Do Unto Others

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JAN 3, 2000

"Be careful what you wish for" is the lesson learned by a proud, hard-working, beautician in Lattany's (Kinfolk) latest novel. Zenobia Lawson, 49, owns her own hair salon, specializing in African-American women's styles, cuts and colors; she is happily married to Lucius and is a kind of mother figure in her group of women friends, called "The Divas." Zena and her husband, Lucius, are Christians, and believe in the moral imperative to "do unto others," so when a 20-year-old African woman, Ifa Olongo, needs a home for three weeks while she's applying for a visa extension, the Lawsons are happy to take her in. Childless Zena is also excited to have "a daughter" and is thrilled by Ifa's regal beauty, innocence and charm. Quickly, though, complications arise: Zena gets sweet-talked into buying Ifa pricey designer clothes and ends up with an astronomical phone bill. Despite all her support of Ifa, Zena displays little understanding of cultural differences: she forces the offended Ifa to wear deodorant, and recoils when she sees that Ifa has transformed the pretty guest bedroom into a "voodoo hut," decorated with a python skin and "what appear to be a small pile of human bones." Tensions rise, and when Ifa gives Lucius a massage and does a sexy python dance, Zena is suspicious of her guest's proclaimed Christianity. But Lucius defends Ifa ( "It's not her fault her family taught her pagan beliefs"), and exhorts Zena to convert Ifa. Lucius and Ifa predictably end up sleeping together and Zena freaks out, demanding HIV tests for everybody. Lattany writes in a chatty first-person voice, but when Zena attempts to describe the complex differences between African immigrants and American blacks, only a superficial exploration ensues.