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A review by sheryl_macca
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
challenging
emotional
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
3.5
Initially I found this book to be really frustrating. I was enjoying what Girl, Woman, Other had to say but not how it was being said. It didn't feel like a book of short stories to me, it was a novel of intertwined lives told from multiple POVs. I generally love multiple POVs but I was disappointed as I had been expecting something different. The free form structure was also forcing me to read quickly like it was a race. It was distracting me from the content which I did actually like most of the time.
Unfortunately, I disliked some of the first characters I was introduced to, especially Yazz. I almost DNF'd after the first chapter from Yazz. Before I did, I looked up reviews from other readers and I found a lot of people were equally as undecided as me during the first third of the book. These readers were mostly all glad that they had persevered and finished it and so I decided to continue on. It was really interesting to find that so many people had mixed feelings about such a critically acclaimed book!
It was a conscious effort for me to slow down against the flow of words and to absorb the voices properly as I read. The effort didn't particularly lighten as I went on either. The writing style did, however, make the narration more conversational and dynamic. I felt I was a part of the conversation, like I was in the room with these characters and I really did enjoy that. I'm not convinced that the benefits of the free form style outweighed the negatives having now finished the book.
I found that some of the characters were also unreliable narrators, Dominique particularly. I usually avoid unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators and I don't remember ever having read a book containing both before. I was a little wary of some voices and therefore not fully immersed every time they popped up.
Like those reviewers who persuaded me to continue reading, I was eventually glad that I persevered. I found stories that I enjoyed, loveable characters and convincing voices used confidently. My favourite was Bummi but I also loved Hattie and Shirley. These were strong, proud, resilient women. They were aware of the mistakes they had made in life and were courageous enough to admit them. They had interesting and emotional intersectional stories to tell.
What prevented me from DNF-ing straight away was Evaristo's intersectional insights and current ideas and experiences. Thankfully, more and more of this appeared with every chapter as I read on. Evaristo challenges norms, invites debate and explores concepts of racism, feminism, education, sexual assault, gender, motherhood, immigration, LGBTQIA+ issues, domestic abuse, platonic love, forbidden love...and so many other things. Unlike with most books, each of Evaristo's characters experiences a different cocktail of the above at different stages of life as we all actually do.
You don't always need to be loud, shocking or dramatic to be powerful and this book is proof of that. Girl, Woman, Other is dignified, empowering, challenging and, it turns out, much less frustrating than I first thought.
Unfortunately, I disliked some of the first characters I was introduced to, especially Yazz. I almost DNF'd after the first chapter from Yazz. Before I did, I looked up reviews from other readers and I found a lot of people were equally as undecided as me during the first third of the book. These readers were mostly all glad that they had persevered and finished it and so I decided to continue on. It was really interesting to find that so many people had mixed feelings about such a critically acclaimed book!
It was a conscious effort for me to slow down against the flow of words and to absorb the voices properly as I read. The effort didn't particularly lighten as I went on either. The writing style did, however, make the narration more conversational and dynamic. I felt I was a part of the conversation, like I was in the room with these characters and I really did enjoy that. I'm not convinced that the benefits of the free form style outweighed the negatives having now finished the book.
I found that some of the characters were also unreliable narrators, Dominique particularly. I usually avoid unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators and I don't remember ever having read a book containing both before. I was a little wary of some voices and therefore not fully immersed every time they popped up.
Like those reviewers who persuaded me to continue reading, I was eventually glad that I persevered. I found stories that I enjoyed, loveable characters and convincing voices used confidently. My favourite was Bummi but I also loved Hattie and Shirley. These were strong, proud, resilient women. They were aware of the mistakes they had made in life and were courageous enough to admit them. They had interesting and emotional intersectional stories to tell.
What prevented me from DNF-ing straight away was Evaristo's intersectional insights and current ideas and experiences. Thankfully, more and more of this appeared with every chapter as I read on. Evaristo challenges norms, invites debate and explores concepts of racism, feminism, education, sexual assault, gender, motherhood, immigration, LGBTQIA+ issues, domestic abuse, platonic love, forbidden love...and so many other things. Unlike with most books, each of Evaristo's characters experiences a different cocktail of the above at different stages of life as we all actually do.
You don't always need to be loud, shocking or dramatic to be powerful and this book is proof of that. Girl, Woman, Other is dignified, empowering, challenging and, it turns out, much less frustrating than I first thought.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia