NATIONAL BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE
“A must-read about modern Britain and womanhood . . . An impressive, fierce novel about the lives of black British families, their struggles, pains, laughter, longings and loves . . . Her style is passionate, razor-sharp, brimming with energy and humor. There is never a single moment of dullness in this book and the pace does not allow you to turn … does not allow you to turn away from its momentum.”—Booker Prize Judges
Bernardine Evaristo is the winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and the first black woman to receive this highest literary honor in the English language. Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
The twelve central characters of this multi-voiced novel lead vastly different lives: Amma is a newly acclaimed playwright whose work often explores her Black lesbian identity; her old friend Shirley is a teacher, jaded after decades of work in London’s funding-deprived schools; Carole, one of Shirley’s former students, is a successful investment banker; Carole’s mother Bummi works as a cleaner and worries about her daughter’s lack of rootedness despite her obvious achievements. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a 93-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class.
Sparklingly witty and filled with emotion, centering voices we often see othered, and written in an innovative fast-moving form that borrows technique from poetry, Girl, Woman, Other is a polyphonic and richly textured social novel that shows a side of Britain we rarely see, one that reminds us of all that connects us to our neighbors, even in times when we are encouraged to be split apart.
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It’s taken a few weeks to find the words to describe how powerful this book is. And even so I probably won’t do it full justice.
Girl, Woman, Other written by Bernadine Evaristo, together with The Testaments by Margaret Attwood, won the Booker Prize in 2019.
This book, set mostly in Britain contains twelve different stories in various timelines about a group of diverse women, most of whom are black. The reader is taken on a journey with each of the women and we learn about them and their lives with an almost brutal honesty. This book is a social commentary of what it means to be black and a woman in modern Britain and predictably it’s not always pretty.
There’s Grace in 1905 an orphan, Winsome in 1953, a migrant from Barbados, Amma is 1980 who sets up a feminist theatre. Then there’s Carole, the high flyer in 2008 who turns her back on her Nigerian heritage, and Morgan, once known as Megan in 2017 navigating her way to independence.
These are almost stand-alone short stories except that there is a connection which comes together with an incredible last chapter via Penelope who bears the brunt of family secrets in a calamitous way.
The characters grow on the reader quickly because the writing is succinct, poetic yet direct. The absence of regular punctuation such as full stops and capital letters to start sentences doesn’t call attention to itself as the reader gets very used to the easy to read style within a few short pages.
“Amma misses her daughter now she’s away at university
not the spiteful snake that slithers out of her tongue to hurt her mother, because in Yazz’s world young people are the only ones with feelings
but she misses the Yazz who stomps about the place
who rushes in as if a hurricane’s just blown into her room –”
A word of warning: The connection between the many characters can be confusing and a map would have helped on occasion to prompt the memory. But if you read the book quickly, it shouldn’t worry you too much. And it is very easy to read. But my advice is to take it slowly and saviour it as each word earns its place.
This one is an important book to read, enlightening us all about the history of the black women’s experience in Britain.
I simply loved it.
A Booker Prize winner for a reason. Girl, Woman, Other is leagues above what you think to expect from a novel. The departure from traditional structure, the thoughtfulness with which the stories are intwined, and the voice that Evaristo lends to each unique character is something special. Spectacular.
Very original piece of writing; totally strange and powerful, like something between Camille Paglia and Toni Morrison.
I truly did not expect to like this book, but I really enjoyed it. It was refreshing and interesting to read with its free verse. The story follows 12 women as they go through life, exploring their relationships, their sexuality, their families. It discusses feminism and their male friends/spouses response to it. It shows women as young girls, young adults, middle-aged women, and elderly women, along with their struggles, hardships, and triumphs. I loved how these women’s lives entwined, and how they each discovered themselves.
Characters more fascinating than wonderful.
