I really struggled with this, as much as I wanted to love it. The lack of full stops and capital letters threw me at first, but I've gotten used to it in other books that experiment with form. With this book, I just couldn't connect with the characters at all. Each section brought new chapters, and I read on in the hope I would find some that would finally draw me in, but this didn't happen. I'm definitely missing something because many have been singing its praises. I'm sad to say it wasn't for me.

This book is a collection of portraits of women, all linked together around a play at the National Theatre. Each portrait is deep and interesting and real, it feels like falling deeper and deeper each time. I enjoyed it and I recommend it. It is written as an internal monologue, with minimal punctuation, which means it requires concentration, and it's quite long.

Hmm not a kind of book I’d normally read. Obviously intrigued by all the interest I decided to read it. Contemporary stories of immigrant families, friends, lovers and connections and their struggle to create and live an integrated life in modern day Britain.

Thanks to Netgalley the author and publishers for an ARC of this book.

I found this a challenging read full of characters I never really understood.
The lack of punctuation was at first quirky then just annoying. Not a book for me.

Thank you to Penguin Book U.K. Hamish Hamilton for a digital edition via NetGalley of ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ by Bernardine Evaristo in exchange for an honest review. It was published in May 2019 and after it won The Booker Prize in October Penguin were kind enough to offer it for request to NetGalley members.

It is very much an ensemble piece exploring the interlinked lives of its twelve characters described as “mostly women, black and British”. Its setting in time spans the 20-21st Century and it explores a range of cultural and social issues. Its style is experimental, described by the author as ‘fusion fiction’ and is indeed very fluid. That could prove a barrier for some readers who are uncomfortable with non traditional novels. I found it accessible as I paired reading with its audiobook edition. Long sentences and minimal punctuation are less noticeable that way.

I not only enjoyed it but felt that it expanded my awareness. It was easy to feel a connection with a number of its characters.

I appreciated why this novel stood out among a strong field of shortlisted literary novels to co-win The Booker Prize. It is the kind of novel that I would expect to be selected by reading groups that are seeking somewhat more challenging reads. I feel that the scope of the issues explored allows for a number of possibilities for discussion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is extremely well written and engaging throughout. Dipping into the lives of the various characters meant that there were some characters I was more drawn to, my own personal favourite was Shirley, probably because she reminded me of a teacher I once had. The book is well deserving of the many accolades it has received, it is enjoyable, but is also unsettling at times, as we are forced to look at the racism I thought we had rid ourselves of, but seems once again to be on the rise. It is a relatively easy read, because of its style and the wonderful way it has been written, but it forces the reader to think about the world and the lives they are being shown. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book, there really is something for everyone in it.

Note: An ARC was given to me by Netgalley, and I also was able to obtain a copy from the library. Hence why I had two copies before. But thank you to Netgalley for approving me in exchange for an honest review.

"A masterpiece."

"A must read."

"One for all the bookworms."

Boy were they wrong..

Let me explain.

The cover -A patchwork, quilts made up. Stitched together are the girls of the story, each having their own part, their own voice about what's been happening in their life. Good enough to get me reading, therefore a point given.

The summary -It's almost the same story that is told about women, specially black women and their struggles in different eras. Not much interest, but like 5% maybe. Hence why a point is given.

But as usual, Fate runs up to me and snatches my story, tries to ruin it and......succeeds.

One point for Fate.

0 for J.

God.

The writing - Was so disjointed, and thrown all over the place like some goddamn game of legos. A chaos to behold.

And as a grammar nazi, I feel offended by the author's writing style. More like disoriented but same thing.

How can she call herself a writer, if she can't even write the way normal writers do, like I don't know...with punctuations maybe?

Therefore I had to DNF. I don't care how anyone else overlooks this author's mess of writing decently, but I certainly care enough to point this fact out.

People get offended at the slightest typo made by an author and make fun of the author and humiliate them.

But in this case, they simply choose to overlook the million grammar and writing mistakes she made, and call it a "masterpiece".

