A BELLE IN BROOKLYN

An intermittently amusing memoir of the author’s life as a single woman living, working and dating in Brooklyn.

Lucas notes in the introduction that while single white women have Sex and the City as a glamorous representation of living and working, single black women have, instead, a series of alarmist news reports about their dire and inevitable fate. The author attempts to correct this imbalance through a series of anecdotes depicting her life as an aspiring magazine editor in the Big Apple. Many of these stories consist of some variation of Lucas attending an exclusive industry party escorted by a handsome man who will fetch her free drinks and introduce her to other handsome men. Much like Sex and the City, Lucas’ life will be, for the majority of readers, an escapist fantasy rather than a realistic representation. Those looking to live vicariously through the author’s fashionable adventures or relish the sordid details of a gossip-worthy love life will be satisfied; readers looking for insight extending beyond Lucas’ personal experience will find scant material. Occasionally, the author presents a nugget of hard-won wisdom: She advises women that they will benefit from forgiving the occasional slip-up and “learn the difference between a good man who effs up and an effed-up man given to occasional moments of grandeur.”

Readers will find very little advice that they couldn’t glean from the pages of a woman’s magazine—or their own common sense.