As one would expect from booker prize winner and a writer as accomplished and interesting as Bernadine Evaristo, this book is full of wonderful observations and characters.

The punctuation in this novel is very unusual with only one full stop being used to each chapter. But, thanks to very gifted writing and clever use of spaces on the page, one's reading isn't disrupted at all. Which is as well, as you need to concentrate so as to retain the relationships between the main characters. Of the twelve main ones Shirley, a schoolteacher, is the primary link. The others being either her friends, pupils or their familyies all of whose backstories are vividly told by Evaristo. The novel starts with us meeting Amma - a black lesbian playwright - who is going along to attend the opening night, at the National Theatre, of a new play that she has written and directed. By the end of the novel we have met and discovered a great deal about many of the attendees at the after show party and what amazingly colourful lives they have led. All of them are female, all of them are coloured, all of them are incredibly feisty, all of them have survived really hard times and all, bar one, are permanently settled in England. Albeit none of their lives has been made any easier by the fact the majority are lesbian, binary, gay or they've been cruelly dominated sexually.
The narrative spans the last 90 years and is filled with humour, pathos, tragedy and heartbreak. The final chapter springs a surprising twist which brings real happiness to two of the oldest characters. Whilst the youngsters may well face traumas ahead one feels confident their feistiness, vivacity and love of family will see them safely through. Very observant writing, wonderfully interwoven stories and a bold theme make this a novel that, as with its punctuation, breaks the mould and challenges conventional thinking

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, and when I found it was pretty much full-stop free, I thought I’d find that really off-putting – but no. The stories flow beautifully and we get a snapshot of the lives of 12 different people whose lives are somehow linked, although not necessarily closely. It’s a compelling and fascinating read, particularly when looking into the lives of black women living in the UK at a time when people were more openly racist and generally more conservative in outlook. The strength of the women in rising above this is awesome, the relationships between the characters are vivid and convincing. An excellent read.

This brilliant novel focuses on the lives of several women over the course of the past century. Each has their own story yet Bernadine Evaristo has also linked the characters, sometimes obviously and sometimes obscurely, so that we see them from others’ eyes as well as their own. Whilst many of the characters are based in London, some travel the length of the country and over to the USA.
To say that this isn’t a political novel would not be true; gender, sexual, class, and economic politics all affect these women’s lives and their cultural influences are central to their tales too. However, Evaristo’s skill in making the reader see the person first and foremost is one of the many strengths of this novel and why it should appeal to us all whatever our own backgrounds and interests. Her women are warm, witty, passionate and determined. They are flawed, selfish, scornful and opinionated. They feel absolutely real and utterly themselves.
All of these women experience periods of suffering. We see them isolated, discouraged and taken for granted. And yet, this is a joyful collection of stories. Friendships, ambitions, motherhood, work and community allow them to find out who they are and what they care about. Evaristo reminds us that the United Kingdom is a melting pot of multiple ancestries, communities and cultures and all the richer for being so. As one of her most confined and uptight characters recognises on the last page of the novel:
‘this is not about feeling something or about speaking words
‘this is about being’
Read this novel. It is an important and relevant reflection of our times, sometimes sad, sometimes troubling, often funny. Whilst acknowledging that we are living in an ever more complex world, Evaristo celebrates our capacity to rise up in so many different ways.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hamish Hamilton for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you to netgalley and Penguin books for the opportunity to read this prize winner! It took me a while to get into Ms Evaristos' style of writing, and I'm not sure that even by the end I particularly liked it or found it easy to read..However, I did enjoy the interlinked reflections of the life of black women in the UK from different eras with different problems and solutions.

I absolutely loved this book. I was worried I would find the almost poetic style disruptive, but I got used to it very quickly and felt it really added to the stories. It seemed to make the narrative flow more easily. I loved how all of the stories ended up being interconnected in different ways. It was a book that really made me think and really absorbed me. Probably the best book I’ve read this year.

Many thanks to the publishers for my review copy.

