Book club wrap-up! Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst
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Hello book club readers of Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst! Below is a reflection with TONS of questions for you to answer throughout! Comment your thoughts, tell us your ideas! Remember to be sensitive in your review, critical analysis is always welcome!
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*Spoilers below*
Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst
After Mickey’s racist boss, Nina, fires her, she immediately spirals into a depression. No matter how hard she tries to make herself palatable enough to succeed in a racist culture, her sacrifices seem to be worth nothing in the end.
Mickey’s replacement is another young Black woman, but who fits into Nina’s cultural ideals better: “Hopefully she's happy,” Mickey said, scrolling through the comments on her most recent post and wondering if they would've gotten along in real life. If there could've been room enough for the both of them.”
Who gets to take up space in the world is a major part of Homebodies’ story. Many people want Mickey to shrink herself, economically and also physically. She decides to write a letter exposing the racist culture of her former employer, and she posts in on Twitter.
What do you think about Nina?
At work, Mickey was “safe as long as she was productive.” Do you relate to that? How and why? (p.110)
Mickey sends the letter to a favored group chat of fellow Black women in her industry, but nobody responds or seems to go near it, likely out of fear for losing their own jobs too. With no response to Mickey’s vulnerable writing, at first, she’s left feeling abandoned.
One of Mickey’s closest friends brushes past her experiences of racism at work like it’s nothing. Her own girlfriend, Lex, who she’s considering marrying puts too much blame on Mickey for her unemployment, failing to consider the nuances of what Mickey is going through.
Mickey’s firing isn’t simply a job loss, it’s a rejection of her very humanity. Even though this isn’t true, it’s now proof she isn’t enough, isn’t in a body deserving of respect. And her employers have no repercussions for their prejudiced behavior. This impacts Mickey harshly, who’s already at risk for emotional flagellation due to a lifetime of criticism on her body. When she was a child, larger parts of her arm would be pinched, as if she was something that shouldn’t be there. As if to say, you’re taking up too much space.
The worst part of Mickey’s rejection is: she finally feels comfortable in herself!
With her girlfriend Lex, Mickey loves her body. At home in their apartment, she feels safe under Lex’s gaze. She’s allowed to explore how she really feels, which is that she is god damn sexy and desirable! However much space she fills is the perfect amount.
It’s, unfortunately, the outer world which tries to signal to her otherwise.
How do you make sure you’re taking up space in your work environment, at school, or in public?
Why do you think Mickey is being harsh on Lex? Why do you think Lex is being judgmental of Mickey? Do you hope they will stay together or separate for good?
After further spiraling, Mickey just wants to go home. It calls to her like a solution to her problems. How? She has no idea. It just feels right, okay!? She decides to flee the city and journey through her origins, to revisit the home she’s been avoiding, where, in her mind, people live slow and boring lives.
Mickey cleans the house for her grandmother and visits old stomping grounds and avoids her dad, meanwhile her takedown letter of her former racist employer is sizzling publicly on the internet!
What a homecoming Mickey has, visiting her ex, Tee, and…visiting her ex some more. At night, in Tee’s bed, with a Himalayan salt lamp for mood lighting—the lighting choice for players everywhere! Mickey should’ve known!!!
Eventually, all the new and old memories add up. Mickey realizes she has unfinished business with her selfhood. She too often looks for validation outside of herself and not enough within herself. She desperately seeks acceptance in places that are never going to give it to her, in work but also in romantic relationships.
With her manipulative teenage lover Tee, who she falls for again as an adult, Mickey is at Tee’s mercy for a modicum of approval and attention.
What did you think of Tee?
Why did Mickey fall for Tee again?
Why do you think Mickey still protected Tee, even after she realized Tee was dating somebody else?
For a long time, Mickey commits herself to an unequal exchange. At work she’d been excluded from events, talked down to, and offered less opportunities than her coworkers, even though they had the same job title. Nina represents a slow-burning kind of racism, one that Mickey’s father suggests Mickey should’ve accepted to keep a steady income, failing to consider the ways she has been quietly falling apart.
Mickey doubts herself to the very end, until finally, she see’s herself as a person with possibility.
When she runs into a stranger who tells Mickey how much her letter has meant to her, Mickey considers herself more seriously. Her words have power, the space she took up did good.
Mickey’s friends, the public, mysterious people in her industry, and even her family, come through to support her the best they can in the end. Her letter picks up so much energy online, Mickey is invited onto prominent news shows where she can speak her mind freely, and people will listen.
Mickey’s friends remind her to validate herself, to always come back to the power within her. And the reader is reminded to validate the people in our lives and community, as well as ourselves.
A community can tear a person down, like it does for Mickey in the beginning, and it can build a person up, like it does for Mickey in the end. With the help of people who care, Mickey’s voice is finally platformed and heard. A space was urged to be made for her, when before it was purposefully restricted.
I’ve come away from reading Homebodies thinking about the need for nuanced care in all kinds of relationships. Online and offline, the way we support each other is tremendously important. It’s everything.
Homebodies is my first audio book and it was kinda difficult to annotate my fav lines. My takeaway definitely is the reality of workplace and that I should be more confident because I deserve to take up the space and be me.
The writing made me feel vulnerable till the end. 💌