A review by serendipitysbooks
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.5

 Set in the 1950s, The House of Eve is the intertwined stories of two Black women, Eleanor, a college student, and Ruby, a highschooler with big dreams, who both experience unplanned pregnancies. Their stories highlight themes like racism, colourism, class, poverty, infertility and accepted roles for women. I was already fairly familiar with the way homes for unmarried mothers operated - although this is the first book I can recall that looked so explicitly at the intersection of race and unmarried mothers - so that section of the book was less impactful for me than for other readers. The book was an undemanding read, with many of the plot points being easy to predict. I found the epilogue unnecessary and didn’t need the story to be wrapped up quite so neatly. A perfectly fine read; one which was ideally suited to the reading bandwidth I had at the time I picked it up. 
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