Staggered to the finish line on this one. I forced myself to give it three stars but I really didn’t like it. A great collection of character studies, if a little cliched at times, fantastically written and imagined. The lack of puntuation sometimes confused and irritated me. It seemed a bit pointless. But then the book seemed a bit pointless. There is no narrative, and I’m old fashioned; I like a story in my book. I just couldn’t get on with it and found the endless stream of characters irritating and finally boring. There are several novels in here, crying to be let out, but this isn’t one of them. Sorry.
Very clever compilation featuring the lives and struggles of twelve women, loosely connected, during the 20th century. Features racism and sexism but above all resilience and at the end, joy.
Very creative. Excellent writing.
Beautiful, evocative writing which draws you into the lives, joys, and struggles of women as they navigate what it means to be black, white, straight, lesbian, non-binary, feminist and not. The stories interweave in an effortless, almost magical way.
This book truly has it all: diverse, complex characters, so much queerness, and incredible pacing. Because of the unique format of the text, I thought it would be difficult to follow, but you truly slip into Evaristo’s prose style effortlessly. It actually does a lot to move the pacing of the book along AND help you slip into each character’s consciousness seamlessly. This is one of those books that stays with you long after you finish reading it.
The first half of the book was interesting and, as a poet, liked the format which read smoothly. But by the time I got 75% through it I felt so bogged down by everyone’s story, all written in the same relentless speed, that I’ve just stopped for now. Maybe I’ll pick it up again to see how it ends.
I thank Penguin UK and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this novel, which I freely chose to review.
My list of books to read has grown so long that sometimes I’m surprised when I realise some titles I’ve wanted to read for a while had been quietly waiting on my e-reader, and I’d completely lost track of them. This is one of them. I kept reading comments and reviews and thinking I had to read it once I got a copy, and I finally realised I had it already. Oh, well, a nice surprise for a change in a year that hasn’t had many.
I’ve never read any books by Evaristo before, although she’s been writing for quite a while and has become well-known and, judging by this book, deservedly so.
Although brief, the official book description gives a good idea of the content. There isn’t a plot in the traditional sense, a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. In fact, some reviewers have complained that this is not a novel, but rather a collection of twelve biographical notes, and they didn’t feel connected to any of the characters, as none of their stories were explored in detail. It is true that the book is a catalogue of the multi-faceted experience of British women from diverse ethnic backgrounds, social classes, locations (from the most rural to London and beyond), educational levels, professions, gender identities, politics, sexual interests, tastes… But rather than being true biographies (of fictional biographies), these are no stories told objectively from an outsider’s point of view. Although written in the third-person (the writing style is very special as well), we get each of these women’s stories from their own point of view, at least in their own chapter. The book is divided into 4 parts, each telling three stories that appear connected, as they are often the stories of relatives or close friends, sometimes going back several generations. The beauty of the way the book is constructed is that, as we keep reading, we come to realise that a lot of these women’s lives have intersected at some point or other, and that gives us also an outsider’s perspective on what they are like, or, rather, how they appear to others and what others think of them. Sometimes there is huge gap between the two, but I found it difficult not to empathise with these women after seeing their lives through their own eyes, even when I might have nothing in common with some of them. When you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, it’s easier to understand who they are and to feel sorry when others dismiss them, misunderstand them, or even openly dislike them. Of course, I liked some characters more than others, but I was interested in their experiences, even those of the women I would never want as my friends.
As you can imagine from the above, the book deals in many important issues: race, gender, political views, aging, social changes, family relationships, identity in its many facets, prejudice, sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse … The risk Evaristo runs in trying to cover such wide and numerous topics is to end up skimming over all of them and never getting into the nitty-gritty of anything. That might be true, but I see this book as a celebration of uniqueness and self-definition, rather than as an in-depth exploration of one single issue. We are not just one thing to the exclusion of everything else. We aren’t only daughters, or only British, or only writers, or only adopted or only heterosexual… This book illustrates the multiple possibilities, the many combinations, and the complexity of womanhood (and humanity).
