Let’s Go To Paris!

Black Girl in Paris

by Shay Youngblood

“Hold fast to your dreams

for if dreams die

Life is like a broken-winged bird that

cannot die.”-Langston Hughes

When I was in my twenties, I dreamt of living in Paris; writing in Paris, shopping in Paris, partying in Paris, simply being in Paris! Like Shay Youngblood’s protagonist in Black Girl in Paris, I wanted the African American in Paris freedom that Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Josephine Baker experienced. As a self-professed Francophile, Paris seemed the perfect destination to perfect my French and hone my craft. I have been to Paris, but I have never lived in Paris…yet. I am still dreaming and keeping hope alive. If my dreams do not come completely true, I will be happy to spend summers there and weekends in Cannes. Until that happens, I will continue to visit through trips across the Atlantic in real life and through the magical world of books. I will in both scenarios, wear my stick (lipstick)!

Black Girl in Paris is Shay Youngblood’s second novel about Eden Daniel, a twenty-six-year old woman from the American South who leaves home in search of her rose-colored dreams in Paris. Youngblood takes us on Eden’s adventures in the City of Light that is filled with the joys and pain of living in a foreign country in search of artistic and self-liberation and Langston Hughes. Youngblood’s novel is divided into ten chapters, each is a description of the various jobs she takes on in order to survive in Paris as she arrives with only two hundred dollars: “museum guide,” “traveling companion,” artists’s model I: Paris,” “au pair,” “poet’s helper,” lover,” English teacher,” “thief, “artists’s model II: vence” and witness respectively. Please note that the titles of each chapter are not capitalized. Additionally, each chapter features a map of Paris which allows the reader to chart Eden’s journey.

The second chapter of the book,”traveling companion” is where Eden meets a writer named Indego Black-Smith. Eden describes Indego as “the blackest man I had ever seen, and he was the wisest and the most beautiful.” The description of this man alone creates a sense of intrigue for the reader. Indego is an older man who after a brief introduction asks Eden to take a walk with him, which turned into her becoming his traveling companion. He takes her to all of his favorite places, which includes a hotel where Langston Hughes once stayed. Like Don Miguel Ruiz’s, The Four Agreements, Indego has his own rules for living, but he has three more: 1. “Always be prepared for the best of times and the worst of times.” 2. Never tell a woman you love her or she’ll break your heart.” 3. When you look at the world, try to see something new.” 4. “Don’t steal nothing you can’t make your own. To thine own self be true. Know who you are.” 5. “Don’t hurry love.” (Yes, like the Supremes sang). 6. “You must live, not just exist,” and 7. “Make your own rules and break every one of them. Every rule is meant to be broken.”

Although I have heard Indego’s rules before, they are still pearls of wisdom especially for a young woman on her own in Paris. Eden begins to live with Indego, but she is not able to contribute financially and worst of all she starts to live in his world with his thoughts and his loves and passions. Over time, Eden realizes that she needs to be alone so that she can discover who she is and see Paris from own own perspective.

As the plot continues, Eden is still living with Indego when she meets New Orleans musician Ving, who eventually becomes her lover. The scene where Eden first sees Ving is written in Youngblood’s poetic prose, “He was the sound of a slow train leaving a boat rocking in a stormy port, like something that could take you away or bring you home again.”Indego warns Eden about musicians, specifically Ving but Eden does not heed the warning.

Again, throughout the novel Eden’s mission is to meet Langston Hughes and she is determined to stay in Paris until she meets him. As the story concludes, Eden has to go home and her mission is incomplete or is it? You will have to read this beautifully written story of a young woman on a quest and her adventures to find out.