Girl, Woman, Other

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Guest review from @jtrozeik✨⁣
📒📕📗📘📙⁣
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It’s no surprise that Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other won the Booker prize last year.⁣ ⁣
The story follows the lives and struggles of 12 different characters. Mostly women, mostly Black and British. But all with very different upbringings, families, struggles, and perspectives.⁣ ⁣
Evaristo touches on important topics; the LGBTQ+ community, race, and feminism but it also goes deeper within them to also explore themes of domestic abuse, unhappy marriages, parental abandonment, and rape across six generations across the UK.⁣
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The book is split into four main chapters, with each chapter split into three sections – a character for each section. The characters are all directly connected in each chapter, but Evaristo seamlessly ties the characters loosely across the other chapters. And the characters are incredibly dimensional, I really felt like I know them – and despite not relating with all of their struggles, you become to deeply empathise with their pain and learn. It’s impressive how she has managed to create 12 unique characters, each unique, each with a different background, and each with a vibrant personality. Her writing is profoundly compassionate but equally witty, and it forces you to challenge your own biases.⁣
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If you’re someone who likes literacy structure – this book is not for you. Evaristo does not follow traditional grammar rules and you may not realise you’re reading through dialogue instead of narrative! However, you get used to it, and it helps the narrative flow and focused on the perspective of the character you’re reading.