Reviews - The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

838 reviews for:

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Ayana Mathis

3.48 AVERAGE

morahsharon1's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kellymc03's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed this book. The idea of the different narrators for each chapter was interesting and it gave a good picture of Hattie by the end.

crikhopit's review against another edition

3.0

I'm not really sure how to rate this book. On one hand, it was an engaging story, written through the eyes of ten different perspectives: all children (and one grandchild) of the title character, Hattie. Her life was hard - SHE was hard - and this reflected in the lives of all her children. Their stories were varied and heartbreaking and complex.

On the other hand, so much of their stories were left unresolved. A character is mentioned once or twice, then never brought back. A main character falls in love and we never learn of his fate. Too often, I furiously flipped back through the pages, trying to find the "end story" of a character, only to be disappointed.

A good read, but not necessarily the "Book Club Book of the YEAR" I was expecting.

juliana_aldous's review against another edition

3.0

I look forward to reading more from this author but right now I'm a little tired of short character stories and pieces in exchange for no actual plot. Maybe I need to read a thriller or something, but I would like to read a book right now with an actual plot. Anyone of these character pieces could have been turned into its own novel, but except for sharing the same mother, I didn't really feel the connection.

booklistqueen's review against another edition

3.0

reflective sad slow-paced

In 1923, Hattie Shepherd leaves Georgia in search of a better life in Philadelphia. Instead, she ends up in a disappointing marriage. Hattie goes on to have 11 children, whom she raises with strength, but not much tenderness. Through the narratives of her children, you see the legacy inherited by the children of the Great Migration.

I decided to pair Mathis's novel with Isabel Wilkerson's stunning history of the Great Migration, The Warmth of Other Suns for my 2023 Reading Challenge. Each chapter is a beautifully written short story of one of Hattie's children. Yet, collectively, the novel felt too fragmented, as most of the children were never mentioned again. The disjointed format prevents you from becoming to fully invested in the story and makes the novel lose much of its potential power.

passionyoungwrites's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

Whew. So many children. So many different outcomes, even though they had mostly the same upbringing.

That Bell though - she ain’t have to sleep with that man. 😕

But Sala, the granddaughter may have had the best version of a Hattie altogether.

emilyusuallyreading's review against another edition

3.0

What I Liked
I wanted to like this book so much. Ayana Mathis is a good writer. Her character of Hattie was compelling and devastating. The first chapter of the book with the sick twins is tragic and drew me in until I felt teary-eyed and sickened. Hattie's voice is one to be heard.

What I Didn't Like
Each chapter bounces several years into the future and is painfully disjointed from the last. Somewhat of an anthology, the only thing that holds characters together is the distant figure of their mother, Hattie. Unfortunately, there was no true story arc connecting these tales, so they ended up feeling disconnected and jarring. Once the reader begins to become absorbed in one character's story, we never hear from them again - and Hattie's figure is too aloof and distant to truly weave these tales together.

The disconnected nature of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie makes for a distant-feeling anthology of stories that don't truly make the impact that I wish they did. Hattie has a story that needs to be told, but I struggled to get through each chapter. The lack of a storyline makes for dull and flat reading.