Jeann's Guest Review: Roomies by Sara Zarr

Roomies
Written by Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando
Contemporary, New Adult
Published December 24th 2014
279 Pages
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It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman year roommate assignment, she shoots off an email to coordinate the basics: Television, microwave, mini fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of emails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer, and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives... And each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful email that assigns your college roommate.

Jeann's Thoughts


Roomies caught my eye when it was first released on Netgalley last year, because of the two girls from the opposite sides of the country getting to know each other through email, and becoming close friends. This is something I can definitely relate to with my gaming and book friends that I've gotten to know over the years.

While I enjoyed the dialogue and email communications between the two girls well enough, there were a few problems that I had with the book, one which I'll explore in depth today - the race discussion. Both Elizabeth and Lauren are your average middle class caucasian Americans, who have their variety of problems when it comes to family and men. There's a lot of drama in the book as they discuss their problems with each other, including Lauren dating a guy called Keyon. And yes, he's black.

When Lauren discusses Keyon, at one point she talks about how he's black and how it's kind of new to her, because she has never really interacted with any black people before. Elizabeth asks whether it's something that people in San Francisco make a big deal out of, and Lauren replies that it's something that they pretend not to be but sometimes they notice it anyway. The two girls will explore the race discussion in their communications which each other, which begs the question: Why is it such a big deal that Keyon is black?
Race. It’s so tricky, even though we’re all supposedly enlightened and colorblind. I don’t want it to be a Thing. But it kind of is a Thing, isn’t it?
With such a massive African American population in the US, and with Elizabeth living in New Jersey which has a massive black population, they seem to treat it like it's a completely new and novel thing. 'I've never really had a black friend before' one of them says. When Lauren introduces Keyon to her parents, they overreact by treating him super politely because they want to make sure that he's welcome and they aren't showing any signs of prejudice at all. It was all a bit over the top and weird for me.

While the book has an inter-racial relationship and is far from racist, the way Keyon was treated in Roomies is something that I could not understand at all. As far as I know, encountering someone of a different skin tone or culture in Australia is fairly normal here and I don't think of treating them any differently as I would to anyone else. I have never looked at an interracial couple and thought "interracial couple!" I would have thought Elizabeth being from New Jersey would have been in the same classes as black people and would be more open minded about them. The girls sound kind of sheltered to not have been exposed to it in the past and yes it should be discussed and acknowledged, but I just couldn't see why they treated him any differently at all.

Roomies was a fun and honest account of two girls becoming friends over email. It's filled with lots of drama, judging someone that you don't know and the uncertainty of sharing your deepest thoughts with someone online. Overall, it was and entertaining and dramatic read, even though it addresses race in a weird way that I couldn't connect to.

You can find Jeann via her blog Happy Indulgence Twitter Facebook and Goodreads

13 comments

  1. Actually, this seems like the kind of book I would want to read. I tend to like books that involve either mail, or e-mails as a format. Although I'm not sure how I'll take the whole race issue in the book, I think I'll still try it out! Someday!

    Nice review Jeann!

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    1. Thanks Val, it was interesting with the emails to and fro, glad to hear you love the sound of it!

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    2. After Jeann's review, I'm looking forward to starting this one too. The race issue is really odd though, not even sure why it's been made an issue. The character in question isn't a one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater. Even if he were, that should even be an issue either. The only thing you could probably put it down to is that his character is outside of her 'normal' realm. Whatever that actually means.

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  2. This looks pretty interesting - the inter-racial aspect does sound like it could have been executed better in the context, but I do like contemporaries set in college, so I might give it a try :)

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    1. Glad to hear you like the sound of it Eugenia, it was definitely unique :)

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    2. I agree completely, great point Eugenia. It sounds as though it was treated with kid gloves and a little awkward, but still looking forward to reading this one too.

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  3. I've heard of Sara Zarr but How to Save a Life is the one that comes to mind. This one sounds like an awesome concept though! The race thing is weird, though. I guess it's more of an issue in the US (still!) compared to here in Australia, so that might be why? Meh. It don't matter if you're black or white, really. :)

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    1. I haven't heard of the authors before this but yeah, it's so true with the differences in countries isn't it?

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    2. I can imagine Emily singing her last line, crotch grabbing and wooing included.
      Thanks for stopping by poppet.

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  4. Great review! I read this earlier this year and took issue with a couple of things, but I couldn't really pinpoint why the race thing bugged me until I read this - you articulated it perfectly. It seemed to be a much bigger deal than it needed to be in this day and age, especially in such a liberal city like San Francisco. When I went to the States and walked through Harlem, that was a different cultural experience for me as a girl who grew up in a small Aussie town full of mostly Anglo-Saxons and Italians. I didn't buy it from these characters, especially when it was ALL of them, parents included - it was a tad strange.

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    1. I'm really looking forward to reading this one just to see what the deal with the race issue is. It seems really odd that it was even put out there, especially when so many young adult readers are campaigning for diversity. Pretty sure authors aren't actually supposed to point it out, 'Hey, my character is black, look at me being all diverse and stuff'. It's certainly odd to say the least.

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  5. That's the funny thing about Americans, even the most liberal minded people are quite sheltered. I remember talking to one of my tour mates from the US about race, and he was saying how people are seriously afraid to sound racist in any way. Especially towards the African-American population. Hence why I think the parents seem to overreact when they meet Keyon. It's a completely different mentality in Australia, but still, you will get the occasional people that do not know how to react, similar to the characters in this book.

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