Reviews with content warning for Abortion - The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

Such a beautiful collection of Black women and girls being honest and real! I enjoyed my time in this book. My favorite stories were: How to Make Love to a Physicist, Peach Cobbler, and Snowfall. When Eddie Levert Comes just made my so emotional

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lilybearillini3's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Beautifully written and every story is immersive and compelling. It's hard to pick a favorite.

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was good, but I don’t really enjoy short stories especially in this case because I feel like I can’t connect and get to know the characters. I did like the stories in this but sometimes I got confused because the POV would change and I wouldn’t know who I was following. I do appreciate the diversity in this(race,sexuality). Also the topic of what makes you a Christian and church going was interesting and how the different characters interpreted religion. I do think if this sounds interesting pick it up.

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linguaphile412's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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rather_b_reading's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

I really don't know how to rate this. Just like any Short Story collection some stories were stronger than others. Also some of the stories were very short with others long, so I wasn't able to get to know those characters as well. I really liked the intergenerational aspect of many of the stories, but wish more of the issues of the church were explored besides sexual lives. I appreciated the Jael story for that reason. But the writing is undoubtedly good and I will check out future weeks from Philyaw

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readingwithtrey's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I’m going to start this review by saying this book will not be for everyone and that’s okay. If you’re not an open-minded reader, you may find yourself offended by some of the things in this book.

Now to my review, in my humble opinion, this book is a work 👏🏽 of 👏🏽art👏🏽. While I didn’t have any personal shared experiences with each woman, I could appreciate the nods to the culture that I could completely relate to. They include: being in church every Sunday with our moms & grannies and often times aunts, uncles, and cousins. (I was related to almost everyone in the small, country church I attended growing up.) Our grannies always telling us that they’re praying for us (and knowing for certain they actually were) and usually having a feast ready for us whenever we visited. Spending summers outside all day almost every day with our cousins without a care in the world. Getting a new beautiful frilly dress from my grandma each Easter. This book made me nostalgic for that time and made that ache that I still have to see both of my grandmas one more time feel as new as the days that they left us.

There is so much to this book than what’s on the surface level. & I highly recommend it for readers with open hearts and minds. Know that there are a lot of touchy/sensitive subjects. It was funny, incredibly sad, and totally different from anything I’ve read.

My only complaint is that I need updates on all of these women, especially Jael. Her chapter had me weak.

Favorite quotes:

“We miss their bare brown arms reaching to hang clothes on the line with wooden pins. We miss their Sun tea brewed all day in big jars on the picnic table in the backyard.”

“We miss how they made our Easter dresses and pound cakes and a way out of no way.”

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sakisreads's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I saw a hardcover copy of this at Kinokuniya but didn’t want a physical copy at the time. I’m SO glad I got this on the Kindle though; what a collection of cool stories! I am by no means a religious person, but I’m always interested in when people do feel religious and connected to the Church. In this collection, I especially loved ‘How to Make Love to a Physicist’ and ‘Instructions for Married Christian Men’. The first had such a warmth about it and I related to the woman’s journey with self-love, whereas the second had such a clinical feel about having sex with men (which I found myself laughing at and really clicking with). A fantastic and fast read! 👏🏼

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