Black Women with Albinism

Nobody’s Magic is a powerful debut that offers a fresh and insightful look at the lives of Black women with albinism. It stands out for its rich character portrayal, thematic depth, and poetic writing style, making it a noteworthy addition to contemporary literature.

I enjoyed this series of stories of three Black women born with albinism -- a unique perspective I haven't read before. It's a promising debut, and I'm looking forward to reading more from Birdsong.

This is one of those books you just can't help but want a full story about every character. I really enjoyed this book and wish more people would pick it up!

Really enjoyed the authors writing style. Was not expecting 3 separate stories but enjoyed the very different journeys the 3 leads were on given their shared experience with albinism. Interested in reading more from this author.

Through the experiences of four characters, the reader goes on a journey through a particular part of the U.S. South that is not often captured in literature: Sherveport, LA. If one has never been to Shreveport, enjoy the visit. If one has been to Shreveport, be prepared to see it through a fresh lens: the lives of Black women. This book is moving and feels deeply personal. Destiny Birdsong has brought to the reader's consciousness a more complete version of Southern Black women who while they share many things in common in this particular book all have unique stories that warrant our attention.

I am usually not a fan of short stories or novella-size stories because I always am left wanting more but I really liked this novel and the stories within it. Another book that isn't in my wheel house but I did enjoy.

This is one of the most unique set of stories that I have read in a really long time. This novel is gritty and sensual and I was sucked in by each woman's exploration of what they wanted out of life. Pick up this book for some literary fiction with entertaining romance and family drama elements!

I spotlighted Nobody's Magic as book of the day and included it in my weekly and monthly roundups of new releases on my Black Fiction Addiction platforms.

This is such an exquisite novel, and I adored the characters and their worlds. From staggeringly developed interiority to the ways each entry in this triptych resonates with the other entries, this is massively compelling literary fiction. I thought I was in a slump from reading lit fic, but this convinced me otherwise.

The dialogue in this book is just supreme. Birdsong’s characters are so dynamic and real and she captures that so well, especially while speaking. They are unapologetically Black and complicated and vivacious. Of the three women my favorite was Maple, this story deals with grief, and it’s handled with such nuance. Plus the cast in this one is A+.
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Another thing I really liked about this book was that it wasn’t about albinism, but about the women with albinism. Albinism is highlighted throughout but it isn’t the center. I enjoyed NOBODY’S MAGIC but didn’t always feel invested in what happened, even though I really liked hearing from the characters.

Birdsong presents three distinct, powerful voices in this book—existing somewhere between novel and short story. In the classroom, this will be an amazing example of triptych, and study of connected themes. She captures each characters frustrating and struggle as the people around them navigate their judgment of their albinism, but never makes the characters see themselves as less than. It’s an empowering way to navigate difference. The dialogue, movement and setting of the book drips with Southerness, a tribute to Birdsong’s heritage and her ability to translate that richness to words

In Nobody’s Magic, the triptych form asks readers to consider how works of art can resist the idea that there can only be one. While the novel introduces us to three women with albinism, their family structures, socioeconomic status, and desires all differ. There is no singular narrative because there is no singular way for a person with albinism to be. Just as there is no such thing as a Black monolith. By situating the protagonists among other Black folk, the novel asks: when do we consider Blackness at the intersection of albinism? Not often enough. And, as the title proclaims, dispel the notion that anyone can possess another’s uniqueness or self-defined power. I’m amazing because I am. In another scenario we might have been reading a long novel about Agnes or Maple, but Birdsong—whose poetry collection Negotiations was published in 2020—gives us three arresting tales about what happens when Black women take matters into their own hands. In this way, expectations about narrative dominance are shattered.

By the novel’s final pages, I flipped back to Suzette and Maple’s sections to understand how the three stories all come together. Shreveport, Louisiana – their primary stomping ground – shines brightly as a focal point, as does Birdsong’s interweaving of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). When Suzette must try harder than ever before to figure out why the relationships in her life keep making seismic shifts, she says, “Everybody was acting a fool, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do aside from going off on folks. But I was tired of all that. They just needed to let me live. Didn’t nothing else have to change.” Here, language magnifies time and place, crystallizes connections between people, and cuts through any veneer of how people are supposed to sound when they speak.

