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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
Heel vlot geschreven boek met mooie, verbonden, verhalen van elf verschillende vrouwen en een non-binair persoon. Soms grappig, soms schokkend en heel soms ontroerend. Erg mooie manier om debatten over ras, identiteit en feminisme invoelbaar te maken door ‘echte’ levens van mensen, sommigen producten van het systeem, anderen die er actief tegen vechten.
Having now read both the co-winners of the 2019 Booker Prize, and despite also loving Atwood's The Testaments, I think this deserved to win by itself.
It's a triumph of both style and substance, telling the life stories of 11 women and 1 non-binary person, exploring themes of family, race, sexuality, gender identity and friendship. The writing is alive, vital, vibrant, and real: bursting with observations about life as a minority to make the reader sit up and take notice.
Evaristo "explodes" her sentences so that each paragraph looks like a stanza: there are no full stops, no capitals to indicate a new sentence, just line breaks for emphasis and dialogue. At first glance it looks potentially offputting. I questioned whether the text would flow when reading or whether it's be more staccato-like, like reading a play. Reader, I need not have worried.
It's a beautiful, beautiful book that deserves the plaudits, and deserves to be read far and wide - even moreso at this moment when Black Lives Matter has made racial politics all the more relevant.
It's a triumph of both style and substance, telling the life stories of 11 women and 1 non-binary person, exploring themes of family, race, sexuality, gender identity and friendship. The writing is alive, vital, vibrant, and real: bursting with observations about life as a minority to make the reader sit up and take notice.
Evaristo "explodes" her sentences so that each paragraph looks like a stanza: there are no full stops, no capitals to indicate a new sentence, just line breaks for emphasis and dialogue. At first glance it looks potentially offputting. I questioned whether the text would flow when reading or whether it's be more staccato-like, like reading a play. Reader, I need not have worried.
It's a beautiful, beautiful book that deserves the plaudits, and deserves to be read far and wide - even moreso at this moment when Black Lives Matter has made racial politics all the more relevant.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
~as she's in her fifties, she's not
old yet, although try telling that to a nineteen-year-old; in
any case, ageing is nothing to be ashamed of
especially when the entire human race is in it together
although sometimes it seems that she alone among her
friends wants to celebrate getting older
because it's such a privilege to not die prematurely~
~she tried boys a couple of times
they enjoyed it
she endured it~
~Yazz was never told off for speaking her mind, although
she was told off for swearing because she needed to
develop her vocabulary
(Yazz, say you find Marissa unpleasant or unlikeable
rather than describing her as a shit-faced smelly bottom)~
~one thing she's learnt is that falling hopelessly,
helplessly in love is actually a higly selective process~
~Winsome likes the fact that Rachel is curious enough to
know who her grandmother was before she was
mother, when she was a person in her own right, as she
described it
except she never has been, first she was a daughter,
then a wife and mother, and now also a grandmother and
great-grandmother.~
~it had been hard for her to sleep on so much history.~
old yet, although try telling that to a nineteen-year-old; in
any case, ageing is nothing to be ashamed of
especially when the entire human race is in it together
although sometimes it seems that she alone among her
friends wants to celebrate getting older
because it's such a privilege to not die prematurely~
~she tried boys a couple of times
they enjoyed it
she endured it~
~Yazz was never told off for speaking her mind, although
she was told off for swearing because she needed to
develop her vocabulary
(Yazz, say you find Marissa unpleasant or unlikeable
rather than describing her as a shit-faced smelly bottom)~
~one thing she's learnt is that falling hopelessly,
helplessly in love is actually a higly selective process~
~Winsome likes the fact that Rachel is curious enough to
know who her grandmother was before she was
mother, when she was a person in her own right, as she
described it
except she never has been, first she was a daughter,
then a wife and mother, and now also a grandmother and
great-grandmother.~
~it had been hard for her to sleep on so much history.~
SO GOOD I AM YELLING. I read the first chapter of this last year and then got distracted and I'm so annoyed with myself because this was AMAZING just like everyone says it is. There was only one chapter that I didn't like but that's irrelevant, it doesn't change my perspective on the whole book.
A really interesting writing style, with 3 related vignettes per chapter. I liked the experimental nature of the writing--part monologue, part short story, part poetry. I may have to read it again to get all the nuances. Extremely readable and not dense, but rich. In some places it veers into stereotypes and goes too didactic, but I liked it nonetheless.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
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:
Yes
This is, without doubt, the best book I read in 2020 and I will probably recommend it to literally everyone I meet. The language was SO insanely beautiful, I will defo read her other books as well!
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A