Absolutely loved this book. The first three characters stories were meh for me, just felt like typical London people being so different. But the rest of the stories? Wow. Shirley, Carole, Penelope, Morgan and the lady from Barbados their stories felt so real and rich that I was blown away. I wanted to hear so much more about them and I really just enjoyed reading about them.
I wasn't a fan of the crossed paths at the end but it wasn't something I hated either. Regardless this book has the substance, grit and emotion I never knew I wanted.

I enjoyed this book, as I thought I would. I think I enjoyed it more when I picked it up again after leaving it for a few days than when I read more than one story in a sitting. I liked how it flicked perspective and gave the reader a chance to see a situation from more than one point of view. There was a warmth and compassion for the characters shown and a streak of humour runs through the stories. I'm not sure I was quite as attached to any of the characters as I like to be in fiction, but I appreciate the scale of representation here, and with the breadth as it is going deep into any one character is more difficult. The ending would have more emotional impact had I felt more attached to the characters, but I'm sure that many will feel a genuine warmth. I'm interested to see what the author does next.

Girl, Woman, Other deserves to win all of the book prizes because it is such an important book for our society.

Bernardine Evaristo's latest novel follows the struggles of twelve characters as they reach cross roads in their lives. Mostly women, black and British each tell the stories of their relationships with their loves, friends and families, prejudice and racism.

These interlinked stories overlap with characters from each section appearing or knowing the next protagonist in the novel. Opening with Amma on the opening night of her play at the National in London. We follow how she has worked battled her way to this position and bring more black voices to the theatre, Her story takes her from a squat in King's Cross as she sets up her own theatre company to create roles for black women and people who have been ignored by the establishment. Her story is compelling as she finds her own voice, not waiting for permission from others, taking life and making it her own. From there we follow her friend who leaves to live in an America commune with an abusive girlfriend; move to the perspective of Amma's daughter and friends until at the end we come back to the after party of Amma's play where most of the protagonists are together. Each character has a fight against the patriarchy and their inspiring journeys to break free make this a truly important book.

This is a book about being together, friendships, standing up for the values you believe even if it doesn't fit with society's expectations, breaking out of sexual and gender constraints. Evaristo tackles feminism and black women's struggles through the past 100 years but also in America in a women's commune, London, a family on the borders of England and Scotland, and Newcastle. Striving for a better life, making a stand, gaining a voice.

This is a fantastic novel, and I know that I will be going back and reading some more of Evaristo's back catalogue. You can buy Girl, Woman, Other from your favourite bookshop.


Thank you yo NetGalley for providing me with an ebook to review.

Wonderful book. At first I found the tone and content of the story uninteresting, but quickly realised that the book comprised multiple different interconnected tales. The variety of these accounts was very enjoyable, and though they were woven together in ways I took enjoyment and learnt lessons from each of the women in question. I particularly liked the style of writing, which surprised me, and found that the lack of punctuation and flowing paragraphs actually added to the truthfulness of the dialogue and inner monologues. I have my sights set on other novels by the author.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Penguin Books for granting me a copy of this book. I must admit that I hadn't heard much about it before its recent Booker win, but what a wonderful and deserving winner.

Girl, Woman, Other tells the story of 12 different women, cleverly linked together in various ways throughout the narrative. I absolutely loved this format, and found it a refreshing and original approach. It was really interesting to see some of the women pop up again later in other stories, and I especially liked how differently they were sometimes perceived depending on who was 'talking'. Evaristo has cleverly woven in a whole variety of different themes throughout this book - womanhood, race, class etc - and she writes eloquently on all of these topics.

The writing itself is absolutely beautiful, and I'm actually shocked that I haven't heard more about Evaristo before this. Hopefully her Booker win will introduce her to a larger audience - she certainly deserves one.

GSometimes beautifully written books aren’t compelling.
Sometimes compelling books aren’t well-crafted or executed.
This novel is both and a whole lot more.
Each chapter is self-contained: each the story of a different woman. Many are black British but they span time, class etc.
Their stories intersect and we learn more about them as we see them through the eyes of others as well as telling their own stories.
Their experiences span domestic violence, subtle and unsubtle racism, sexuality, absentee parents and many other themes.
But the stories are really easy to read and immersive.
Evaristo’s writing is beautiful too, so poetic and true.
I would genuinely recommend this great novel to all who are interested in the lives of black women, in fact all women.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I can clearly see why this book won the prize this year. The premise of the book and the 12 lives that unfold throughout are wonderfully modern (even if not in terms of time line) and poignant for the moment we are living in.

