Reviews

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

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mctmama's review against another edition

4.0

Great family saga - a bit unbelievable in many parts, but it reads like a fable. Lots of great quotes and insight into the family history you know, and what you don't effects future generations. Covey Lyncook leads a double life - once a champion swimmer in the Caribbean, she finds herself a pawn in her father's desperate attempt to repay his debts to a local criminal boss. On her wedding day, the man dies (is murdered) and she is launched into a new life and later, a stolen identity. Years later after her death and her confession to her children, her son Byron says "That's the thing about false narratives that ultimately define your life. When you finally learn that you've been lied to for years by the people you've trusted the most, even when you can see why they might have done it, that awareness contaminates every other relationship you have." Black Cake is a story of a brother and sister who learn their parent's secrets after their deaths, and struggle to regain their footing in life after this big reveal. My only complaint about the story was in dragged in parts.

krideout2's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

glendaleereads's review against another edition

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4.0

This story was beautiful, heartbreaking, and a reminder.

Sometimes our prides and ego causes us to walk away and to be silent from the people we love because we never learned how to be vulnerable with our feelings and griefs.

This story was frustrating in that, some of the POVs felt dragged or too late in being explained but that is just my opinion and that also did not take away from the overall beauty of this story.

Children of immigrants have so much story surrounding us and culture. I loved that this story centered around The black cake that was passed generations. One of the main characters carried this recipe for all her life and passed it down to her children. This recipe was what was left when you have to leave your home and identity behind.

This was a beautiful story and a great way to start the new year.

mlawliss92's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was pretty good! I love a multigenerational family saga. The current day plots didn’t really come together in the end for me, but I loved Covey and Bunny and would’ve read a book just about them

ogreggers's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

life_full_ofbooks's review against another edition

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5.0

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I started this. I knew it had received lots of accolades, but that was all. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked and knew all of the praise for this was well deserved.
Eleanor Bennett’s adult children are summoned to her attorney’s office after she died so they can hear the story of her life. They discover she was never who they thought she was and discover more about themselves in coming to terms with their mother’s secrets.
This is written from multiple viewpoints and multiple timelines, and like the flavors of the cake often mentioned, they meld together beautifully.
Watching Eleanor’s life unfold, from even before she was born until she died, not just through her eyes but through those of her father, friends, and children makes this one of the most engaging books I’ve ever read.
There is a lot of history of Chinese immigrants in the Islands, but because the Island on which Eleanor grew up is never mentioned, and because some of the places mentioned are fictional, I’m hesitant to categorize this as historical fiction. Honestly, it doesn’t truly matter under which category this falls, as it is so wonderfully written.
In reading the Author’s Note, the Acknowledgments, and the preface to the reader’s guide, I found out this came to be because of the traditional Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson’s mother used to make for weddings (it’s a Jamaican tradition). The fact that she could write such a beautiful book based from a simple prompt is mind-blowing to me. This is her debut novel and I truly hope she has more to give us.