“”Symptomatic” by Danzy Senna is a psychological thriller that delves into themes of identity, race, and belonging. The novel follows an unnamed biracial woman who, after securing a prestigious fellowship in New York City, moves into a new apartment and starts a promising relationship. However, her life begins to unravel when she meets an older, enigmatic woman named Greta Hicks, who is also biracial and works at the same magazine.
Greta becomes increasingly obsessed with the protagonist, seeing her as a mirror of herself and projecting her own insecurities and experiences onto her. As their relationship intensifies, the protagonist finds herself drawn into Greta’s unsettling world, leading to a series of chilling events that challenge her sense of self and safety.
Senna’s narrative is a gripping exploration of the complexities of racial identity and the psychological impact of feeling perpetually out of place. “Symptomatic” is a suspenseful and thought-provoking novel that examines the intersection of personal and societal issues with masterful tension and insight.”
These character dynamics were extremely intriguing. We have a nameless narrator, which is always fun. I love to unravel why the person remains nameless and how we can get into the head of said person without even having their name. It’s always interesting when an author can do that. However, the story really picked up when the character of Greta was introduced. Both women are in similar circumstances as they are both mixed race, but they experience those circumstances completely differently. We will talk more about that when we get to the plot of the story. This book is for those who love the unhinged woman trope, but this is from the perspective of the friend of the unhinged woman, and I’ve never read anything like that. If you like unhinged women and weird girl books, I would definitely recommend picking up this book.
The atmosphere was 1990s New York City. I always like the 90s and early 00s for New York. It always feels nostalgic for me, even though I wasn’t necessarily there. I think it has to do with a lot of movies and TV shows I watched as a child taking place in New York City, so there’s a bit of a magical feeling. The story does not feel magical, even though I had ideas of how to make this magical realism, but that’s irrelevant.
The writing was good. It was fast-paced and easy to read. However, at times, there were really weird and vulgar descriptions that made me double-take what I was reading.
Now we are back to the plot. The main theme of the story is racial identity. This book was published in 2004 and takes place in the early 1990s, but I still think the story remains relevant 20 years later here in 2024. Both of the main characters come from mixed-race families. Greta is somebody who I think is very lost, mainly about her race, not fitting in with the Black community and not fitting in with the white community. She’s somebody that would very much latch onto labels, wanting to label herself. I think it stems from Greta wanting to feel a part of something.
In contrast, our main character, the nameless narrator, seems more go-with-the-flow. She didn’t really care about her race as much. There is also a big age gap between these two women, with Greta having grown up and been in her 20s during the 1960s civil rights movement. I think that may be why she cared more about race than our main character.
Regarding the main twist towards the end of the book, I would have liked a little more explanation on that. It was lacking some logic. The story was intriguing throughout, but it’s not one that I loved, though it was thought-provoking.
These character dynamics were extremely intriguing. If you like unhinged women and weird girl books, I would definitely recommend picking up this book.The atmosphere was 1990s New York City. The writing was good.However, at times, there were really weird and vulgar descriptions that made me double-take what I was reading. The main theme of the story is racial identity. The story was intriguing throughout, but it’s not one that I loved, though it was thought-provoking. This was a good book and I would recommend picking it up if you are inclined to do so.
3.25 out of 5 stars.
Izzy Reads 