I ask you, how is it possible to wear a blindfold on almost every second paragraph wrought with mistakes and still call it a wonderful piece of work? I fail to understand.

Sorry but I disagree with everyone else about what is a masterpiece.

There are many ways that you can pose a message, but this is not one of them. Destroying the writing style won't earn any brownie points with me and certainly it will set me running from this as far as I can.

So, not recommended. AT ALL.

Until the next read,

TMR

I wasn’t sure how I was going to get on with a novel written without punctuation but settled into it and by the end came to see that the author’s style served her well here. The first section ‘Amma’ was exhausting to read and it suited this character’s personality - emotional, frenetic, rushing around from one project to another, no time for full stops. The pace varies from character to character. For example, ‘Carole’ is more staccato, single phrases or words, a hot-shot executive on a mission. ‘Winsome’ (great name) on the other hand is calm, measured, longer laid-back sentences. Unique voices for a whole range of different people with different experiences.

Not for the first time this year I’ve enjoyed a book with the central theme of self-determination, this time exploring it within the spectrum of gender, multi-racial family history, working environment. All of this was fascinating and I engaged immediately with each one in turn, then again as they touched other characters’ lives. The women’s stories are connected, some more closely than others, though I often found myself struggling to join the dots. The biggest difficulty for me was the use of they/their instead of he/his and she/her in the ‘Morgan’ section - I had to keep reminding myself not to wonder who the other person was - I’m not sure I’m able for all that.

I’m so pleased this won the big prize and that the publisher saw fit to give me an ARC via NetGalley, many thanks. It has left me with the need to seek out the author’s back catalogue so job done.

Girl, Woman, Other was easily my favourite book of the year. Although it is told through eleven very different women (and one non-binary person), each of their experiences and versions of the world rang extremely true. Bernardine Evaristo has absolutely mastered the small elements that make a person and their life seem real. I’ll be recommending this to everyone.

I’m not sure there are superlatives enough to do this book justice. What a beautiful novel that makes you proud to be a woman and also reminds those of us white women that we still have a long way to go in terms of not ‘othering’ our black sisters.
Sliding effortlessly from country to country, decade to decade, character to character and neatly trailing silken threads of connection behind her Evaristo has written a modern classic. The reader finds herself assessing her female relationships, sisters, mothers, lovers and comparing her experiences to the characters in the book. For me as an adult daughter and also mother to an adult daughter it was often challenging to examine how I influenced my daughter and passed on influences from my own mother.
I’ve never considered myself much of a feminist but this novel challenged that too and I liked how male characters existed as part of the narrative but never owned real estate in the book and only visited the spaces belonging to the female characters. Some positive, some not but not papered over.
My one regret is that we the reader never got to see the play!!!

The lack of full stops in this book made it unreadable for me. I’m sure there is artistic merit however I rely on full stops to help me read. It seems to be a trendy thing at the moment to not use punctuation but it just irritates me.

Girl, Woman, Other is not like anything else I have read this year. Or like anything else really for some time. Actually, in forever.

It is a story about 12 individuals, all women. They are mainly women of colour. Each individual has their own section of the book. They range in ages from 19 to 93. Each section appears distinct from the next on the surface but as you read, you build upon the tangential connections through time and across relationships.

The book contains stories about (though not only including) history, patriarchy, politics, culture, love, sexuality, class, betrayal, motherhood and parenting, shame, abandonment, pasts determining futures, and different perspectives of shared events.

This book really doesn’t have a plot or an overt method in the way a twisty thriller or crime mystery has certain elements that exist and are all brought together for the ta-dah ending. It doesn’t have a starting or end point in my opinion. It just flows seamlessly from one of the 12 character’s realities, to the next. And each voice translated differently to me. This book, it’s a book that just is. There are no capitals to start sentences. There are no quotations to denote speech. It’s different. It is it’s own being.

