A review by m_makayla_m
The Living Is Easy by Dorothy West

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. It's heart breaking, and West did an incredible job at building up sympathy for these characters (even though Cleo is terrible), especially when there are so many to develop. It is beautifully written, and while Cleo disappoints time and time again, it is evident why she is the way she is. I truly love this book, even though it shattered my heart. In my opinion, a must read.

I think the ending was especially powerful, showing how Cleo's internalized racism and her desire to reach the high class of the white people ended in the destruction of herself and the ones around her. I'm still thinking about whether or not she truly loved anyone besides "loving" them for the benefits they gave her. For example, her love for Bart for protecting her, her love for her sisters for reminding her of home, and at the end, her "love" for Tim solely because she wants someone to love her most. It brought me to tears how she dragged everyone down for her desire to reach a higher status, ruining multiple people's lives. While Cleo is a terrible person, that does not detract from the meaning of this novel, but rather serves the meaning fully. It both shows the intense struggles of being black in America, especially in the early twentieth-century, as well as the downfalls of wanting to reach a higher status and doing whatever it takes to do so.