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lsavoie's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-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
4.25
stephfish's review against another edition
3.0
Lost momentum
Liked the style but the story lost momentum, things slowed down around part three and part four seemed to reaffirm nothing new was being added.
Liked the style but the story lost momentum, things slowed down around part three and part four seemed to reaffirm nothing new was being added.
lean_bean's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
urska's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
sad
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? No
4.0
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
3.0
'Girl, woman, other' is composed of 12 short stories of 12 characters that have some connections with each other followed by the last chapter and the epilogue which brings a few more connections. Each of these short stories is almost always about the life of a woman (there is one based on a character whose sexuality remains undefined) - mostly black women at that.
The good part is the author is funny and seems to write in 21st century, which is actually an achievement. I mean how archaic prose of contemporary fiction is! If writers are out looking to do something 'modern' they go for long unpunctuated sentences that Joyce used a century ago. Evaristo has a freshening voice, she is often funny too (unless aesthetic forbids it, an author should try to be funny - it is crime to demand hours of time needed to read a book from an individual and not try to make laugh as often as you can). You could almost see her use emojis... another thing I should like writers to use more often, one of the best things about literature IMO, and all art for that matter, being to make communication easy by providing better expressions for our emotions, I personally think that creator of the first emojis deserves a Nobel prize in literature. I mean singers are already getting it.
On the bad side, most of the stories didn't leave a strong impression on me - and I guess it is because very little time is spent with any character, they lacked kind of dimensions which longer books would have given them which would make them rememberable. I mean a whole life told in 15 or so pages - can you go much beyond the biggest events of their life? The big events in question were mostly marriages, men leaving women pregnant, their husbands' leaving them, men being stupid and dogs (that is already well established, you don't have to write books about it), etc especially in cases where women were housewives. I know that is the lot of some of the housewives but they could have a richer inner life. They could have interests other than men, children, and sex. All that seems to me only one dimension of life.
The stories that did impress me were those of a theatre director, a teacher (very passionate to begin with) and about the character of 'other' sexuality. The first two because they talked of their passion and opinions of their work, the third because it also held an active and interesting discussion about sexuality. The story of Amma's daughter was also interesting. These stories were 4 stars, the rest of the book was mostly 3 stars.
The good part is the author is funny and seems to write in 21st century, which is actually an achievement. I mean how archaic prose of contemporary fiction is! If writers are out looking to do something 'modern' they go for long unpunctuated sentences that Joyce used a century ago. Evaristo has a freshening voice, she is often funny too (unless aesthetic forbids it, an author should try to be funny - it is crime to demand hours of time needed to read a book from an individual and not try to make laugh as often as you can). You could almost see her use emojis... another thing I should like writers to use more often, one of the best things about literature IMO, and all art for that matter, being to make communication easy by providing better expressions for our emotions, I personally think that creator of the first emojis deserves a Nobel prize in literature. I mean singers are already getting it.
On the bad side, most of the stories didn't leave a strong impression on me - and I guess it is because very little time is spent with any character, they lacked kind of dimensions which longer books would have given them which would make them rememberable. I mean a whole life told in 15 or so pages - can you go much beyond the biggest events of their life? The big events in question were mostly marriages, men leaving women pregnant, their husbands' leaving them, men being stupid and dogs (that is already well established, you don't have to write books about it), etc especially in cases where women were housewives. I know that is the lot of some of the housewives but they could have a richer inner life. They could have interests other than men, children, and sex. All that seems to me only one dimension of life.
The stories that did impress me were those of a theatre director, a teacher (very passionate to begin with) and about the character of 'other' sexuality. The first two because they talked of their passion and opinions of their work, the third because it also held an active and interesting discussion about sexuality. The story of Amma's daughter was also interesting. These stories were 4 stars, the rest of the book was mostly 3 stars.
romancereadsbyshauna's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
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
4.25
oh wow! these stories are beautiful
bhnmt61's review against another edition
5.0
Enough people I trust had recommended this book that I knew I was going to like it. But I thought it would be a hard read, full of horrible things that had happened to vibrant women. There is, admittedly, some of that— you can’t write a novel about a dozen women of color without talking about some of the horrible experiences they’ve had. But somehow Evaristo manages to make it a ripping good read. It’s funny and heart-breaking and thought-provoking and inspiring, and you just wish you could know all these amazing women. Great book. I am loose with my ratings these days, which I have come to prefer, but the downside is that when you come across a truly brilliant book, you need another, higher rating. Five plus for this one.