This controversial novel by Gloria Naylor explores a community, Linden Hills, inhabited by affluent African Americans. An overarching theme of the novel is that some of the characters are affected by their wealth and accompanying lifestyle to the point where it negatively impacts their personalities, making them more selfish, shallow, and, in some cases, cruel and abusive.

There seems to be a suggestion that achieving the American dream—a lifestyle which is disproportionately embodied by white Americans—is a goal that, once achieved by black Americans, can lead to the same sort of oppressive and entitled behavior that many people of color suffer at the hands of whites. Needless to say, this is a provocative idea.

The novel employs some literary devices and metaphors to make its points, and one clear feature is the book's structure and thematic similarities to Dante's Inferno. Luther Nedeed, a central character whose brutal treatment of his wives is a central plot point, is clearly meant to represent Lucifer, given his similar name. Other details emerge that complete this theme, such as his address: 999 Tupelo Drive. The number is a simple inversion of 666 in a neighborhood where "up means down" (also referencing the "topsy-turvy" nature of the social order in Linden Hills) and where Tupelo refers to the site of one of the main battles of the Civil War, fought over slavery (suggesting a constant awareness of the historical struggle to overcome racial oppression).

The notion that people who achieve the "dream" of living in the affluent suburb of Linden Hills must sacrifice some of their "blackness" to assimilate there (as many of the characters do, even to the point of changing their given names) speaks to a general theme of loss of culture and individuality that occurs when such affluence is achieved. This suggests that such aspiration is wrongheaded when it occurs within the mold of the American dream as personified by whites and allows for an interpretation that instead recommends staying true to black culture, as this is somehow a more admirable goal. Again, these themes are controversial.