While Suzette, Maple, and Agnes face stigma and rejection, they also experience pleasure, love, and fierce intimacy with people who act as mirrors in a world set on casting out those who are different. Birdsong’s experimentation with form disrupts ideas about what can be accomplished in the space of a novel, and whose story that novel can be. She gives other debut novelists permission to paint beyond the edge of the canvas.

Nobody's Magic introduces us to three different Black Albino women living in Shreveport, Louisiana and we follow them as they struggle with trauma, acceptance, relationships, and friendships.

Things I loved:
AAVE - the first book was FULL of it and I loved seeing how I speak in a story.
Black Albino women - I'm not sure if I've read stories about Black albino women before but I loved the first two stories in Nobody's Magic. I hope Birdsong will continue their stories because I was deeply invested in what was going to happen and they ended so abruptly.
Maple and her mother's relationship was so good. I loved how her mom wasn't ashamed of who she was and tried to instill those same values in Maple.

Things I wasn't a fan of:
The last story didn't really connect with me as much as the first two. I wished we could've just had more of the first two. Like other readers, I found myself flying through this one as opposed to the first two.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and Destiny O. Birdsong for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

While I was reading the first narrative (of three) in the book, I thought there was no way I would be as invested in the other two stories (Maple and Agnes) as I was in Suzette's, but I was wrong. Birdsong is an incredibly talented chronicler of these women's lives. Each woman has her own story, needs, and family. I was completely immersed in the beautiful prose and the nuanced portrayals of life in and around Shreveport, including food, religion, race, gun violence, gentrification, and community. Each woman in this book has albinism, but it is just one small part of their complex and well-developed lives. This is a must read in my opinion.

I had an inkling that I would enjoy this--especially when I saw that Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, provided the blurb on the front cover. Sure enough, I loved it. Nobody's Magic features the mesmerizing stories of three black women with albinism who find themselves at a crucial moment in their lives. These women are dealing with real problems (grief, depression, loneliness, and more) but the book never feels heavy. I will say that if you found yourself turned off by either Luster or Real Life (by Raven Leilani and Brandon Taylor, respectively), you might not respond well to Destiny O. Birdsong's characters. For others, myself included, Nobody's Magic is a shimmering, transportive read full of vibrant characters.

Nobody’s Magic is about the diversity amongst and the challenges people with albinism can face, including how others treat them; how acceptance changes with proximity. It’s also about choosing one’s own path against the weight of other’s judgements and choices. The novel is broken into 3 separate, very different stories. These stories are all specific to Shreveport, Louisiana and the location feels almost like its own character in each.

I loved the complexity and diversity of the main characters, the evolution of decision-making processes and exploration around identity and sexuality, and I felt like each story could have been a standalone novel. Of the 3 stories, I enjoyed the first the most. The endings of all three were abrupt, as if it ended at the arc of each story. I also found myself drifting during the third story, which I tried re-reading several times and still feel like I missed some things.

Readers who enjoy The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You by Maurice Carlos Ruffin may also like this novel. It’s also specific to Louisiana and includes several stories. Ruffin is a storytelling genius and I love his range.

My favorite quote from the book is: <i>"I loved Momi for all the things she shielded me from. She never gave me direction because she wanted me to find mine. She told me sh*t straight with no chaser because she never wanted me to live like Nana, inventing one lie about myself after another, and believing them. She wanted me to be free, but her free was the only one she knew. It was the only free I'd ever known too. I'd never really tried to see if there was a different kind.</i>

Thank you to Destiny O. Birdsong, Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an early copy in advance of its release on February 8, 2022.

- NOBODY'S MAGIC is essentially three novellas, following these three women (who do not know each other) through periods of upheaval in each of their lives.
- Each story is a meditation: on friendship, on grief, on family. Each woman is trying to find her place, and to be treated as a human worthy of love and respect, not someone to be stared at or collected due to her condition.
- I wanted more time with each woman and would have happily read a full novel on each. Birdsong's prose is transporting and fully immersive.

Such a beautiful book with characters I'll be thinking about for a long time. The distinct voices of each woman impressed me the most. It really feels like being invited into the vivid, fully realized lives of three different women. Also, as a Black woman living in the Ark-La-Tex area, the Shreveport setting was excellent and also made me feel seen in a way that many books don't. A fantastic debut.