Girl, Woman, Other in Our Shared Shelf

Jan 26, 2021 Amy (Bossy Bookworm) rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories

For my full review of this book on The Bossy Bookworm, or to receive all of my Bossy reviews and Greedy Reading Lists as soon as they're posted, please see Girl, Woman, Other.

The twelve women in Girl, Woman, Other--each of whom gets a chapter to tell her story, which is often joined in progress--are mothers, daughters, friends, and lovers concerned with sexuality, autonomy, race, artistic expression, tradition, class, education, loyalty, and how each of these factors shape their past, presen For my full review of this book on The Bossy Bookworm, or to receive all of my Bossy reviews and Greedy Reading Lists as soon as they're posted, please see Girl, Woman, Other.

The twelve women in Girl, Woman, Other--each of whom gets a chapter to tell her story, which is often joined in progress--are mothers, daughters, friends, and lovers concerned with sexuality, autonomy, race, artistic expression, tradition, class, education, loyalty, and how each of these factors shape their past, present, and future identities as Black British women.

We get to know something about life in contemporary Britain through the varied interconnected friendships, partnerships, loves, struggles, successes, and the ways in which these twelve women's lives are affected by past colonialism and the present-day British environment.

Evaristo expresses the women's linked life stories using largely concrete language, without a lot of fluff and often limited dialogue. The characters frequently intersperse political, historical, feminist, cultural, and other context throughout their stories and conversations. All of this--along with the sheer number of protagonists Evaristo presents--could potentially and naturally keep the reader at somewhat of a distance from the characters. Yet the stories of several of the protagonists felt particularly easy for me to connect with (for example, Dominique and Carole) as they shared their adventures, hopes, missteps, and joys.

I was most fascinated by the looping and sometimes surprising interconnectedness of the characters. During the multiple lessons the characters gave each other about feminism and gender--complete with references to authors, activists, texts, and more--I felt as though I were taking a class; I was interested in the facts but didn't feel drawn into the characters or their stories during those sections.

I first mentioned this book (along with The Harpy and Before She Disappeared ) in the Bossy Bookworm Greedy Reading List Three Books I'm Reading Now, 1/18/21 Edition. ...more

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Jan 24, 2020 Denise Cormaney rated it it was amazing

This one lives up to the hype! I loved it even more than I expected.

It’s written as a series of vignettes, each about a black woman living in Britain. They are all linked in some way to one another, in ways that are seamlessly executed throughout the book. By the end you see that the author is showing us we are all connected to one another, in ways we might not even know. It’s beautiful and thought-provoking and at times really funny. I loved it.

If you see that this is a book about “black women ...more

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Jun 28, 2020 Alicia rated it really liked it

I usually hate "experimental" writing - the kind that lacks capitalization and uses loose punctuation. But I devoured this book, which says something about how well Evaristo writes. So many memorable characters and beautiful, surprising sentences. ...more

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