Initially I had trouble getting into Your Driver Is Waiting because the author’s voice is so strident. As I got perhaps a chapter or two into it, though, I realized why and ended up really liking a fresh voice.
Damani’s father has just died. Her mother is depressed to the point of catatonia. Working many shifts as a driver for an Uber-like organization, she is constantly tired. Between giving rides, she runs home to feed her mother and carry her to the bathroom. Damani begins to see nothing but endless drudgery. Her friends feel much the same. The city is overrun by various protest groups, but she doesn’t have time to get involved—she’d rather sleep. Until she gives a ride to Jolene, a white woman of the five-star variety. They quickly become obsessed with each other—until Jolene performs an unforgivable act and sets off a devastating chain of events.
The strident voice is perfect for Damani—she is fiery, frustrated, and barely holding her life together. The novel is darkly comedic, a social commentary on the haves and the have-nots, the meaning of friendships and family, sexual orientation, stigmatized communities of various kinds, and the inequalities in the United States where “all men are created equal.”
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Your Driver Is Waiting (Doubleday, February 28, 2023) is available through:
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