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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
memory, death, friendship, betrayal, growing up
A short, beautifully written book that somehow still left me feeling empty — but maybe that's the point?
"Another Brooklyn," by Jacqueline Woodson, reads like a post-apocalyptic, dystopian thriller, except that it is close to reality in the haunting streets of Brooklyn, New York, growing up in the 1970s. This book is pretty short (under 200 pages), but packs a powerful punch of grief, fear, loss and a general sense of a lost feeling when it feels like everything is falling apart around you.
Woodson narrates the story from the perspective of a grown woman, looking back at herself as a child, the fear of danger lurking all about her, the loss of her mother, the coming and going of her father's lovers, her father's religion of Islam, and becoming an adult, but still being frozen in time in a childhood without the ability to process the horrors besieging her.
The writing was beautiful, descriptiveness that transports the reader into that time and place. The pain was real and heartbreaking. This book was memorable for all the right reasons.
Woodson narrates the story from the perspective of a grown woman, looking back at herself as a child, the fear of danger lurking all about her, the loss of her mother, the coming and going of her father's lovers, her father's religion of Islam, and becoming an adult, but still being frozen in time in a childhood without the ability to process the horrors besieging her.
The writing was beautiful, descriptiveness that transports the reader into that time and place. The pain was real and heartbreaking. This book was memorable for all the right reasons.
Woodson delivers yet again! This time, a story about death, friendship, vulnerability and the difficulties of growing up in a world that isn’t as innocent or safe as it may appear from a child’s perspective.
I know Woodson has already won a National Book Award for her young adult novel Brown Girl Dreaming, but if there's any justice (and taste) in the world then this novel - her first for adults - will at least be shortlisted for the same award.
Describing the book as a coming of age story ignores the many layers that form Another Brooklyn. It's about the friendship between four black girls of different backgrounds; it's about the class divide; it's about dealing (or not) with the death of a parent; it's about Brooklyn in the 1970s and those neighbourhoods where white people moved out and black people moved in; its about race and the growing popularity of the Nation of Islam in those same neighbourhoods; it's about rebellion; it's about tragedy; it's about being in love and expressing love; it's about all these things told in the most exquisite prose. And the whole book is less than 25,000 words - barely a novella.
Whether it's shortlisted or not I highly recommend Another Brooklyn.
Describing the book as a coming of age story ignores the many layers that form Another Brooklyn. It's about the friendship between four black girls of different backgrounds; it's about the class divide; it's about dealing (or not) with the death of a parent; it's about Brooklyn in the 1970s and those neighbourhoods where white people moved out and black people moved in; its about race and the growing popularity of the Nation of Islam in those same neighbourhoods; it's about rebellion; it's about tragedy; it's about being in love and expressing love; it's about all these things told in the most exquisite prose. And the whole book is less than 25,000 words - barely a novella.
Whether it's shortlisted or not I highly recommend Another Brooklyn.
Another Brooklyn is a lyrical novel about memory, loss, girlhood, and grief. Woodson's characters are so lovable, even if the disjointed lyric-narrative style of the book leaves some aspects of their development wanting. The most detailed and well-developed aspect of this novel is the setting: 1970s Brooklyn. Woodson brings a past Brooklyn back to life through beautiful description of its people, build environment, history, culture, and in particular, music. The central theme is one survival, and in particular survival in the face of loss and hardship: how do people continue to live (or not) in a world trying to desperately to end them? "This earth is seventy percent water. Hard not to walk into it." (155). This novel will deliver a quick tear, and hopefully, a deeper understanding of how our own lives are shaped by the shakiness of grief and memory.
Beautiful prose and a quick read. At the same time, I know I’ll be thinking about it for much longer than it took to consume.