“The Truth According to Ember” is a charming rom-com about the Chickasaw woman just trying to catch a break

This is the second, hastily put together, introduction we’ve ever written after a Trump victory and we are sad to report that putting this together isn’t any easier this time around. As the descendants of people who experienced British colonialism firsthand (and who were also part of the greatest independence movement in history), we know that the fight for justice is long and rocky and painful — but that knowledge isn’t making either of us feel better today.

We don’t have all of the answers (we are after all, just two book reviewers who bonded in a dance class 15 years ago), but it’s clear that what the U.S. needs now is a vibrant opposition movement that is not afraid of standing up for those of us who need health care, those of us from minority religions and backgrounds, and yes, those of us who are horrified that our tax dollars are funding wars and genocides abroad. 

As with many dark clouds, there are some bright spots: Delaware just elected its first openly transgender Congresswoman, Tulsa elected its first Black mayor, New York passed Prop 1, Delaware and Maryland both elected their first Black senators…We don’t know what happens from here, but we know that we are all in this together.

We really do appreciate each and every one of our subscribers— you’ve enriched our lives enormously over the last eight years and we hope that we’ve also brought some brightness to your inboxes during that time.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

It should be no surprise that both of us have been glued to the polls and news for the last month or so. Given that fact (and given that it's Native American Heritage Month) we thought that what our community needed was a fluffy and well-received Native American rom com. Lucky for us that Danica Nava's The Truth According To Ember is exactly that. 

Set in current day Oklahoma City, main character Ember feels stuck. Not only does she not have a college degree, some family drama (and her filial duty) means that she needs money and a job --- FAST. But while she knows that she can be an excellent accountant if given the chance, she doesn't have the funds to finish her degree, or anything on her resume that indicates that she can jump into white collar work

Ember also wonders if checking off the box indicating she is Native American --- both she and the author are enrolled citizens of the Chickasaw Nation --- is holding her back, and she and her family know all too well how Oklahoma treats Natives.

Determined not to work as a cleaner at a bowling alley any longer, Ember decides to simply check off 'white' on applications moving forward. When a family member "hires" her (on paper at least) at their own firm, her resume also starts to look more professional -- and she quickly begins getting the interview opportunities she dreamed of.

But when Ember finds herself being drawn to Danuwoa Colson, the handsome Native IT guy at her new company, she wonders how long she can keep her secret -- and also wonders what it means to hide who you really are to the world.

Lakshmi sent Asha a copy of the book after she accidentally ordered two one day! You can purchase your own at our Bookshop storefront here: The Truth According to Ember

Lakshmi: This was so, so cute

Asha: It really was!

Lakshmi: And also got the dynamic of a passive aggressive office down perfectly!

Asha: And the start-up that has funding but you’re not entirely sure what it does…

Lakshmi: Did you see the author's bio in the back of the book? It notes she currently works as an Executive Assistant in the tech industry! So there is a reason all of those parts ring true.

Asha: I did! She definitely knows about old-school bosses and their moods

Lakshmi: Also I bet startups in Oklahoma get even more leeway than companies on the coasts because both regular people and local governments REALLY, REALLY want fancy companies to work there.

Asha: Probably!

During the office parts, I was definitely thinking that Ask A Manager would have a field day with it.

Lakshmi: But yes, anytime you can't describe what a company/organization does in two sentences, that usually means trouble. It was so funny to think that people had worked there for years and still didn't really know what the company actually did!

Asha: Hey, a paycheck is a paycheck

Lakshmi: As an aside, I love that there are so many novels coming out now satirizing the tech industry! Have you read or heard of “Flores and Miss Paula”?

Asha: I haven’t!

Lakshmi: It's about a mother and daughter who are grieving the loss of their husband and dad. And also "Paula thinks Flores should spend her evenings meeting a future husband, not crunching numbers for a floundering aquarium startup." And the parts describing the world of aquarium tech are incredible

Asha: I’ll have to check it out

Lakshmi: And I recommended Natalie Sue's “I Hope This Finds You Well” a few newsletters ago. Reading all three pretty much back to back is an interesting look at what it is like being a woman of color or Indigenous person in the workplace right now. 

But which parts felt extra Ask A Manager to you?

(for those who don't know-- Ask A Manager is a workplace advice blog we both read regularly!)

Asha: Oh man, I could make a whole list, but definitely starting with Ember’s boss Gary asking her to get his wife’s dry cleaning. And then Ember having to pay the bill!

Lakshmi: Oh gosh…and also of course ALL OF THE RACISM

Asha: Yes, then it devolved from there!

