A really enjoyable dark comedy with a particularly sharp satire of the perils of Hollywood. Jane is the perfect lead, someone with a actually pretty charmed life who is not content with her lot and makes a regular string of bad decisions that consistently make everything more complicated and difficult. Yes, you will want to shake her constantly, but that's part of the fun.

It takes a while to get to the television stuff, but it's a short novel, and that's when it really kicks into high gear. I would love to read a bunch more books like this, with a fully developed world and a sharp observing eye. Jane and her family feel like real people; the kids never feel like they are just there for show. As usual, Senna has a very keen eye on issues of race and the particular conundrum of being biracial.

Danzy Senna keeps getting better. This book is a total joy and a wild ride. Senna captures the limits of reality before it tips into fully wild unbelievable chaos. She gets understated but also zany perfectly. She builds tension for her characters and her readers (almost like a thriller) and make the mundanity of life feel so high stakes. She doesn't get the credit deserves for her skill. Not to mention the ways she talks the world of mixed people seriously, she is unmatched.