The author is well-known for her poetry, and she has called the style she uses in this book “fusion fiction” a form of rather fluid prose poetry, with no capital letters at the beginning of the sentence and no full stops to mark the end of a sentence. The lack of adherence to grammar rules has bothered quite a number of readers, who found it difficult to get used to, distracting, or pretentious. I was surprised at first, and more than once I had to go back to make sure I had got the right end of the conversation, but it seemed to work well with the text-to-speech option I often use (it adapted well to the natural reading rhythm), and I suspect the same might be the case for the audiobook version. I normally recommend that readers check a sample of a book when I think the writing style might not be to everybody’s liking, and this is a case in point. If you’re thinking about purchasing it, have a look first. (I am not sharing quotes because mine was an ARC copy and any quote would need to be fairly long to give any idea of what the reading experience might be like).
There is an epilogue at the very end of the book, which I wouldn’t call a twist, but it does put an interesting spin on some of the stories. If the idea that we are all connected somehow seems to flow through the whole book, the epilogue closes the circle. (I enjoyed it, although if this was a mystery, I’d say that I’d guessed what was likely to happen well before the last page).
I recommend this novel to readers who like to explore diverse characters and alternative voices, particularly in a UK setting; to those who like to experiment different writing styles, unusual formats, and unconventional stories. And those who enjoy reading poetry should check it out as well. Some of the topics covered are quite hard and bound to be upsetting, even when not discussed in too much graphic detail, so caution is advised. I will keep track of Evaristo from now on, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one.
I thank Penguin UK and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this novel, which I freely chose to review.
I’ve never read any books by Evaristo before, although she’s been writing for quite a while and has become well-known and, judging by this book, deservedly so.
Although brief, the official book description gives a good idea of the content. There isn’t a plot in the traditional sense, a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. In fact, some reviewers have complained that this is not a novel, but rather a collection of twelve biographical notes, and they didn’t feel connected to any of the characters, as none of their stories were explored in detail. It is true that the book is a catalogue of the multi-faceted experience of British women from diverse ethnic backgrounds, social classes, locations (from the most rural to London and beyond), educational levels, professions, gender identities, politics, sexual interests, tastes… But rather than being true biographies (of fictional biographies), these are no stories told objectively from an outsider’s point of view. Although written in the third-person (the writing style is very special as well), we get each of these women’s stories from their own point of view, at least in their own chapter. The book is divided into 4 parts, each telling three stories that appear connected, as they are often the stories of relatives or close friends, sometimes going back several generations. The beauty of the way the book is constructed is that, as we keep reading, we come to realise that a lot of these women’s lives have intersected at some point or other, and that gives us also an outsider’s perspective on what they are like, or, rather, how they appear to others and what others think of them. Sometimes there is huge gap between the two, but I found it difficult not to empathise with these women after seeing their lives through their own eyes, even when I might have nothing in common with some of them. When you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, it’s easier to understand who they are and to feel sorry when others dismiss them, misunderstand them, or even openly dislike them. Of course, I liked some characters more than others, but I was interested in their experiences, even those of the women I would never want as my friends.
As you can imagine from the above, the book deals in many important issues: race, gender, political views, aging, social changes, family relationships, identity in its many facets, prejudice, sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse … The risk Evaristo runs in trying to cover such wide and numerous topics is to end up skimming over all of them and never getting into the nitty-gritty of anything. That might be true, but I see this book as a celebration of uniqueness and self-definition, rather than as an in-depth exploration of one single issue. We are not just one thing to the exclusion of everything else. We aren’t only daughters, or only British, or only writers, or only adopted or only heterosexual… This book illustrates the multiple possibilities, the many combinations, and the complexity of womanhood (and humanity).
