A review by tfpjr492
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This story presents many themes: friendship, death, memories, changing urban neighborhoods, the clash of youthful dreams with harsh realities, resilience, and the end of childhood as a girl of color. Wow! That is a lot for a reader to absorb. The major theme is grief. The story feels more like a long novella than a short novel. 

 

The narrator, August, is an anthropologist, who studies death across cultures. She ends the first chapter with the below passage. 

 

In eastern Indonesia, families keep their dead in special rooms in their homes. . . . the dead remain with them, dressed and cared for each morning, taken on trips with the family, hugged daily, loved deeply. 

 

Does that passage preview the narrator’s struggle with grief? As an eight-year-old, she is in denial about the untimely death of her mother. After moving from Tennessee to Brooklyn, her protective father confines her and her younger brother to the apartment. Slowly he allows them to experience the neighborhood on their own. 

 

The story starts years later when August returns to her old neighborhood in Brooklyn because her father has passed away. The setting triggers childhood memories, especially of her three girlfriends. The group of four shared confidences, future dreams, and milestone experiences as they grew up together from pre-teens to teenagers. Eventually, the four friends go their separate ways. During her return visit, August happens to meet one of those friends on the subway. It is curious, that the chance meeting seems like a one-way conversation with the friend doing most of the talking. Also, August cuts the conversation short, when she leaves the subway at an early stop. It is as if August wants to keep the memories unchanged. Maybe she just wants to keep the good memories close, and the difficult memories sequestered in a more distant space. 

 

When she was young, her father arranged meetings for her with a grief counselor. Ultimately August was able to manage the grief of her mother’s death because she moved forward on her life path. Her mother was unable to do that, as she was haunted at the end of her life by the memory of her dead brother. The reader is left to ponder if August is affected by her grief in ways that neither she nor even the author can understand. 

 

The sadness of the story is nicely balanced with the high points of young friendships and the resilience of human nature. This book is a great read for those times when a reader seeks subjects for reflection.