Reviews - Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation

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172 reviews for:

Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation

Grace L. Williams

3.37 AVERAGE

bebarnard's review against another edition

3.5

informative medium-paced

susanpbowman's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous informative slow-paced

I was genuinely excited to pick this one up—the topic itself? Super compelling. But the execution? Not so much.

To my surprise, the book took the narrative nonfiction route, which felt like a bold swing. And honestly...a miss. I hate that it feels vaguely antifeminist to say this, but none of the personal stories were gripping enough to carry the weight of the subject matter. I kept waiting for something to pull me in—and instead, I found myself repeatedly flipping pages, hoping for momentum that never came.

The writing didn’t help. It was slow, meandering, and lacked the clarity or energy the topic deserved. For such an important and nuanced subject, the pacing was strangely dull, and the structure didn’t do the material any favors.

All that said, I wanted to love this. The concept is smart and necessary—but in the end, it read more like a missed opportunity than a must-read. I'd say skip this one.

chloes98's review against another edition

4.0

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

amandalywarren's review

DNF at 22%

I was surprised to discover that this is narrative nonfiction, which was rather a pleasant surprise. But this is supposed to be the history of the Women’s Bank, and instead it is an episodic compendium of the life stories of some of the major players in the founding of the bank. Not the worst idea, since their stories tie into their reasons for founding the bank, but unfortunately it is written like a bad fictionalized retelling.

I wish I could say this in any other way, but frankly, the writing is not good. I did not find the style or storytelling to be particularly skillful or enjoyable. Though it is certainly a worthy topic, and clearly so much research went into this book, I couldn’t get past the quality of the writing. I figured it would be better for me to DNF than to rage read the rest.