Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Mira is on a shuttle from the airport to her college campus, and there is only one other woman on board. Mira notes the woman is wearing a necklace with the lesbian triangle symbol, so she begins talking about how “lesbians are great” and that she never met many growing up in a small town, but she’s “met so many now!” (91). The woman rebuffs Mira, telling her lesbians are just like everyone else. The rest of the ride is silent, and Mira once again feels embarrassed and deflated after attempting to navigate a tricky conversation.

As a college student, Mira asks her mother how she would define arranged marriage vs. love marriage. Her mother replies that arranged marriage is good, and love marriage is not arranged-very straightforward responses. Mira points out that she is aware of a third type of love her parents discuss: “American love” (94). This type of love involves ample divorce and problems, according to Mira’s parents. They do not try to control who Mira marries, though, saying she can marry whomever she likes. Mira’s brother, Arun, also has problems finding a partner, and the two bond and relate over their difficulties. They joke together, and Mira’s brother turns her bad dates into country songs: “Those weren’t your panties, but that was your heart” (99). One day, Arun announces that he has found the one, an Indian woman, and Mira gets upset, calling him “Mister Perfect” (101). When he gets married only a few months later, Mira is told by family at the wedding to get married sooner rather than later. She is seen standing in the hanging tree lights watching as her brother and his wife walk happily into their new fantasy-like lives together with unicorn horns on their heads, pondering how hearts can sometimes “Shatter in the face of what is possible” (105).

Mira moves to New York in 1997 “to be a writer” (106) and finds nothing but barriers initially. A fact-checker job only offers $300 per week, another job offer is from a man who “likes dark girls” (107), and many of her friends make remarks like, “If you can’t get a job with the whole diversity thing, the rest of us are” (107) in trouble. The barriers Mira faces are not all unique to her race, but many of the job offers she receives are related to people looking specifically for ethnic writers or do not pay well if at all.

Z is eight years old now and learning to read everything around him, which Mira says is “great and also not so great” (108). Z sees protest signs talking about Trump’s discrimination toward Muslims and Mexicans. He asks what rapists are and whether Donald Trump will ban him and his family. As Mira, Z, and Jed walk down the streets of New York City, they attempt to field these questions both with humor and honesty. Jed explains that as a Jewish man he feels a heightened responsibility to watch out for and help those who are being “driven out of places” (110) and briefly explains the Holocaust to his son. Ironically, when Z asks what will happen if Hilary runs against Trump and who his grandparents will vote for if they dislike both candidates, Jed states with confidence, “That’s not going to happen” (111). He and Mira are certain Republicans love the country too much to vote for Trump; their instincts turn out to be incorrect.

While Mira is growing up, her parents do not hug or kiss or even drive in the same car. They seem not to be in love at all. However, when Mira is living in New York after college, she goes home for a visit to find her parents have “fallen into a love marriage” (119). She is shocked and finds it hard to comprehend how this could have happened. Her parents are affectionate, giggly, and tease her when she brings it up in conversation. When Mira poses her issue to her brother, he just tells her it is gross. Mira knows that deep down it is not really her parents’ falling in love that bothers her but the fact that both her brother and parents are in love, and she is still alone.

Dating in New York is, according to the sarcastic Mira, very sophisticated. People ask her whether it is racist to have a fetish for Indian women, criticize her bisexuality, and gawk at her traditional Indian dancing. Mira continues to struggle relating to anyone in the dating world, largely because of her race. It seems that people either want to date her specifically for her skin color, or they do not want to date her because of her skin color.

Trump wins the primary election and “everyone [has] a theory” as to why (122). Some of Mira’s friends believe it to be the “last gasp of a dying, angry breed” (121) and think people should just get over it while others blame the left for inciting Trump to extremism. Mira does not offer her own opinion on the subject, but it is clear from previous conversations she did not expect this and is likely in shock.