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A review by skudiklier
Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood by Dawn Turner
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
This book is one of those amazing memoirs that at times feels like a novel, but that also feels so real and cuts deeper because of its truth. It's about a woman growing up in Chicago, her family, and her best friend, but it's also about race, luck, addiction, forgiveness, and the policies that shape people's lives.
I loved how real the relationships between the women in Dawn's life felt. Her relationship with her sister was the most impactful one for me (and I have a spoiler near the end of the review regarding that, when I talk about content warnings).
The very beginning of the book took me a bit to get into, but by the fifth chapter I was completely pulled into this world. By halfway through, I knew this book was breaking me open, and that I would love it.
My only real complaint with this book is a meta one that hopefully won't apply to many people reading this after it comes out; because I am reading an advanced copy, there were no content warnings available online. I am not usually one to need them anyhow, but if I had been provided content warnings for this book, it would have been a better experience. This was especially the case forthe death of her sister. The relationship she had with her sister was so like mine with my own sister (I was and am the protective know-it-all older sister to a headstrong fun-loving younger sister), and the worry and grief impacted me a great deal. I wish I could have prepared a little for that, and known what I was getting myself into emotionally.
All in all, I loved this book. It is such a moving portrait of so many types of people and paths, and covers such a range of time and experiences. The prose is written beautifully and as I said at the start, reading it often feels like a novel. I would recommend it to anyone, even people who don't usually like memoirs.
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the chance to review this ARC.
I loved how real the relationships between the women in Dawn's life felt. Her relationship with her sister was the most impactful one for me (and I have a spoiler near the end of the review regarding that, when I talk about content warnings).
The very beginning of the book took me a bit to get into, but by the fifth chapter I was completely pulled into this world. By halfway through, I knew this book was breaking me open, and that I would love it.
My only real complaint with this book is a meta one that hopefully won't apply to many people reading this after it comes out; because I am reading an advanced copy, there were no content warnings available online. I am not usually one to need them anyhow, but if I had been provided content warnings for this book, it would have been a better experience. This was especially the case for
All in all, I loved this book. It is such a moving portrait of so many types of people and paths, and covers such a range of time and experiences. The prose is written beautifully and as I said at the start, reading it often feels like a novel. I would recommend it to anyone, even people who don't usually like memoirs.
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the chance to review this ARC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Slavery
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content
This is a major spoiler, but if you're sensitive to death of family members, you may want to know that her sister's death is a major part of the book