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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.75/5
oh. my. gosh. this book is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! the style, the structure, the character depth, the way it all weaves together...it's heart-stopping and it absolutely makes sense that this epic won the booker prize in 2019. it's clear that evaristo takes her cue from beloved black feminist writers like audre lorde and alice walker, yet she brings her own generational, diasporic spin to the table. i could not put it down and ended up being sad that i read it so fast because i wanted to stay with these characters forever!!
i say this from the bottom of my heart...*ahem*....WOMEN!!!!!!! one of the things i was most astounded by was how evaristo can masterfully write from the perspective of any age (i think the youngest was fifteen-ish and the oldest was ninety-something?!). this book shows SO much range. the characters are realistic and come from so many unique walks of life dealing with a huge array of topics: aging, immigration, marriage, radical lesbian culture, class, reconciling history, bitterness, the struggle of urban employment, jealousy between young/old women, race, sex (especially loved the exploration of older women's sexuality!! so good!), navigating queer identity (whether the character was queer or not), sexual violence and its consequences, motherhood. literally SO MUCH. and it's all written with a wit and tenderness that make it impossible to not empathize with our characters, whether we like who they are or not. it asks the reader to consider a critical component of what it's like to exist as a woman: constantly being defined by her relationship to others (daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, etc) while longing to be "a person in her own right", and it reminds us of the deep interconnectedness of people who are seemingly unrelated.
this book felt like twelve back to back amazing first dates. it captures the internal complexities of individual women so perfectly. i cared about every. single. page. a sweeping and exceptional masterpiece that i will be recommending to every woman i know for years to come. *swoon* i've got such a literary crush on bernardine evaristo and will absolutely be picking up everything she writes in the future. PLEASE READ THIS!! <3 <3 *heart eyes*
oh. my. gosh. this book is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! the style, the structure, the character depth, the way it all weaves together...it's heart-stopping and it absolutely makes sense that this epic won the booker prize in 2019. it's clear that evaristo takes her cue from beloved black feminist writers like audre lorde and alice walker, yet she brings her own generational, diasporic spin to the table. i could not put it down and ended up being sad that i read it so fast because i wanted to stay with these characters forever!!
i say this from the bottom of my heart...*ahem*....WOMEN!!!!!!! one of the things i was most astounded by was how evaristo can masterfully write from the perspective of any age (i think the youngest was fifteen-ish and the oldest was ninety-something?!). this book shows SO much range. the characters are realistic and come from so many unique walks of life dealing with a huge array of topics: aging, immigration, marriage, radical lesbian culture, class, reconciling history, bitterness, the struggle of urban employment, jealousy between young/old women, race, sex (especially loved the exploration of older women's sexuality!! so good!), navigating queer identity (whether the character was queer or not), sexual violence and its consequences, motherhood. literally SO MUCH. and it's all written with a wit and tenderness that make it impossible to not empathize with our characters, whether we like who they are or not. it asks the reader to consider a critical component of what it's like to exist as a woman: constantly being defined by her relationship to others (daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, etc) while longing to be "a person in her own right", and it reminds us of the deep interconnectedness of people who are seemingly unrelated.
this book felt like twelve back to back amazing first dates. it captures the internal complexities of individual women so perfectly. i cared about every. single. page. a sweeping and exceptional masterpiece that i will be recommending to every woman i know for years to come. *swoon* i've got such a literary crush on bernardine evaristo and will absolutely be picking up everything she writes in the future. PLEASE READ THIS!! <3 <3 *heart eyes*
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun fact: I picked up this book because I spotted it in the Red, White & Royal Blue movie. Best impulse buy ever.
I love a good book about feminism, and this one delivered in every possible way. It’s the first book I’ve read that puts Black women at the heart of the story, and that alone made it feel like something special. The way Evaristo weaves together different lives, voices, and experiences is masterful—every page pulls you in, every story leaves its mark.
I always try to find at least one character I deeply connect with, and in this book, that was Carole. Her journey, her struggles, her growth—it all hit home for me.
This book is beautifully written, engaging from start to finish, and impossible to put down. If you haven’t read it yet, trust me—you need to.
Written in a modern, free-flowing prose, Bernardine Evaristo’s tour de force featuring 12 British black women was a book unique to anything I’ve read before. While it took me a bit to get used to the writing style with its lack of punctuation, once I did it flowed so beautifully I wish every book was written like this. I also learned a TON of new vocabulary throughout the course of this book which I appreciated.
I was worried that once each character’s story ended I would miss them and have trouble moving on. But I felt Evaristo did a great job of making each story feel complete providing a sense of closure for the reader.
I was especially impressed by how she was able to write from the perspective of women aged 16 to 92 so believably that they felt like real people, real experiences. A few stories that really stood out to me were Amma, Dominique, Carole, Hattie and Grace.
I was worried that once each character’s story ended I would miss them and have trouble moving on. But I felt Evaristo did a great job of making each story feel complete providing a sense of closure for the reader.
I was especially impressed by how she was able to write from the perspective of women aged 16 to 92 so believably that they felt like real people, real experiences. A few stories that really stood out to me were Amma, Dominique, Carole, Hattie and Grace.
This book is EXTRAORDINARY and one of my favourites of 2020.
I have no words to describe the level of amazingness. Truly exceeds anything I could have desired or expected.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really loved how this book explored how every single person has their own complex, nuanced life but we’re all more intertwined than we think