A review by cantordustbunnies
The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

3.0

This book is heavily imbued with "that" brand of feminism which describes buildings as phallic. In one particularly memorable passage about men she lumps in the usage of firearms and the moon landing as having something to do with male sexuality and the penis. It is rife with identity politics and standpoint theory. Luckily Naylor is an excellent if not melodramatic storyteller and the book remains engaging despite this. She does have a habit of inserting long winded and flowery sentences in amongst a much more straightforward writing style which comes across as hamming it up more than anything else. A subtler approach would have gone a long way in making the events in this novel more impactful. It is very much an intersectional feminist social justice type of book, so if you're not inclined to agree with how the author conceives of politics it can be alienating or maybe elicit an eye roll at times. Rather than exploring themes of universal humanity in her characters she highlights their identities. This is unfortunate because I do think Naylor has important things to say and is clearly talented. Ultimately I liked this novel mostly because of its earnestly heartfelt quality and wonderful pacing but didn't appreciate its mawkishness or the underlying ideology behind it.