What does it mean to be a Black woman in America, looking for a place where you don't have to perform? For Ghanaian-American author, Kai Alonté, that journey often leads through the distinct, sometimes jarring landscapes of Massachusetts — from the historic streets of Boston to the quieter corners of the Pioneer Valley. Her debut novel, "Somewhere Soft to Land," follows Dzifa and Tatiana, two friends navigating the heavy weight of respectability and the search for authenticity.
NEPM's Carrie Healy spoke with Kai Alonté from her home in Finland to discuss why Massachusetts was the only place the story could happen.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: You chose to set the formative years of Dzifa's journey here, following her through her teens and into her early 20s. So, what was it about these two very different Massachusetts landscapes, historic metro Boston and then western Massachusetts, that resonated with you as the right backdrop for this coming of age part of her life?
I write a lot from emotional impressions and sense memories and when I was getting to know who Dzifa, was as a character. Some of her experience had to do with her experiencing otherness and how that showed up in different settings. And so some of the choice of the backdrop was how could I invite the readers into her experience of feeling a little bit alienated, but that alienation having a different flavor in different places.
I found my way to Dorchester through a combination of technology and direct questions to strangers. Those who fielded my questions, standing about the T or on street corners, answered me with slight smiles or none at all, their energy somehow both focused and frenetic. It was strange how good it felt to be back around people this hard. The Californians I grew up with—and my current co-workers—were softer, sweeter, routinely disingenuous.
(Dzifa, Chapter 6)
You yourself grew up in Southern California and have relocated to Northern Europe. How did being an outsider provide you with the clarity to write so honestly about the loud and complicated social expectations of Black womanhood in America?
I think that there are these stereotypes that we can have of different places. I don't know if it was from movies or kind of where I had heard these stereotypes, but I either heard a lot about kind of the academic history of Boston in particular, or I heard this kind of like rough and gritty stereotype about Massachusetts.
And when I had first experiences in New England, in Boston in particular, there was a directness. And so some of the things which also exist in California were just more visible. And in a very strange way, I found that a little bit refreshing, just to be able to actually talk about things that were happening and deal with the complexities of being a Black woman.
Your novel touches on that invisible pressure to perform a sanitized or acceptable version of oneself to fit into elite spaces. Is this respectability actually a protective shield, or is it that thing that causes your main character's exhaustion?
I mean, I think playing into respectability politics is a double-edged sword? I think it has been necessary for survival for many of us for a long time. And so, for the character, I see it being protective in ways, but I do think that Tatiana, for example, is a character who can sort of play that game and retain her authenticity at the same time. And some people are able to kind of code switch and toggle back and forth like that in a way where they…more or less can preserve their sense of self.
But I think Dzifa is somebody who struggles to do that, and she struggles to be kind of a sanitized version of herself and retain her wholeness in her sense of her full self when she's with people that she trusts. I think each person has to weigh the cost and figure out, are they going to accept the consequences of full authenticity or not? And I think each of these characters has their own approach to that.
'Are you high?' Tatiana laughed. 'You are not going back to Oakland. Not only did I not come all this way just to go back to Boston, you sure as hell did not come all this way to go back to the absolute cuckoo for cocoa-puffery that is your batshit family, no offense.'
(Chapter 3)
Dzifa is essentially running on empty before the main tragedy of the book even happens. Why was it important for you to center a protagonist who is already reaching her breaking point?
It intrigued me to start a book there. To start with, they've already reached the point that they're told, in some ways that they should be at, but what's going on under the surface is not so ideal. For Dzifa that is related to her burnout.
Even for Tatiana, there's a sense of something missing or some kind of deeper sense of purpose or connection that she's not getting, even from having achieved so many of her ambitions.
Without giving too much away, the resolution of the book feels like a deep exhale. What are you hoping that readers take away from the concept of finding a soft place to land in their own lives?
Yeah, I will try to not spoil anything. [laughing]
Sorry about that.
But, um, I really wanted there to be space to connect with each character's perspective. Each character's experience, and not to necessarily give a prescription or some kind of mandate. For Tatiana, that involves an exploration of what it means to be a mother while still being herself. Somebody who's very dynamic and fun loving.
And for Dzifa, it involves kind of… a letting go of the social performance. I think especially nowadays, it's hard to even do the work of figuring out ‘what does that mean to me?’ because you have to be able to sort of filter out other people's projections.
Kai Alonté's debut novel is titled "Somewhere Soft to Land.'"