I will say, I do not think this book lends itself to Kindle/eBook. The format of the piece and the writing style would be much easier to read and perhaps to get in to if in physical form where the pages / size are controlled. I truly think this, rather than the writing, is why I struggled with this and found it taking far longer to finish than most books of the same size. I would recommend picking up the print copy of this as opposed to the eBook to ensure the most satisfying reading experience.

I look forward to what Evaristo writes next.

3/5

Girl Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo
I have enjoyed this author’s work ever since reading the innovative novel in verse The Emperor’s Babe and I was not disappointed by this novel. It is the story of many women of all different types. There are wives, daughters, university students, high flying bankers, heterosexuals, those who identify as gender neutral and many others and yet each of them has an important story to tell. I really enjoyed the way in which the different characters lives touched others within the narrative and the final link which Penelope made with another character was unexpected and very satisfying.
We see the dynamics of various different relationships:- the single mother, the lesbian mother, the working mother, the traditional father, the absentee father. We also hear of their struggles and triumphs as people of colour. I was surprised how quickly I adapted to the complete lack of any punctuation, the sentences seem to merge into one another but the characters voices shine through. Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read this galley. The book is already in publication in England and will be released in the US on December 3. It is a joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize along with The Testament and I read The Testament right before starting this book. Two very different books and this one blew me away. Nationality, ethnicity, gender, lifestyle, racism, misogyny, discrimination and a cast of characters that numbers in the dozens never becomes tedious or wanders off. It is sharp and every character gets their due. I won’t rehash the premise, you can read that on goodreads or amazon I will tell you that I will purchase and reread this book when it is published. It is force of literature to be cherished,

The book is written as a series of twelve chapters, each featuring a named character.

These characters are Black (although in one case not aware), British (although in one case no longer thinking of themselves as such) and Female (although in one case no longer identifying as such)

They are however of different age, sexuality and sexual identity, formative experience, family unit structure (both parental unit and their own family unit), ethnic make-up, ancestral origin, shade, region, occupation, cultural background, class, and degree of activism (as well as journey along the activist/conventional spectrum over time).

This is a novel of polyphony, polygenetics, polygenderism.

But crucially it was not one that at any time I felt was a forced attempt to represent diversity but more of a natural attempt to examine the core shared identity of the characters alongside their differences and their journey; and more crucially an attempt to give visibility to black British women in literature.

The author has described the style she chose to adopt here as “fusion fiction” – a fluid form of prose poetry, with a dearth of conventional sentences with capital letter openings and full stop endings

I found this style very effective – form matching content, style matching theme. Evaristo has always been someone who challenges convention in art (as captured in Amma – the most autobiographical of the characters). The fluidity of the prose enables her to range within the characters thoughts and across time, and between stories and characters.

The characters are grouped in four sets of three – with clear and immediate links between the characters in each set, but less obvious and emerging links between the characters in different sets.

The first set has Amma (a provocative theatre director), her daughter Yazz (studying literature at the UEA) and Dominique (now based in the US but at Amma’s original partner in disrupting theatrical culture).

The second Carole (who pulled herself from difficult origins, via a Maths degree at Oxford to a banking job in the City), Bummi (her mother) and La Tisha (her one time schoolfriend now working in a supermarket as a young Mum of three children by three absent fathers).

The third has Shirley (a friend of Amma’s since school, now veteran teacher whose greatest project as a teacher was Carole), Shirley’s mother Winsome (now retired in Barbados) and Penelope (a now retired colleague of Shirley’s who resented the increasing multi-culturalism of their school for many years, while secretly struggling with finding out on her 16th birthday she was a foundling).

The last has non-binary Megan/Morgan (they are a social media influencer and activist), Hattie (their great-grandmother, a 90-something Northumberland farmer) and Grace (Hattie’s mother).

