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A review by hatterell
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really appreciated the concept and writing style of this novel. I'm a big fan of short story collections and short fiction, and I liked how Evaristo played with this format and wove her characters together.
My favourite perspectives undoubtedly came earlier in the book - the trio of Amma, Yazz, and Dominique was perfect, and bring the most vivid and successful of Evaristo's writing to the reader. Amma is an older perspective than I usually read, which I enjoyed, and I was excited by the discussion about theatre (which always interests me) and how rules and boundaries are created and sustained in communal living spaces. Yazz encapsulates a patronising attitude of a "woke", liberal young person, who believes that her parents will be taken on a "learning curve" by her. She's a very interesting and relevant exploration of the generation I am part of. Dominique's perspective was the most poignant of the trio, tracking Dominique as she is taken in by Nzinga, a traveller who is "so wise and knowledgable about how to be a liberated black woman in an oppressive white world" but is ultimately revealed to be abusive - "I don't want you to give in, I want you to change, to understand my reasoning at a deeper level and accept it as the truth". Her journey and its conclusion in founding an arts festival, and the strength that the relationships around her show as her situation worsens is really important. I was worried the whole of Dominique's chapter would be about Nzinga, which is a statement in itself, and I was so pleased when she found her own feet and family.
The other perspectives that stand out to me most after having finished reading are LaTisha, Megan/Morgan, and Grace - the rest were enjoyable but I found that certain perspectives blended together, and could tell you little about Shirley, Penelope, or Hattie.
That being said, each section held beautiful quotes, and a thread that stood out to me was different attitudes to art throughout the novel. After listening to Evaristo's UEA Live talk with Claire Hynes (available on YouTube currently, although this may change) I was eager to re-evaluate the quotes I'd written down about art with what she had to say on the matter. Two opposing approaches to the value of art came from Winsome and Roland. I loved hearing Winsome talking about her book club, which focused on Carribean female authors. The thoughts shared in this chapter felt personal - "Bernadette said it was up to the literature specialists to decide what was good, they only knew whether they liked something or not" - "Dora said there was no such thing as objective truth and if you think something's good, because it speaks to you, it is".
Roland was of interest to me anyway, as the only male perspective in this female focused text. Evaristo revealed that Roland originally has his own chapter, but was taken out to focus on the theme of womxn characters, although his inner thoughts do make an appearance in the penultimate "The After-Party" segment. At first I hated this, feeling that he was a just a preachy man being used as a channel to lecture the reader, and the prose suddenly became far less accessible than it had previously felt. However, I did like the discussion around how Roland enjoyed his fame, with the reader being told that once Roland had secured his first lectureship as an academic, he didn't want to sacrifice his social life to take the time to write the books that would boost his profile from"anonymous academic" to "public figure".
One of the my favourite quotes in the novel was also born from Roland's ramblings, "why should he carry the burden of representation when it will only hold him back? white people are only required to represent themselves, not an entire race". This is what "Girl, Woman, Other", and Evaristo in her interview, were attempting to say, in part. Evaristo mentioned that she'd met readers who considered having read her eighth novel as their work being "done" with Black British female fiction. In contrary, this should be a valuable introduction for readers to dive further into Black British literature, and allow themselves to be exposed to the same variation of representation as they are through multitudes of white stories.
My favourite perspectives undoubtedly came earlier in the book - the trio of Amma, Yazz, and Dominique was perfect, and bring the most vivid and successful of Evaristo's writing to the reader. Amma is an older perspective than I usually read, which I enjoyed, and I was excited by the discussion about theatre (which always interests me) and how rules and boundaries are created and sustained in communal living spaces. Yazz encapsulates a patronising attitude of a "woke", liberal young person, who believes that her parents will be taken on a "learning curve" by her. She's a very interesting and relevant exploration of the generation I am part of. Dominique's perspective was the most poignant of the trio, tracking Dominique as she is taken in by Nzinga, a traveller who is "so wise and knowledgable about how to be a liberated black woman in an oppressive white world" but is ultimately revealed to be abusive - "I don't want you to give in, I want you to change, to understand my reasoning at a deeper level and accept it as the truth". Her journey and its conclusion in founding an arts festival, and the strength that the relationships around her show as her situation worsens is really important. I was worried the whole of Dominique's chapter would be about Nzinga, which is a statement in itself, and I was so pleased when she found her own feet and family.
The other perspectives that stand out to me most after having finished reading are LaTisha, Megan/Morgan, and Grace - the rest were enjoyable but I found that certain perspectives blended together, and could tell you little about Shirley, Penelope, or Hattie.
That being said, each section held beautiful quotes, and a thread that stood out to me was different attitudes to art throughout the novel. After listening to Evaristo's UEA Live talk with Claire Hynes (available on YouTube currently, although this may change) I was eager to re-evaluate the quotes I'd written down about art with what she had to say on the matter. Two opposing approaches to the value of art came from Winsome and Roland. I loved hearing Winsome talking about her book club, which focused on Carribean female authors. The thoughts shared in this chapter felt personal - "Bernadette said it was up to the literature specialists to decide what was good, they only knew whether they liked something or not" - "Dora said there was no such thing as objective truth and if you think something's good, because it speaks to you, it is".
Roland was of interest to me anyway, as the only male perspective in this female focused text. Evaristo revealed that Roland originally has his own chapter, but was taken out to focus on the theme of womxn characters, although his inner thoughts do make an appearance in the penultimate "The After-Party" segment. At first I hated this, feeling that he was a just a preachy man being used as a channel to lecture the reader, and the prose suddenly became far less accessible than it had previously felt. However, I did like the discussion around how Roland enjoyed his fame, with the reader being told that once Roland had secured his first lectureship as an academic, he didn't want to sacrifice his social life to take the time to write the books that would boost his profile from"anonymous academic" to "public figure".
One of the my favourite quotes in the novel was also born from Roland's ramblings, "why should he carry the burden of representation when it will only hold him back? white people are only required to represent themselves, not an entire race". This is what "Girl, Woman, Other", and Evaristo in her interview, were attempting to say, in part. Evaristo mentioned that she'd met readers who considered having read her eighth novel as their work being "done" with Black British female fiction. In contrary, this should be a valuable introduction for readers to dive further into Black British literature, and allow themselves to be exposed to the same variation of representation as they are through multitudes of white stories.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Rape, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse