A review by rouge_red
The Living Is Easy by Dorothy West

reflective medium-paced

4.5

Excellent and terrible MC who I never failed to feel anger, frustration and sad for at the end of each chapter. Cleo's a woman of contradictions- proud, yet ashamed of her blackness, charming, yet rules out of anything but love, presents a cold exterior, yet wants (but also scorns) affection etc, etc. I was always on tenterhooks, wondering just how Cleo was going to meddle and ruin more and more lives. It's interesting because she always gets her way, but things have a way of going wrong in ways she didn't expect. I really liked seeing all the ways class, race, colorism, tradition, and the time period clashed. The final scene with Galloway was pretty heartbreaking as we saw how people stand together to keep whatever semblance of comfort they can. In this case, it's by denying a fellow black man acknowledgement, (and furthermore on Cleo's part) denying her family. This was a great and powerful book and as expected, Cleo is alone at the end, the cause of ruin for all these people she sought to hold onto. And Tim? Tim won't want her.