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A review by book_concierge
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
4.0
Book on CD performed by Anna-Maria Nabirye
Evaristo’s collection of short stories earned her the 2019 Booker Prize, the first black woman to be so honored. As the title implies, the stories all focus on women and girls from childhood to old age and are primarily set in current-day Britain.
Evaristo populates the book with a wide variety of unforgettable characters: a jaded teacher, a lesbian playwright, a nonbinary social media influencer, an ancient matriarch still living on her family’s farm. The stories are loosely interconnected, and the structure reminds me a little of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, though there is no central character that is in every tale.
I am a fan of the short story format and loved the way Evaristo managed to give us a complete picture of these women’s lives using this form. The novel is structured in chapters, with each chapter having three characters’ stories, though all three characters appear in each other’s narratives. I cheered for most of these women (as in real life, there are some stinkers here that I was happy to see go), and found the epilogue, which ties up one story arc beautifully, very satisfying.
I can hardly wait for my F2F book club discussion!
I listened to the audio performed by Anna-Maria Nabirye, who does a marvelous job. She has a lot of characters to deal with, virtually all of them women, and she managed it quite well. Her narration was seamless, and I was never confused about who was speaking. I did have a copy of the text handy, and it is written in a style that eliminates capitalization and punctuation; it has an appearance of poetry on some pages. I don’t think this would have bothered me at all had I read the text, but for those who find non-traditional styles problematic, try the audio. You won’t regret it.
Evaristo’s collection of short stories earned her the 2019 Booker Prize, the first black woman to be so honored. As the title implies, the stories all focus on women and girls from childhood to old age and are primarily set in current-day Britain.
Evaristo populates the book with a wide variety of unforgettable characters: a jaded teacher, a lesbian playwright, a nonbinary social media influencer, an ancient matriarch still living on her family’s farm. The stories are loosely interconnected, and the structure reminds me a little of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, though there is no central character that is in every tale.
I am a fan of the short story format and loved the way Evaristo managed to give us a complete picture of these women’s lives using this form. The novel is structured in chapters, with each chapter having three characters’ stories, though all three characters appear in each other’s narratives. I cheered for most of these women (as in real life, there are some stinkers here that I was happy to see go), and found the epilogue, which ties up one story arc beautifully, very satisfying.
I can hardly wait for my F2F book club discussion!
I listened to the audio performed by Anna-Maria Nabirye, who does a marvelous job. She has a lot of characters to deal with, virtually all of them women, and she managed it quite well. Her narration was seamless, and I was never confused about who was speaking. I did have a copy of the text handy, and it is written in a style that eliminates capitalization and punctuation; it has an appearance of poetry on some pages. I don’t think this would have bothered me at all had I read the text, but for those who find non-traditional styles problematic, try the audio. You won’t regret it.