Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - The Women of Brewster Place

I don't see my extended family anymore. The last time I saw them was at my great great grandmother's funeral 3 years ago and before that, it had been more than ten years. This book reminded me of the best and worst of them. People can be complex and sifting through the feelings and pain isn't always clean, but with books it can be. This book reminded me of every conversation I would try and piece together through mumbles I heard through closed bedroom doors. It reminded me of every time I would be dismissed outside or to a different room so "grown folks" could talk. It reminded me of the best and the worst of the people I've loved who share blood with me and who I don't see anymore. With that, I already had a sandwich made of sympathy and tender feelings towards each character, and I didn't think it could grow until it turned into a triple-decker. I hate the limitations of this book - I want volumes and paragraphs about each of these people. I need to know that they're going to be okay. I need them to be okay. I also know that the snippets of life in this book is what makes it so special. They exist within each other's stories and in the pages, and that's it. Anything more might ruin the magic of the stories. But fuck, do I want more. I can't think of a short story collection (I don't read many for this very reason) other than Brandon Taylor's Filthy Animals that managed to pain a complete picture of characters and life for me, and Brewster was far more impactful for me than the former (and I love Brandon Taylor). I was comparing this to other "tales of misery" books - Homegoing, There, There, A little Life... I think this blows those out of the water in terms of the hopefulness. Maybe everything turns out okay. Maybe these women will still always have each other. This, unlike the others, leaves the ending open. It keeps you from the edge of truly knowing. And I think that's a kindness, even though I want more. This is so good. It is so much. I love it so much. Wow.

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gobblingupbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

I really loved this but holy shit check trigger warnings before reading!! That last story really took it out of me

My favorite story was Mattie! I also really loved Naylor’s lyrical, feverish prose in the prologue and epilogue.

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caughtbetweenpages's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A beautiful anthology collecting the lives of the Black women living in an under-served neighborhood from the neighborhood's inception to the moment it's torn down. I was especially delighted that the stories didn't exclusively focus on doom and gloom and difficulties, but that there was specifically room made for the beautiful moments of camaraderie between friends and families, specifically the way these generations of women do their best to build one another up even when the rest of the world fails them. There is a lot of sorrow (check the TW list), but the perseverance underlying it all was what kept me reading.

I was a little thrown off by the variety in length for some of the stories (eg. the opening story, Mattie, was about 1/5 of the whole book, whereas others were only a few pages long), because it seemed to grant more weight to some of these women compared to the others, and set me up to expect more of them, but it didn't make it less enjoyable to read overall. It did make it a little hard to pick up on the fact that the collection was moving through time, but again that wasn't a detracting factor to my enjoyment.

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midnightmarauder's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Women of Brewster Place highlights the stories of many different women who come together unintentionally due to their shared grief over the things they've gone through in their lives.

There's Mattie Michael: a woman who had a baby out of wedlock and thought she could raise him well on love alone. He ends up

killing a man in a bar, forcing Mattie to put up her house as collateral for his bail, and he jumps bail, leaving her high and dry.

Then Etta Mae Johnson: Mattie's best friend who has only ever known how to

use a man for all he's got, and when he can't give her anymore, he's gone.

She soon realizes that living this type of life causes her pain; no matter how hard she tries to ignore that fact.

Following, Kiswana: a radical woman who fully embraces her black heritage and moves to Brewster Place for the purpose of finding the community she feels she lacked growing up.

Cora Lee: a lover of babies since childhood, whose obsession gets a bit too large and causes her to

have eight children by the end of the book

.

And finally, Theresa and Lorraine: a lesbian couple who often fight about whether or not they're different from everyone else, solely on the count of their sexuality.

All of these women come from backgrounds that are not nearly similar to each other. But, they all come to Brewster Place to run, essentially, from the issues of their past. It is seen as a clean slate from the beatings, trauma, and pain that they experienced in those times.

Each story fits together like a puzzle piece as you read along, and I personally found myself captivated by these women's strengths. It gives a reminder that pain can often bring people together, and that isn't always in a bad way.

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renareads's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tictactoney's review against another edition

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challenging reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Gorgeous writing. The first story - Mattie's - was hands down my favorite.

The ending is hard. It hurts. Characters are growing and the community is beginning to thrive and then....it's all horrifically violated.

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tina94's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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flowchelle's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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