Trade Paperback, 452 pages
Published Dec. 13, 2019 by Black Cat.
Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.
Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible.
Stunning stories. Such unique writing. I’ve never read anything else quite like it.
2.5 stars, rounding up to three in the spirit of generosity because I appreciated that it was an exploration of identity through the lens of gender, sexuality, nationality, and race.
To make this book work, you have to either: a) have a notebook where you track the characters and their relationships to each other, or b) read each chapter as a stand-alone and spend ZERO energy trying to connect the dots between characters. Otherwise, you'll end up driving yourself mad trying to remember who's who and how they're connected. It felt like a collection of short stories that someone attempted to bind together retroactively, rather than a book that was created with a fine thread of gold laced elegantly through it from beginning to end.
I'll also note that I listened to the audiobook, and while I might be tempted to blame that for some of the clunkiness in tracking …
2.5 stars, rounding up to three in the spirit of generosity because I appreciated that it was an exploration of identity through the lens of gender, sexuality, nationality, and race.
To make this book work, you have to either: a) have a notebook where you track the characters and their relationships to each other, or b) read each chapter as a stand-alone and spend ZERO energy trying to connect the dots between characters. Otherwise, you'll end up driving yourself mad trying to remember who's who and how they're connected. It felt like a collection of short stories that someone attempted to bind together retroactively, rather than a book that was created with a fine thread of gold laced elegantly through it from beginning to end.
I'll also note that I listened to the audiobook, and while I might be tempted to blame that for some of the clunkiness in tracking characters, from other reviews I've read, it sounds like it allowed me to dodge an even more challenging bullet – the lack of punctuation or formatting.
In any case, the main reason I'm only giving this 2.5 stars is that it ended with a whimper, not a bang. I thought the point of introducing so many characters then attempting to seam them together in final chapter was to evoke the gasp of awe as all the pieces fell into place. Instead, this book left me scratching my head, wondering if I'd missed something, because the end didn't satisfy at all.
Everybody talking about the content, but nobody seems to mention that this writer has invented a whole other way to write and it actually works (!?!!?!!!???).
Just great.
Bernardine Evristo is incredibly skilful at showing her characters' voices. This could easily have felt disjointed, but instead the individuals both blend in and shine out of the overarching themes of the book.
This book is a collection of portraits of women, all linked together around a play at the National Theatre. Each portrait is deep and interesting and real, it feels like falling deeper and deeper each time. I enjoyed it and I recommend it. It is written as an internal monologue, with minimal punctuation, which means it requires concentration, and it's quite long.
Thanks to NetGalley for sending me a copy in exchange for my review.
This book is a collection of portraits of women, all linked together around a play at the National Theatre. Each portrait is deep and interesting and real, it feels like falling deeper and deeper each time. I enjoyed it and I recommend it. It is written as an internal monologue, with minimal punctuation, which means it requires concentration, and it's quite long.
Thanks to NetGalley for sending me a copy in exchange for my review.
"this is not about feeling something or about speaking words
"this is about being
"together."
What a novel! This is like nothing else I've read. Evaristo spins a web of black characters in search of femininity, or maybe just themselves. There is hardly a central plot, though stories abound, and the effect is mesmerizing. I took a long time finishing because I just didn't want the book to end.
I'm a bit overwhelmed by how much they're is to talk about in this work but one of the aspects I found most impressive was the prose. Evaristo created a seemingly bespoke style to write this book and it is very effective. Not only can the text glide in and out of poetry without fuss but the way the eye scans the page with her arranged line breaks and punctuation orchestrates the bustling, social pace. This is a social novel. The …
"this is not about feeling something or about speaking words
"this is about being
"together."
What a novel! This is like nothing else I've read. Evaristo spins a web of black characters in search of femininity, or maybe just themselves. There is hardly a central plot, though stories abound, and the effect is mesmerizing. I took a long time finishing because I just didn't want the book to end.
I'm a bit overwhelmed by how much they're is to talk about in this work but one of the aspects I found most impressive was the prose. Evaristo created a seemingly bespoke style to write this book and it is very effective. Not only can the text glide in and out of poetry without fuss but the way the eye scans the page with her arranged line breaks and punctuation orchestrates the bustling, social pace. This is a social novel. The characters are never alone but in the context of other people and that effect highlights the Truth at its core.
I'm pretty sure I'll be recommending this one highly for years. Read it if you haven't!
