The Glamorous Life of Emily's Failure

Book excerpt: Race. God. Two forces that have oppressed David's life from the beginning. As he grows, they follow him, bearing down upon his neck like a yoke. But someone else follows him as well. There is an appointed time for them to meet. Race. God. Growing up biracial is hard for David, being the son of an overbearing black mother and a passive white father. They've pulled him from an all-black world into an all-white one. But someone is there also. There is an appointed time for them to meet. Race. God. David eventually learns to throw the shackles of both away, to lash out against anything racial, or religious. He changes. Grows angrier. hates more. Still, that someone is there, watching. Waiting. Emily. But Emily couldn't wait any longer. Her love for David couldn't be contained until that "appointed" time. She takes matters into her own hands, and makes her presence known. In an attempt to win his love, she dons his clothes and engages in his interests. But sadly, her plan backfires, and everything turns disasterous---and she is left, damaged and alone. Race. God. Emily. Years pass. Time shifts. When they do meet, it is a meeting like no other. The rapture they feel for one another surpasses the drudgedness of their station. For David, life couldn't be imagined without her; and at such a time as this, she is taken away from him. Is it a scrifice, or some unfortunate circumstance? She leaves someone in her stead, to continue with him where she left off. Someone who cares just as much as she had. Someone who loved him from the beginning, just as she had. God. It is only then that David realizes who Emily really was, and how much he'd failed to understand.