A review by blessing_aj
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? explores the hardships faced by Black women during the Jim Crow Era and the devastating impacts of racism on families and generations in the United States of America. Having only encountered the concept of ‘passing’ as a central theme in fiction in Passing and The Vanishing Half, I found this novel to have quite an intriguing take. It’s one thing to show how survival or convenience was an integral part of the reason some light-skinned black people may have decided to pass, but to spin it in such a way that enabled the characters leverage this privilege to support and advance the plight of the members of the Black community for the greater good is simply brilliant. I mean, who can say it never happened? 

This is one of those slowly paced books that have a very satisfying pay-off and the end. It touches on other themes popular in discussions pertaining to women’s rights such as misogyny, reproductive rights and erasure, while also exploring female friendships, sisterhood and complicated mother-daughter relationships.