Reviews with content warning for Death - Girl, Woman, Other

Shoutout to the critic that shaded this play Misty by Arinze Kene by asking, "are tales of Black trauma catnip for paying audiences...riddled with white guilt?". I was looking for just the right words to explain why I hated Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. There are other reasons, but this really captures the main one so beautifully. The book was also too long with too many characters. I just simply stopped caring.

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zara89's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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ninascozydayreads's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.5

I bought this book years ago and cannot tell you how many posts I made where I said “I’m definitely going to read it this month!” (too many, that’s the answer). And February was the month! I buddyread it with @taketowlu (<3) and genuinely, I really enjoyed it. When I first heard that it had no punctuation I got a little scared, but it works. Girl, Woman, Other is a beautiful mix between prose and poetry, highlighting what Audre Lorde once said: “poetry is not a luxury, it’s a necessity”. It is through poetry that she manages to bring out the urgency of seeing the connection between humans, and the flaws of humans. It is through this poetry that Evaristo manages to tell the stories of all kinds of people and women: citylivers and countrydwellers, non-binary teens and (frankly) bigoted teachers. It is through this poetry that all these stories are intricately interwoven.

This book was a powerful piece of storytelling, of testimony, combining past, present and future. It shows that none of us exist in a vacuum, no story exists alone, there is always more of it, and honestly, I loved that.

It wasn’t the mindblowing book I had expected it to be, if I’m honest. To be fair, I had high expectations because I’d put it off for so long, but I wasn’t wowed at every turn of the page. It also wasn’t disappointing, not at all, but rather than mindblowing I was stunned. I was stunned by the writing and mode of storytelling. There was a calmth while I read it, allowing for the words to sink in.

There were some hard moments to read; some perspectives are from women who simply aren’t progressive. Those are the only few chapters (luckily there’s not a lot) that I’m not sure how to feel about. I know Evaristo meant to simply tell stories of people, meaning all stories of all kinds of people, and I appreciate that, but they still felt a little off. They didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book though.

In short, I really did love this book, as a book that I’m gonna carry with me forever.

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camoo3032's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a collection of short stories about black women in England. The author covers a lot of topics including feminism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and domestic abuse. The book's format is a clever way of exploring these topics and I really enjoyed how it explored the change in society's acceptance of each of these issues over time. I also enjoyed how the grammatic style of the book allowed for more poetic moments.

There are a lot of characters so the book can feel like a bit of whirlwind, particularly in the first chapter, and some of the topics covered could've been discussed in more depth. Regardless, I still found this book very eye opening

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jayisreading's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

Evaristo is brilliant at weaving stories together seamlessly and showing how they all connect with one another. It’s not only between characters but thematically that just played out so well. Girl, Woman, Other is definitely one of those books worth rereading to better see how everything connects. Another wonderful thing about this book is how Evaristo presented intersectionality with such eloquence. This book isn’t just about one specific social category. She beautifully presented the complexities of identity and the impact it has on each character and their interactions with the world.

The writing style took a little getting used to, but once you do, Evaristo simply sweeps you away. I wish I didn’t read this book in short sittings, because the flow of the book is such an integral part. (Alas, my schedule and attention span made it difficult to read this for long periods of time, ugh.)

I’ll likely have to revisit this book, especially now that I know what to expect and can pay attention to more specific details.

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grandpabuxton's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

beautiful, poetic, wrenching, relatable, unexpected, prescient. one of my favorite reads in a long while. an incredible breadth of a story, and I felt inside the heads and hearts of each of the characters.

My only disappointment was I felt the epilogue was a little predictable and I wanted more from it, but not sure what.

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anayyuh's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective 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

4.25

• very enjoyable read, didn’t take long and i genuinely wanted to pick it up
• interesting
• didn’t really like to kumbaya ending but overall enjoyed the experience

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hannahbailey's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

I loved this! What a cracking book, I can't believe I didn't read this sooner.

Generally I prefer not to read character-vignette novels written in third-person. But this novel just goes to show that when done well, I can really enjoy them! I loved the distinct voice of each character and how they would be name-dropped in one chapter only to be the main character of the next one. It built such an interesting and creative narrative without leaving me feeling I didn't know enough about them–which is usually the case for me with character-vignettes.

Surprised to see some reviews stating the character dialogue and mix of poetry/prose was hard to believe and unrealistic. I completely disagree! The inner dialogue of the female characters was relatable and familiar. I enjoyed the exploration of womanhood and motherhood and how this intersects with race in Britain. It was an interesting and sobering read.

It was almost 5 stars, but there was a part where the character overcomes drug addiction by sheer willpower–they literally stay at home for a week without any form of support and somehow recovers? This didn't feel realistic to me especially given the vulnerability and young age of the character. That said, this was one of the chapters that really stood out to me in its exploration of body/gender dysphoria and trans joy.

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