Overview

In this New York Times bestseller and Indie Next Pick from writer and performer Amber Ruffin and her older sister Lacey Lamar, the sisters banter with humor and heart as they share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism. Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, stark raving normal. But Amber's sister Lacey? She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey. From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think I can say whatever I want to this woman. And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.

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9781538719350

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Reviews

A must-read that will have Black women feeling seen and heard, and will allow others to better understand the effects of racism. With YA crossover appeal, this is also an excellent choice for book clubs. --Library Journal (starred review) Both maddening and funny, an eye-opening look at how its daily targets cope with racism. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Expertly balancing laugh-out-loud humor and descriptions of deplorable actions...While the writing is consistently funny, the severity of the racism is never downplayed; Ruffin and Lamar show the necessity of embracing humor as a coping mechanism...This is an excellently executed account, rich with vivid insight. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Featuring the authors' razor-sharp wit and limitless brilliance, these true tales of injustice are a gift to readers. --Booklist (starred review) The book is a portrait of one person's struggle to maintain dignity, strength and self-respect when faced with injustices small and large--all told with Ruffin's irreverent, sardonic style. --People This timely and timeless book is hilarious, insightful, aggravating and comforting in equal measure. --Salon If you laugh half as hard as I did at the FIRST story in this book, let alone the rest of the book, you will have gotten your money's worth. The stories made me laugh and they made me sad. I know I'm not the only one to experience these kinds of moments but it helps to know that someone else-poor little Black Lacey taking on the lion's share of Nebraska's white ignorance all by her lonesome- experiences it too. From the mental gymnastics needed to call a black store dirty then drive out of state in order to avoid said dirt only to wind up shopping in a sty operating in a white neighborhood to having the gall to try and holluh at black women on a dating app when your profile pics have the confederate flag in them, Amber & Lacey point out how white folks are apparently doing the most in them parts.--Retta, comedian and actress (Parks & Recreation, Good Girls) Amber and Lacey have the gift of making you comfortable enough to laugh at events that will also make you cringe. This book is an opportunity for black people to know you're not alone in how you've experienced the world. And for everyone this book is a chance to see a layer of this world that you might have been blind to. You'll leave both with a laugh and a little more knowledge.--Roy Wood, Jr., correspondent, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Amber and Lacey hysterically walk us through a minefield of empirically traumatizing events, finding a way to make us laugh while weeping for the state of our nation; a place where two brilliant women are made to feel that somehow it is they who are missing the mark.--Natasha Lyonne, quadruplethreat, noted surrealist I dare you to read this hilarious and eye-opening book and not become obsessed with Amber Ruffin.--Mindy Kaling The message of this book is for ALL of us and no matter why YOU'RE here -- perhaps you're a fan of Amber Ruffin's comedy, or a Seth Meyers' fan, or a personal friend of Lacey's, or maybe you're just a person browsing for a book that will help you understand the Black experience in America and the other ones seem too much like school -- I urge you to BUY THIS BOOK. The stories are delivered with the humor and horror they deserve. You will laugh, you will be enraged, and if you are a white person, you will understand more than you did before about the truth of being Black in America -- even if you thought you understood a lot already because you read the hard school books.--Busy Philipps, author, actor, white lady

Author Information

Amber Ruffin is the host of The Amber Ruffin Show on NBC's streaming service, Peacock, and a writer and cast member on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers. She also amazingly became the first black woman to write for a late-night talk show in American history when she joined Seth's staff in 2014, and was a writer/sometimes performer on HBO's Black Lady Sketch Show. Lacey Lamar is Amber Ruffin's big sister. She has worked in the healthcare and human service field for more than twenty-five years, thirteen of those working with troubled youth in her community. She volunteers her time and resources to black, brown refugee and indigenous fellow humans in any way she can. Lacey lives in Nebraska with her unbelievable amazing daughter Imani and their 130lb Great Dane Izzy.

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