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It’s hard to understand why so many publishers rejected 'A Wish After Midnight’. Zetta Elliott self-published her second book in 2008 after struggling to find a publisher interested in selling her novel. Since then she has been frank in her assessment of the publishing market in both Canada and America, citing the lack of racial diversity among the books published in these countries. Not everyone may believe that her book was rejected because it’s main characters are a Panamanian/African American girl and a Jamaican boy, but the book is so good it’s hard not to question whether her character’s skin colour was a factor for publishers.Genna’s lives in a cramped apartment in Brooklyn with her mother and three siblings. Genna gets good grades and is hoping to get a scholarship to an Ivy league college. Her mother wants to keep her on the right track and she often remindsGenna she’s her mother’s ‘best chance’ to get the family out of the bad area they live in. Genna wants to help her mother and she loves her half brother Tyjaun, but her older siblings make her life miserable and she has no friends at school. Judah, the boy she likes, doesn’t seem interested. She spends most of her time in a public garden, making wishes at the fountain.
Genna’s Papi has returned to his home in Panama with her Abuelita because he can’t stand the racial inequality in America; ‘...in America, a black man can’t even be a man’, he says as he urges Genna’s mother to move the whole family to Panama. As the book is set in 2006, Papi’s statement takes place in the 1990s, which makes it quite a shock to hear. It’s not the only forthright statement about the presence of racism and inequality in the twentieth century offered in the first part of the book. Genna’s mother doesn’t want like Genna babysitting for a white woman, saying she doesn’t want her playing ‘...mammy to Miss Anne and her little white brats.’. Judah calls America ‘Babylon’ and criticises the systems in the country that keep black people down.
Honesty like this, sometimes coupled with vital, unapologetic anger pervades the first section of ‘A Wish After Midnight’. Elliott is not afraid to show the extent of the dislike many of the characters have for white people, or America. Elliott allows her characters their anger and avoids stifling their views by making them learn a lesson about how nice white people can be. Elliott’s characters are allowed to feel angry, because they have a right to feel angry and Elliott never intends their story to be a simple learning journey that will teach them the harmfulness of anger. I can’t help but wonder if that untamed anger was another aspect of Elliott’s book that caused publishers to balk. If it was it was a massive mistake on their part because that honest, non-judgemental approach to black anger is part of what makes this book so unique.
Alongside her justifiably angry characters Elliott places Genna’s friendships with white characters like Hannah to show, not a contrast, but a half way house between anger at white people’s attitudes and happiness at finding friendship with anyone. Genna shows an alternative to anger with her positive attitudes towards many white characters, but at the same time demonstrates the necessity of anger for Genna. If she wishes to be true to herself in a world which does not always understand her she must trust in her anger and use her reactions to re-educate the world as she does when Hannah pushes her kindness into charity:
‘ Sometimes people give you things, and they don’t know when to stop. They give too much, ‘cause they want to fix all your problems but sometimes you got to fix your own problems, your own kind of way. Hannah’s already paying me, and that’s what I said.
“You paid me already Hannah.” And her face got kind of flushed and her eyes lost all of that shine, and I kind of wished I hadn’t said it, but I knew it needed to be said.’
Jenna isn’t there to instruct the other characters to cast off their anger, or to show generosity of feeling towards others as the one true path. Judah never agrees with Genna about white America and continues to actively criticise her views throughout the book. He is never persuaded into changing his views and Jenna never really tries to persuade him, instead they talk and through their dialogue Elliot subtly shows us two different sides of the debate:
‘Judah’s face looks cold and sullen in the pale moonlight. “What you need me for, Genna?” You got your precious white baby to take care of, you got your little white girlfriend to gossip with. You got your high and mighty white doctor taking you out every night. And there’s that blue-eyed half-breed keeps coming ‘round here asking for you. So what you need me for, huh?”…
“That’s not fair Judah. Yes, I have friends, and yes, I have a job. What did you expect – that after six months I’d just be standing on a corner somewhere, waiting for you to come along and rescue me?”…
“So you took a job working for some rich white folks and made yourself right at home, huh?”
Judah has a right to be mad, ‘cause I haven’t been totally honest with him, but he can’t talk to me like this. He’s making it sound like I took the easy way out. But what else was I supposed to do? “Right now, yes, this is my home, Judah-and it’s the only one I’ve got. Do you have an idea what it’s like being a black girl in this world alone?” ' .
Neither does Genna change her mind based on what Judah say, her more tolerant attitude is included to show an alternative, equally valid way of interacting with the world, but also to remind readers that there are limits to tolerance and that finding it impossible to be tolerant is not always a failing.
In the second part of the novel Genna finds herself transported into the 1800s, right in the middle of the American Civil War (I won’t tell you how in case anyone thinks it is a spoiler). She’s in terrible pain and realises she’s appeared in the body of a runaway slave who has been severely beaten. This section runs the risk of becoming a teaching exercise on the history of slavery, but while Elliott is concerned with expanding her readers’ knowledge (she was a teacher for many years after all) she does so subtly. At the same time she creates a vivid picture of the historical period and a plot that feels fast paced despite the fact that it’s mostly concerned with everyday chores and conversations. I’m not sure it’s something I can describe for you, you need to read it to understand, but ‘Wish After Midnight’ was definitely one of those books that made me feel history in all its gloriously messy ordinariness and remember that big historical events stem from the lives of ordinary people. There’s an urgency about this section, that seems like an attempt to mirror the pace of change and activity at this time. At the end of the book Elliott’s skill at pacing is revealed in full, as she plots a desperate dash for Genna who must race to escape a mob. It’s at this point that you realise just how sharp Elliot’s pen is and how much you’ve come to care for her characters – your happiness now depends on their survival.
My one criticism of ‘A Wish After Midnight’ is to do with the romance between Genna and Judah. There were wonderful romantic scenes between the two characters where I could feel their attraction:
‘Judah puts his hand on my shoulder and looks straight into my face. “Your eyes are silver,” he says.
This makes me want to cry even more, but I can’t because Judah’s lips are pressed against mine.’
but there were also times when I felt that the spark between them was lacking. I questioned whether Judah loved Genna, or if he loved the idea of her as a natural girl who could have her political ideas shaped. I was mostly convinced of his love and the chemistry between the two by the end of the book, but there’s a hint of scepticism left in my mind. Everyone hates me now right (I know Judah has quite a following) ;) I swear I like Judah, but perhaps not as much as I like Genna.
So, it’s a hearty thanks to AmazonEncore for picking up Zetta Elliott’s book, making it much more visible to me and a (hopefully not too) long wait for the sequel focusing on Judah.
Reading a ‘A Wish After Midnight’ is part of my campaign to read one book by every author whose blog I read regularly which is going well. It’s also my fifth selection for the 'Once Upon a Time Challenge’ which means I’ve finished a challenge finally!
Other Reviews
Rhapsody in Books
The Happy Nappy Bookseller
Justine Larbalestier
Coleen Mondor
Reading in Color
BrownGirl Speaks
The Booksmugglers
Multiculturalism Rocks!
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