It’s so hard when you need a paycheck because you don’t have much choice. Especially since Ember is fudging her background, who knows whether the next company that interviews her will do their due diligence and find out she’s lying.

Lakshmi: Yes, and honestly while I described the book as a rom com and light in our intro, the racism is very much not light at all. It’s painful and sad and looms over our characters.

Asha: No, there are elements of lightness, but the conflicts are very much not

Lakshmi:  And also - since they don’t know she is Native, people speak about Natives like Danuwoa in front of her in pretty vile ways.

Asha: Danuwoa (who goes by Dan in the office), is obviously Native, where Ember (possibly by virtue of having a white father) flies under the radar

Lakshmi: Also, Danuwoa wears his hair in traditional braids, so he is also very proud of his nativeness and wants it to be visible.

I thought that was such an interesting details bc obviously that makes it harder

Asha: It does.

Lakshmi: it makes him a fun character to follow-- he is so defiantly himself!

Asha: He is awesome!

Lakshmi: That's also why the secret is so hard for Ember to keep-- Danuwoa would NEVER PRETEND TO BE WHITE

I also just liked all of the asides of what it was like being an executive assistant. Ember is being trained by Natalie, the EA to the CEO, who is about to leave on maternity leave, and everyone is afraid of her. Natalie explains that when you control access to the senior executives you have to be discerning, and that people need to understand that power.

Asha: One thing that just occurs to me is that the Race/Ethnicity question on the application form is just for whatever software the company is using, I doubt any real person actually paid attention to what was filled out.

Lakshmi:  Yes, that is true, because that section is really for the government/Equal Opportunity Commission reporting, but obviously we've seen stories of people with obvious Black/Latino and yes, Asian names! that get weeded out by recruiters.

Asha:  Right, but also that means that the software itself is discriminating against non-white applicants because it’s probably filtering them out

Lakshmi: Oh I see what you mean now

Asha: Then after the software has weeded you out, you get weeded out by recruiters. But that’s a conversation for another day.

Ember makes the “mistake” of contradicting her boss Gary, in an executive meeting, or at least it’s a mistake to all the white men in the room. Natalie, the EA, thinks it makes Ember a great fit for the role while she’s on maternity leave.

Lakshmi: I liked Natalie a lot.

Asha: Me too!

Lakshmi: She clearly ran the place and wanted to make sure Ember knew how to run the place too.

Asha: But unfortunately her water breaks early so she can’t finish training Ember!

Lakshmi: Always an issue with maternity covers! You never know when the leave will start!

Asha: And it’s too bad Ember didn’t want to disturb Natalie’s maternity leave with questions, because it might have prevented her from getting into trouble later on.

Lakshmi: But that's also very sweet and respectful!

Asha: Oh definitely, Natalie shouldn’t be doing any work on mat leave

Lakshmi: I think what made this book work was just how terribly Ember felt about the lie and how stuck she felt once it began to spiral.

Asha: It’s really hard to keep lies straight! Even little ones…

Lakshmi: The opening lines immediately let the reader know this is a very compassionate person who wants everyone around her to be happy

I was not always a liar. I mean, sure, white lies were inevitable. I told them all the time. My habit of lying started with a simple "Yes, that beaded key chain is really pretty" to my best friend, Joanna, when we were fifteen. It was a vomit-green "lizard," and it was an insult to lizards everywhere. The key chain looked demented, all lumpy with gaps where beads should've been, but I lied through my teeth. What was I supposed to do? Tell her the truth and have her stop beading altogether? I couldn't do that to her. My little fib meant a lot to her, and I realized my words had an impact when she gifted the key chain to me that same Christmas with a little note that read, Thank you for believing in me.

It's like that Judge Judy line that I've probably paraphrased before: If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember anything!

Asha: It’s Joanna who encourages Ember to lie on the application!

Lakshmi: Well - Joanna had her own motivations right

Asha: I think Joanna was just trying to be a good friend

Lakshmi: So Ember’s sibling needed the money though right?

Asha: No, Ember doesn’t have any money because of her sibling. And she won’t take Joanna’s offer of a loan so she can finish her degree.

Lakshmi: Right so her sibling is incarcerated…

Asha: Actually it starts with Ember saying she’s going to just check the “Caucasian” box on the applications! But Joanna takes it a step further when she says everyone lies on their resume., and Ember should play by their rules instead of playing as if the game was fair

Lakshmi: Yes it is such an unfair system. But her family situation also shows the complexity of navigating life as a Native. Of course they feel the game is rigged!

