Oreo

Okay, this book is simply impossible to review. It's a mix of Woody Allen meets blaxpoitation meets feminist righteousness, all caught up in a black girl nicknamed Oreo whose father [Shmuel] is Jewish (and absent), whose mother [Helen] is black (and mostly absent), whose grandmother [Louise] is very, very light-skinned black (and is the only one who speaks with a southern accent in the house and cooks like an international cooking star) and whose grandfather [James] is very, very dark-skinned black and fluent in Yiddish, when he's not catatonic.
Add to this her system of self-defense, which Ross has called hwip-as and you are in for one bizarre and hilarious ride. There are too many funny and unbelievable scenes to recount. Keep your computer handy if your Yiddish is rusty, because Oreo and the rest of the characters switch effortlessly between African American Vernacular English of the 1970s and Yiddish.
The book is feminist to its core. ("Womanist" had not yet been coined by Alice Walker). And, there is little "PC" about it. But oh boy, what a ride!
It should be experienced at least once.

This book is weird and sly and funny and self-aware and literary. I'm not totally sure what to make of it, but I'm very glad I read it.

This is the book I want everyone to read. Fran Ross wrote this wickedly smart and funny novel in the 1970s and it was re-released in the aughts. Wildly before it's time, Oreo is laugh-out-loud hilarious while also being incredibly thought-provoking and educational.