Colored Television

Senna’s latest novel takes readers into the life of Jane Gibson, a professor with several shaky relationships which become shakier as she strains toward a tenure that seems to retreat from her by the minute. Jane is obsessed with the fact that she is biracial, an obsession that pulls her in two racial directions at once. She is also a failed novelist: her epic book, on which she has worked nine years, is rejected by both publisher and agent, endangering her bid for tenure. In desperation, she tries her hand at writing for a television comedy. Complications ensue with her financially unsuccessful painter husband, as well as with her successful TV producer best friend and the impossible-to-please producer of the show she’s trying to write for. Despite the various conflicts, there are no villains in this book.