Imani Thompson’s debut novel, Honey, explores the sticky side of what it means to be a woman in a world full of men that functionally disregards women. Yrsa is fed up and bored with her school life, so she kills. At first, because she can, but essentially, because she feels that ridding the earth of the kind of man that makes it hard for women to live here is important work. Men who hurt her, her friends, and women in general. Thompson’s novel is witty, electric, thrilling, and thought-provoking. She blends themes of misogyny, narcissism, race, and class with ease, while assuring that the reader can still see the softness and humanness of the story’s protagonist, Yrsa.
I spoke with Thompson about writing the terrible thing, what community looks like in the literary world, and the rhythm of language and words.
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