life as well as to the redemption of moving beyond daily struggles. Highly recommended.

Bryant, Niobia. Live and Learn. Dafina: Kensington. 2010. 374p. ISBN 978-0-7582-1721-9. pap. $6.99. F
Alize is a college student and aspiring dancer, still trying to figure out how to deal with a man she doesn’t love. Moet, a preacher’s daughter by day and a club-hopping wannabe at night, works as an assistant at a hip-hop record label; falling in love with the wrong man, she pays a hefty price for the heartbreak. Dom is a stripper who works the club hard to pay her bills, but the pressures of being a single mom with little support lures her into a nasty drug habit and the ultimate betrayal. Crystal grew up as a foster child in the system, and her streetwise ways are the glue that keeps this tight-knit circle of four friends together through a series of life-changing tragedies.
Verdict First published in 2007, this somewhat pedantic novel paints a picture of lasting female friendships. The characterizations are thoughtfully rendered, despite the story’s slow pace. Readers who enjoy a Sex in the City format may be attracted to this tale of women friends from varying backgrounds who navigate their daily lives and loves in Newark, NJ. And fans of Bryant’s other novels (Message from a Mistress; Desperate Hoodwives) will want this.

Eubanks, Sabrina A. Karma. Triple Crown. (Triple Crown Productions Presents.) 285p. ISBN 978-0-9820-9969-8. pap. $15. F
Liking each other as soon as they meet, Justine, a gorgeous TV reporter, and Lucas, a hot New York City narcotics detective, know this will be a deep and lasting love. But one of Justine’s "girls," Simone, is bitten by the green-eyed monster and pursues Lucas. Simone’s betrayal, along with her undercover connections to a dangerously violent druglord, leads to dangerous complications and a climax that indicates a sequel is coming!
Verdict This fully developed novel about working professionals in the hood will keep readers turning pages to the exciting end. Eubanks is a street lit author to watch, and fans of the first book will eagerly anticipate Karma II, out in March.

Hawthorne, Tash. Karma with a Vengeance. W-Clark Pub. (Wahida Clark Presents). 2009. 264p. ISBN 978-0-9818-5450-2. pap. $15. F
Following in her Cuban father’s footsteps, Indigo is a Newark, NJ, police officer, the first female cop in her family. But don’t get it twisted—beneath that uniform and gun is a sexy, feminine fashionista who knows how to have a good time. Her roommate and cousin is Karma, who follows a more traditional life path for a Latina, focusing on the loyalty of family and friends—she adores her mother, Soleil. However, when Soleil is brutally murdered by an unidentified assailant, a rage rises in Karma. Frustrated by a too-slow police investigation, she sidesteps Indigo’s and her uncle’s police connections and enacts justice in her own brutal way, handing down karma with a vengeance.
Verdict Hawthorne’s excellent debut brings more Latino characters and culture into the street lit canon and could be a classic in the genre. Readers will reading this novel in one sitting and ask for more.

Racheal, Christine. Trickery. Triple Crown. (Triple Crown Publications Presents). 2010. 162p. ISBN 978-0-9825-8889-5. pap. $15. F
Taj is a lesbian sex performer, carrying out sexual acts with women in front of a male audience. Her hustle leads her to meet sexy San, for whom she feels a strong attraction. After establishing a friendship, they fall in love and begin performing together, but a major tragedy and a gig that ends disastrously land Taj in the hospital. With San out of the picture, Taj falls for her physician, James, and eventually they become engaged. However, all bets are off when James learns of Taj’s many secrets, and Taj is sent spiraling back to the darkness of her old lifestyle.
Verdict More erotica than street lit, this will still attract genre readers because of the Triple Crown brand. However, it will be a good addition to a GLBT collection, as gay relationships are thoughtfully developed within the plot. The sequel, Trickery Part II, will be published in March.

Simone, Ni-Ni. Teenage Love Affair. Dafina: Kensington. Apr. 2010. 240p. ISBN 978-0-7582-4189-4. pap. $15. F
Zsa-Zsa has a best friend in Malachi, who is her refuge during her parents’ weekly fights. When Malachi and his family unexpectedly move, Zsa-Zsa must go forward on her own. Five years later she has grown into a beautiful, 17-year-old diva in love with Ameen—a young thug who is a repeat of her father. But then Malachi moves back to the hood, and Zsa-Zsa realizes she is in love with her childhood friend. Can she make a clean break with a volatile Ameen to reclaim her love for Malachi? It is a complicated, teenage love affair.
Verdict This is creative, innovative, and important storytelling for today’s urban teen readership. Simone (Shortie Like Mine; If I Was Your Girl) tells authentic stories of teen life in the hood better than any other author currently writing contemporary YA street lit. Spiced with plenty of Simone’s trademark humor, this novel is essential for your YA collection. Buy multiple copies, and get her other books as well—the protagonists in the series are cousins and appear in each other’s stories.