rlgreen91's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It's a bit hard to gauge how I feel about The Men of Brewster Place without comparing it to The Women of Brewster Place. The latter felt familiar in so many different ways. However, there were parts of The Men of Brewster Place that felt inaccessible - that all I could really do was observe, but not truly understand. But maybe this is due to being a Black woman, and that if I were a Black man, I might have felt the same but in reverse.
Overall, I did enjoy the book - like her previous works, Naylor filled this one with lots of nuggets about human nature and how people in particular groups understand and relate to one another and people outside of the group. I thought the section towards the end of understanding how Black men cry inside was especially poignant. It should be a thought-provoking start to a discussion of how dangerous it is to teach boys that to be a man requires them to suppress certain emotions like sadness and anguish.
Here's where we'll get into a bit of a spoiler:
But overall, I did enjoy The Men of Brewster Place. Someone call up Denzel and tell him we need a miniseries of this one too, haha.
Overall, I did enjoy the book - like her previous works, Naylor filled this one with lots of nuggets about human nature and how people in particular groups understand and relate to one another and people outside of the group. I thought the section towards the end of understanding how Black men cry inside was especially poignant. It should be a thought-provoking start to a discussion of how dangerous it is to teach boys that to be a man requires them to suppress certain emotions like sadness and anguish.
Here's where we'll get into a bit of a spoiler:
Spoiler
I was honestly confused by the characterization of Ben. I know that in the foreword, Naylor mentioned that she had resurrected Ben to serve as a "Greek chorus" of sorts, but it didn't feel like Ben was written as an observer from beyond the grave. Rather, it felt like Ben was written as if he were still living and interacting with the other characters, just talking about them in the third person as a sort of intro. Now that I think about it, Ben seemed to operate the same way as the narrator in Bailey's Cafe, whose primary role in the novel was to introduce us to other characters. But it's clear in Bailey's Cafe that the narrator isn't meant to be a "Greek chorus" or an observer from beyond the grave, but someone interacting with the character in (sort of) real life. That's the way Ben came across to me, which seemed at odds with the fact that The Men of Brewster Place takes place after his death.But overall, I did enjoy The Men of Brewster Place. Someone call up Denzel and tell him we need a miniseries of this one too, haha.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Death of parent
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