Book Review: ‘Good Talk’ by Mira Jacob

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Title of the Book: Good Talk

Author: Mira Jacob

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication Year: 2018

Pages: 355 pgs.

ISBN: 978-1-5266-3159-6

Age Group: IBDP & IGCSE (11th & 12th graders)

Genre: Graphic Novel Memoir

IBDP & IGCSE Subjects Covered: Global Perspectives, Sociology, Wellbeing, English language & English literature

Review Written By: Fiza Pathan

Introduction

‘Good Talk’ by Mira Jacob is a searing social issue graphic novel-cum-memoir, which focuses on the topic affecting the USA in particular as we speak – immigration policies as an offshoot of age-old racial tensions. Whatever may be the outcome of the scenario we are finding ourselves in today, even as Indians from India, through the actions of the US Government, one thing we can be sure of is that as IBDP and IGCSE teachers, we have to realize that diversity should create unity amongst various ethnic races through inclusion and respect for each other. They should not be a source of division amongst IBDP or IGCSE school students. Instead, differences should be celebrated rather than abused or discriminated against, especially in the form of government policies that harm the inclusiveness of any nation.

Besides, it is a well-known fact that most IBDP and IGCSE students who will be entering the foray of education post-2025 will be immigrants or even refugees, especially now after the long, drawn-out wars between Ukraine and Russia as well as Gaza/Palestine and Israel, not to mention the never-ending tensions taking place in the Middle East, especially in areas like Iraq and Syria. Racial tensions in other Third World Countries like Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, etc. are also places where young students are rescued from being initiated into child labour, child prostitution, and, most importantly, domestic terrorism and tribal warfare. Most of these students are rescued and then educated away from their families and parents under the tutelage of IBDP and IGCSE-run institutions that cater to their educational needs in the light of an inclusive and integrated form of education.

Therefore, we cannot afford, as a global family, to differentiate between different ethnic groups, races, religions, et al., because then we are creating animosity in the hearts of young individuals who have already gone through a lifetime of war and hatred which will simmer under our own animosity towards them, leading to more violence and wars not to mention racial tensions in the coming years and decades.

During times like these, books like the graphic novel ‘Good Talk’ come in handy as a great educational tool to educate the 11th and 12th graders about the challenges of stereotypes based on race, gender, and region. It speaks about how to overcome prejudices with hope and love despite the indifference of loved ones, even in one’s own immediate family, because of a mixed-race marriage. It teaches the student about immigration during the 20th century, how NRIs have contributed to the economy of First World Countries like the USA, and how most Indians are an asset to any nation where they reside because of their dedication to their studies and their persevering nature, not to mention their great entrepreneurial abilities.

Synopsis

Mira Jacob’s family immigrated to the USA early in the 20th century as Mira’s father was a surgeon and wished to be educated in the USA and work there for better prospects. He married Mira’s mother in a traditional Anglo-Indian Christian arranged marriage and had two children with her – Arun Jacob and the author, Mira Jacob. However, the family, especially dark-skin-toned Mira, had to experience many forms of racism during the whole course of their lives together in various parts of the USA. But nothing was worse than when Mira fell in love and married a White Caucasian American Jew. The memoir goes on to depict her life as the daughter-in-law of two rich and haughty White Republican Jews living in Southern USA and how she manages or does not manage to toe the line between being a daughter-in-law and being a human being with feelings and emotions like other White Americans. The book is an educational tool for her son, who, though a Jew, looks every bit like his mother, including in her dark-tanned skin tone and how he would have to cope with the discrimination he was seeing in his own paternal family on an everyday basis.

Analysis

‘Good Talk’ by stellar author and memoirist Mira Jacob is a must-read for all teachers and students dealing with the 11th and 12th grade curriculum, especially those who have taken the subject GP or Global Perspectives. Mira Jacob gives the reader an excellent bird’s view not only into the mind of her younger self when she was growing up in pre-9/11 USA but also into the mind of her seven-year-old son who was growing up during the time before the 2016 US Presidential Elections. On the topic of differentiating the ‘fact’ from the ‘opinion’, this book does a great job in analyzing that, especially in the case of Anti-Semitism, discrimination post 9/11, discrimination against anyone with a tanned or brown skin tone, and the surprisingly recent taboo topic of inter-racial marriages post the Trump Era.