The author is well-known for her poetry, and she has called the style she uses in this book “fusion fiction” a form of rather fluid prose poetry, with no capital letters at the beginning of the sentence and no full stops to mark the end of a sentence. The lack of adherence to grammar rules has bothered quite a number of readers, who found it difficult to get used to, distracting, or pretentious. I was surprised at first, and more than once I had to go back to make sure I had got the right end of the conversation, but it seemed to work well with the text-to-speech option I often use (it adapted well to the natural reading rhythm), and I suspect the same might be the case for the audiobook version. I normally recommend that readers check a sample of a book when I think the writing style might not be to everybody’s liking, and this is a case in point. If you’re thinking about purchasing it, have a look first. (I am not sharing quotes because mine was an ARC copy and any quote would need to be fairly long to give any idea of what the reading experience might be like).
There is an epilogue at the very end of the book, which I wouldn’t call a twist, but it does put an interesting spin on some of the stories. If the idea that we are all connected somehow seems to flow through the whole book, the epilogue closes the circle. (I enjoyed it, although if this was a mystery, I’d say that I’d guessed what was likely to happen well before the last page).
I recommend this novel to readers who like to explore diverse characters and alternative voices, particularly in a UK setting; to those who like to experiment different writing styles, unusual formats, and unconventional stories. And those who enjoy reading poetry should check it out as well. Some of the topics covered are quite hard and bound to be upsetting, even when not discussed in too much graphic detail, so caution is advised. I will keep track of Evaristo from now on, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one.
I learned of this book from Obama’s Book List and bought immediately. Brilliant author. I have now read two more of her novels and think she’s one of the UK’s finest authors. Ms. Evaristo’s ability to cut open a window into the lives of these Black women and show us who they are, how they got that way, and why with such an economy of words is art. These women still live in my head even though I read this over 6mos ago. Not since Tony Morrison and Maya Angelou have I felt so seen with such poetry and love.
I wasn’t that fond of this book. I found it confusing trying to follow who was who as it bounced from character to character around quite a bit. I got it on my Kindle because of the positive reviews; great read, funny etc. I kept waiting to laugh but it never happened.
Finally a book that allowed me a glimpse into the new gender identity sensitivity without making me disbelieve or disregard the concerns of the characters. From the easily understood transgendered to the clearly gender-obsessed, the book presented the characters without trying to persuade me to admire or disparage them. Sometimes it seems as if the cis gendered, straight folks are being asked to approve and foster something we haven’t experienced or can even imagine. This book emphasizes that people are people first, and sexual beings additionally.
I read this book as an audio book. The narrator is the perfect reader as she provides all the right inflections that show the characters as they speak but without acting out the parts. This book could be a case study in character development.
Each set of chapters follows the story of a particular character, and all significant characters mentioned in someone else’s story show up with their own story. I loved experiencing the unique and varied perspectives of each of them as they recount their experiences. From this we learn how people process the same incident differently based on everything else that has occurred in their lives. Through their eyes I learned about how distinctly the effects of racism and gender discrimination affected each of these black or mixed-race women depending on their backgrounds, families, and the times they lived in, and how they coped with it or didn’t. I also experienced how this affected their family / descendants and those who came into their lives.
I found the first few chapters difficult as I had to get used to her writing style. It is intense and there is much to absorb. Some of it is very depressing, although I realize this is the truth of many people’s lives. But I continued and I am glad I did. There are triumphs and accomplishments and growth despite all the difficulties these women face, and the more you read, the more you are hooked into caring about these people, who are no longer characters because the author has made them real. I don’t think I have ever read a book structured like this before. It was brilliant.
So well written! The characters are so vivid and engaging!
I don’t understand the hype. It was 300 pages of whining.
What an absolute joy of a book.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo offers insight into the lives of 12 different narrators, who are largely black, British women. Evaristo has created twelve vibrant and distinct characters, showcasing a breadth of experiences across time, race, gender and class. That Evaristo managed to create twelve such distinct voices while still creating an engrossing, subtly overlapping narrative is a masterful accomplishment. I particularly enjoyed Dominique, Morgan, Hattie and Shirley’s chapters and the epilogue was absolutely beautiful.
This book is in a class of its own, read now and thank me later.