Thee are only the main characters though and Evaristo also brings in the backstories of their parents, their closest friends and even the parents of their closest friends.

She has said in an interview ”At one point I thought maybe I could have one hundred protagonists. Toni Morrison has a quote: ‘Try to think the unthinkable’. That’s unthinkable. One hundred black women characters? How can I do that? I need a more poetic form. Now there are only twelve main characters.” and while adopting the poetic form the novel still retains strong elements of her centurion ambitions.

And the backstories are important I believe in what the author is trying to achieve. From the same interview: ”Even though I don’t have a protagonist who’s a young teenager, a lot of the characters went through that stage. So you have a sense of who they were as children, how they became adults, and then how they are as mothers. I’m deeply interested in how we become the people we are. Coming from a radical feminist alternative community in my 20s, and then seeing these people in their 40s and 50s, I’ve seen people become extremely, almost, conservative, establishment, having lost all the free-spiritedness, oppositionality and rebelliousness of their younger years. To me that’s fascinating. When I meet young people today and they are a certain way, I think: ‘You don’t know who you’re going to be.’ That feeds into the fiction. How do we parent our children? What are our ambitions for our children? How does that link to how we were raised? How does gender play out?”

Amma is perhaps also the most central character - and it is in the after-party on the opening night of her first play at the National Theatre “The Last Amazon of Dahomey”, that the various characters and their stories converge and interact (Carole as her partner is a sponsor of the National, Morgan invited to review the play by tweet for example).

A final epilogue reveals a final link via an examination of hybridity of origins..

I found this a strong novel – there is polemic and challenge, but also warmth, humour and self-awareness.

Carol’s idea of bed-time reading includes

“also monitoring the international news that affects market conditions, the weather conditions that affect crops, the terrorism that destabilizes countries, the elections that effect trading agreements, the natural disasters that can wipe out whole industries”

which could simply not be closer to my own work-related reading, but she also comments

“and if it isn’t related to work, it’s not worth reading”

which could simply not be further from my own view of literature – and a book like this is why wider reading is worthwhile.

IT is no surprise that this book win a prize. It touches important chords in every chapter and explores themes which need to be known about,understood and dealt with. The progress of twelve women through the issues of adulthood with challenges posed by their gender and colour is dealt with sympathetically and cleverly. The book never has a dull moment. There are characters that the reader can sympathise with and ones that will irritate. This is a challenging read but it is important that issues like this are faced up to.

I am so grateful to have received this book. It was an insightful look into the lives of a group of women of all ages, backgrounds and experiences with a common loose connection. What all of the stories have central to their core is the sense of how each person contributes to the lives of many others - often inadvertently. This joint Booker prize winner rightly deserves off of the praise given by other critics, Their comments will be far wider reaching than anything I have to say, but I have not stopped talking about it to all my friends and colleagues.

A wonderfully written, interlinking book, around 12 very different women over a century. I really enjoyed the stories but some more so than the others. I felt drawn to some of the women more than others their characters spoke to me more and I felt a connection . All in all a really good book. Many thanks to both the author and net galley for the opportunity to read this wonderful book.

Girl, Woman, Other is the winner🥇 of the Booker Prize 2019 and deservedly so. Bernardine Evaristo has written a powerful story featuring 12 mostly black female characters of different ages from a teenager to a great grandmother from different backgrounds living in the UK. The novel captures a portrayal of modern Britain, presenting 12 original tales of women and their struggles of living in a predominantly white society. Each tale is unique, yet they are all linked. There's a lot packed in this book, with race and gender discriminaton being the most dominant themes of the book.

Evaristo adopted an experimental writing style with no full stops or capital letters at the end and start of the sentences. Neither there are quotation marks for dialogues. While the lack of punctuation threw me off balance at first and got me worried this was going to be another Milkman, luckily, that was not the case. After just a couple of chapters I got used to the style and it didn't bother me at all after that.

This book is unique and original, unlike anything I've ever read. It is a fascinating, timely and eye-opening read. I'm already thinking that I probably want to re-read the book next year which says a lot as I hardly ever do re-reads.

Many thanks to the publisher for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.