We see the evolution of the thoughts of both young Mira and young Z, her son, as the USA progresses to becoming a nation that was sleepwalking as it were through its nagging racial issues and crises. The various global perspectives of the White American friends of Mira and her doting husband Jed, Mira’s in-laws and their White racist, elitist friend circle, and the thoughts of other Black Americans of the USA, NRIs, etc. make this book into a great tool for analysis, collaborative discussions, and debate.

An IBDP student can quickly develop an understanding of the politics of race in the USA under the eye of the powers that be like billionaires, millionaires, the Roman Catholic Church, White elitist land owners, etc., and can then critically think about how to resolve and solve such differences in the 21st century. In the realms of Sociology, this book can act as a great icebreaker concerning the topic of inter-racial marriages and inter-religious harmony. Mira Jacob, with her wry sense of humor and the jokes of her little son Z, has managed to explain difficult concepts like hierarchies, patrilineal families, sexual assaults on the basis of race, ethnocentrism, etc., in a lucid and easy-to-comprehend manner. I even appreciated the fights between Jed and Mira merely because they were at their most vulnerable, where things that would otherwise have been difficult to say were said and analyzed very easily. For example, when Jed sees an annoying White racist radio show host as merely ‘a creep’, Mira considers that same host as her perpetual ‘White Competition’, to whom she has to prove her worth over and over again while living in the USA. She had been, in a way, ‘living in’ with this radio host for a much longer time than she had been residing with her husband, Jed.

The way Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was used in a creative and very colorful, not to mention nostalgic, way to bring out the pros and cons of ethnocentrism, especially shown by Z, was done brilliantly and with style. Certain comical scenes and questions that would crop up in the mind of a curious seven-year-old, a fan of the King of Pop who was apparently suffering from vitiligo, which made his skin color turn from black to white, was also taken up in an interesting but dignified way in the book.

Where English literature is concerned, I would compare this memoir of Mira Jacob to the current international bestseller ‘The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East’ graphic novel series by French illustrator and memoirist Riad Sattouf as well as ‘Persepolis’ by Iranian illustrator and memoirist Marjane Satrapi. They have the same subtle humorous narrative qualities, the ingenious use of a variety of unique analogies to describe feelings and emotions never expressed before, and the pop-art color scheme of the graphic illustrations are almost in the same style, highlighting elements that Mira Jacob wanted to put a lot of emphasis upon. Examples: Her being racially discriminated against in her own family due to being more tanned than her elder brother Arun, or emotions expressed in her son Z’s face and silence when he knew that his paternal grandparents did not believe that dark-skinned boys like him were harassed over the color of their skin.

The narration was free-flowing with variations in tone and severity compared to the suspenseful ‘Persepolis’ or the casual but highly entertaining ‘The Arab of the Future’. It is not news reportage in the style of Guy Delisle but social reportage done with more ferocity in certain places. The second half of the book can be a heart-wrenching read that can make the reader shed a tear or two, if not more, after seeing the current scenario in the USA. Mira Jacob, therefore, has been highly prophetic through this book titled ‘Good Talk’ about the immigration issue. The book seems uncomfortably real in all its dangerous aspects that can give the IBDP learner a lot of food for thought regarding how they were going to tackle this international deportation issue and the sustainable development procedures that can be developed in spite of the possibility of the economy of the USA collapsing in a matter of three years.

Conclusion

Elegant, forceful, witty, and poignant are the words I would use to describe this book by internationally bestselling Indian American author Mira Jacob. The first major part of the book could have been spruced up a bit, but the second half of the book leaves the reader spellbound and stunned nearly at every turning of the page. By the end of the book, one is contented that hope in the form of responsible and curious citizens of the future, like the inquiring IBDP and IGCSE students of the 21st century, will not allow divisive forces to shake the equanimity in society and the progress towards a more sustainable future where we all live together in harmony and follow the spirit of inclusion and not inane exclusion. In the words of the American voting and women’s rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer:

“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

Special Note

If you are interested in more book reviews, indie author interviews, book analyses, short story analyses, poems, essays, essay analyses, and other bookish content, check out my blog, insaneowl.com. If you are interested in purchasing my books, you can check the products page of my blog or on Amazon. There is a lot of good stuff to buy! Happy reading to you always!

©2025 Fiza Pathan