Asha: Because it is!

Lakshmi: sigh -- yes, the book shows that again and again…

So I did appreciate how funny the book was even with these heavier topics woven in. 

I was going to be an accountant! Not like the "accountants" going viral on TikTok, but a real number-crunching, invoice-consolidating, checkbook-balancing accountant for a company-with a high salary! Not some job that paid $7.25 an hour but a salary. With benefits. No one in my family had ever had a salary before, and when we were sick, we would have to take a whole day off work and wait in line at the clinic, missing an entire day's pay. Private health insurance was on the table. Who was I? An accountant, that's who.

Who can survive on $7.25 ANYWHERE in 2024?!

Asha:  No one.

This is the part that really got me:

I had been at Technix for two weeks now, and this was what I had to say about all the red tape, gatekeepers, and requirements to get this job—all that was pointless. Anyone could do this job. Ember, who only graduated high school could do this job. Joanna could learn to do this job. Hell, even boneheaded Sage could do this job.

Because it’s so true! So many entry-level jobs don’t need a college degree and yet it’s a requirement, when it didn’t used to be.

Lakshmi: Yes, I think the weirdest realization most of us make at work is that 1) a lot of these jobs are easy 2) no one knows what they are doing despite that fact?

Asha: Hahaha, so true

Lakshmi: But this section also gives more context as to why she feels like she's being pigeonholed:

My name was a pretty common Okie name. My high school was in Ada, right in the middle of Indian Country. But I felt like those shitasses hadn't even bothered reading my application or my cover letter. I was honest (mostly); I wanted to learn and grow. Did any of that matter? Not when you were "Indian," apparently. Something we could call ourselves but rubbed us the wrong way when non-Natives tried to foist the inaccurate label onto us.

Asha: We have to go, do you have a final thought?

Lakshmi: Yes, Danica Nava has a new book out early next year! I definitely want to see where she goes from here!

Asha: Me too!

Each month, we’re sharing our current list of pop culture favs with readers! These are a few of our (current) favorite things!

What we are watching: 

Asha: A friend of mine introduced me to Industry on Max when its third season premiered this year, and I ended up watching all three seasons (although I can’t say I binged it because there was only so much I could handle in one go). Industry is set in the banking industry in London, and is full of terrible people handling lots of money while also snorting a mountain of coke and having lots of sex (where do they find the time). So if you liked Succession, this is probably a good show for you.

Lakshmi: I had the opportunity to attend the Pacific Island Film Festival last month through work and I’m so glad I did because I got to see the amazing new teen movie “Inky Pinky Ponky.” Set in Aotearoa (New Zealand), this lovely film tells the story of a trans teen girl from a Tongan family who is struggling to adjust to a new school. It’s a fun comedy in the “She’s All That” vein with an incredible twist. 

What we are reading: 

Asha: I picked up Amanda Peters’ “The Berry Pickers” from the library on a whim and I read it all in one sitting. It has two parallel storylines: one about a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia whose four year-old daughter goes missing in Maine one summer while they’re picking blueberries, and the other about a girl named Norma growing up in Maine who has odd, recurring dreams. It’s such a beautiful book. Everyone should definitely check it out if they have the chance.

Lakshmi: I just started reading the Turkish American YA novel Ros Demir Is Not The One and  it’s so cute! It’s essentially a teen rom com that is once again very much like the films “She’s All That” and “Sixteen Candles.” I really appreciated how it put its own unique twist on that classic formula. 

What we are listening to: 

Asha: I just finished the first season of the true crime-adjacent, mostly humor, podcast called “Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding?”. It was first released in 2020, but last year got a big boost from a social network that will forever be known as Twitter, and has found a new audience. Karen and Helen got married on a boat in Amsterdam in 2018, and sometime during the evening, they found poo on the floor of the women’s bathroom. They enlist their friend Lauren to help them solve the mystery of who did it. Usually I limit my podcast consumption to shows by audio journalists, but this one was very funny and charming – possibly because of all the non-American accents…(Karen and Helen are from the UK, Lauren is from New Zealand, and they live in Amsterdam where they have an international group of friends)

Lakshmi: Another reason I was thrilled to attend the Pacific Island Film Festival was because they had the incredible Native Hawaiian recording artist Paula Fuga at the featured entertainer at the closing night gala. I wasn’t at all familiar with Paula’s work before she started her set, but I became an instant fan about a third of the way through her first song. Check out her album Lillikoi (passion fruit in Hawaiian) here.