A review by heyleigh05
Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 Caul Baby is a novel about a multi-generational family of Black women. In the world that Morgan Jerkins has created some families have the gift of the caul, a lining of skin that you’re born with and doesn’t deteriorate. The caul has healing properties that protects you from and as well as ail illness. The women of the Melancon family all have the caul and they sell pieces of it to a wealthy, white clientele to make a living. However, the Melancons are not respected by Black Harlemties for their exclusivity and refusal to help their community. Their refusal to give Black women the caul has significant consequences when they refuse Laila, a fellow Harlemite who has a history of miscarriages. Laila’s family also gets wrapped up with the Melancons when Laila’s niece, Amara, has an unexpected pregnancy. Amara gives up the child to pursue her career goals, but what she doesn’t know is that her child is given to the Melancons.

Caul Baby is an excellent book! I enjoyed it so much and it was so engaging. The story is told from multiple perspectives as everyone’s plot line is interconnected. It read like a messy movie drama and I liked that. I also liked that most of the characters aren’t sympathetic. Most of our main characters have done unethical or questionable things and some have more deceptive motivations than others. The only characters that I sympathized with were Laila’s family. This novel is a good example of how antagonists are crucial to the story.

A key theme in Caul Baby is Black motherhood. In the past year we’ve been having more open conversations about Blakc maternal mortality and Blakc motherhood so this novel comes at the perfect time. Jerkins describes a variety of ways in which Black motherhood exists as women in the novel have a different relationship to childbearing and rearing. Laila is representative of the women who have pregnancy and birth complications, which many Black women experience. Amara represents the people who choose not to keep their children for reasons that are all valid. Amara’s mother, Denise, is supportive and no-nonsense whereas Josephine Melancon’s mother is abusive and dismissive. Helena Melancon’s mother, Iris Melancon, is somewhat negligent, but she claims her intentions are out of love.Caul Baby also presents critiques on internalized anti-Blackness, police brutality, and the failures of the US criminal system.

My main critique of this novel and the reason I gave it 4 stars is the ending. The ending felt very rushed and I wasn’t satisfied with the hurried way the character arcs were wrapped up. The book is pretty evenly paced for most of the novel, so the ending felt kind of jarring to me. I also felt that the way that some characters’ arcs tied up were kind of unrealistic. It was also never explained how Hallow, Amara’s daughter, had the caul. She just had it, but her family has no known history of being caulbearers.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel despite the ending. If you like books with messy family dynamics definitely give Caul Baby a read. Something that I appreciate about this book is how it presents Black women building community. It begs the question of what does community support look like and what are our responsibilities to each other? Also, sidenote, idk why this book is rated less than 4 stars on goodreads, but y’all need to get it together. Maybe you’re not reading it right