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A review by serendipitysbooks
Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Brown Girl, Brownstones is a 1959 novel that focuses on the Barbadian community in Brooklyn, New York. it centres on Selina, her parents and her sister. We first meet Selina when she is ten and we follow her through to her college years. These years include plenty of disagreements between her parents who are temperamentally different. While her mother is driven to seek respectability and security in America, her free and easy father dream of building a house back home. As she gets older Selina pushes back against the expectations and controls of her community and especially her mother and plots an escape with her secret boyfriend. The story ends with Selina having an encounter with a condescending racist and also realising that her boyfriend was never going to follow through with their plans. She drops out of school and makes plans travel to Barbados alone and forge her own path in life.
The setting in the Barbadian community in the 1930s and 1940s makes this stand out from other coming of age stories I’ve read. Many of the familiar elements are there - discomfort with puberty, confusion about the realities of birth, conflict with parents, an unsuitable boyfriend, - but the book really came alive when it focused on the Barbadian community, not something I’ve read about in this time period. The rhythm and cadence of the dialogue came through strongly as did the way the tight knit community could feel claustrophobic to a young woman. Selina’s identity as young, female, Black and Barbadian put many constraints on her and I admired her determination to forge her own path regardless of missteps and obstacles in her way. Even though I didn’t necessarily agree with all her choices.
One other element that stood out powerfully was Selina’s encounter with the horribly racist mother of a friend late in the book. Despite not being violent it was still shocking in its blatantness and for its intent which Selina clearly recognised as being to put her in her place. Yet recognising the intent didn’t negate the impact of the remarks.
This isn’t a book I’ve seen around but I’m glad I stumbled across it.
The setting in the Barbadian community in the 1930s and 1940s makes this stand out from other coming of age stories I’ve read. Many of the familiar elements are there - discomfort with puberty, confusion about the realities of birth, conflict with parents, an unsuitable boyfriend, - but the book really came alive when it focused on the Barbadian community, not something I’ve read about in this time period. The rhythm and cadence of the dialogue came through strongly as did the way the tight knit community could feel claustrophobic to a young woman. Selina’s identity as young, female, Black and Barbadian put many constraints on her and I admired her determination to forge her own path regardless of missteps and obstacles in her way. Even though I didn’t necessarily agree with all her choices.
One other element that stood out powerfully was Selina’s encounter with the horribly racist mother of a friend late in the book. Despite not being violent it was still shocking in its blatantness and for its intent which Selina clearly recognised as being to put her in her place. Yet recognising the intent didn’t negate the impact of the remarks.
This isn’t a book I’ve seen around but I’m glad I stumbled across it.