I wanted to read Girl, Woman Other before 2019 was under my belt and a memory. I wanted to read this in the year it was the joint winner of the Booker Prize, really to say I had done so. ✅

I admit to literary reads being outside my usual area of preference. [This tends more towards my own feelings of literary inadequacy .... ]. And I am challenged in how to best express how fantastically great this book was, without short-selling it.

I would choose this in preference ten times out of ten. Purely about the way this book made me feel and my reaction to it. This book gave my mind pause, my heart pangs and my eyes a tear or two.

Thank you to @netgalley, Bernadine Evaristo, and @penguinUKBooks for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review to be posted to my Instagram page prior to the end of 2019.

I really struggled with this book, and however much I wanted to enjoy it, I found it a bit of a chore to read. I'm sure a lot of people will love it, but I just found it the style and content rather off-putting.

I loved this book. It took me a little while to get into the episodic nature of it, but I particularly loved finding the links between all the characters as the chapters built. It was so clever and moving and brilliant. Well deserved winner of the Booker prize.

"Girl, Woman, Other" tells the stories of 12 people, the majority of whom are women of colour, each chapter consisting of a linked trio. For example, in the first chapter we meet Amma, a radical theatre director whose play "The Last Amazon of Dahomey" is about to open at the National Theatre, her friend Dominique, who becomes trapped in an abusive relationship in a women's commune, and Amma's daughter Yazz, a student exploring her identity and politics, asserting herself against her mother's second-wave feminism.

Each new chapter introduces us to another, seemingly separate, trio, but gradually the connections between the characters becomes apparent and it is satisfying to enter the inner life of a character who has previously been just a glimpse in another's story. "Girl, Woman, Other" is a panaromic novel, covering many periods. I loved its sweep and detail, its warmth and humour, and felt sad when I had to leave the characters after the final chapter and satisfying epilogue. There is a strong political dimension too, as topics such as race, class, and gender are explored through the characters' lived experience.

Sometimes the dialogue didn't quite ring true such as when Yazz is described as excitedly saying 'she was thinking of becoming non-binary as well, how *woke* was that?';but this is a minor quibble about a clever and absorbing novel.

whilst this novel may well be an important chronicle of the black female experience I was underwhelmed. I felt as if almost all of the experiences were tired and worn themes we hear about all the time as the experience of black women and it felt that this was a wasted chance to let us see the many varied lives and stories there must be rather than the same things- although of course I acknowledge these must be the same awful things happening to black women again and again.
I was also dismayed to find the lack of punctuation- I feel sure this is the trigger for Booker nomination at the moment- it certainly didn't seem as lively and innovative story telling as say milkman did last year- again little punctuation. or Lincoln in the bardo the year before- again with the punctuation- why can it not be the story and the wordcraft that wins the day?
This novel is readable and well written but overall I wanted more.

I received a copy of this book via net galley and Penguin books. It is lauded as a novel of togetherness but is in actual fact almost entirely about the black population and heavily laden with LGBT characters. I didn't feel as if it was about me or mine at all and this isn't to do with the ethnicity or social mores . I found it really difficult to read with a lack of connection to the characters and indeed any linkage between the characters was hard to keep in order as the narrator changes constantly. For me it typifies a Booker prize winner that rarely appeals to the majority or mainstream reader but is instead focusing on some racial or cultural differences. Just not for me. It has taken me a long time to get through it and I really wanted to put it down forever more than once

This is a stunning book. A collection of intertwined lives with brilliant characterisation. I loved reading every part of it. The idiosyncratic punctuation made it sound like a friend telling you a gossipy story, and even though there was a large cast of characters they were all very distinct and it was easy to follow. It was interesting to read stories from a black, female perspective. I would recommend to anyone.

My thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

This is an extraordinary piece of writing, exploring the experience of women in the modern age. The women in the story are interlinked, but in a range of complex and, at times, quite unexpected ways. These interconnections are not laboured but left for the reader to find and recognise. Issues of racial and gender identity are explored and set out for us to appreciate and to take as reminders not to make assumptions and not to label others.

Really excellent and enjoyable writing, which makes a challenging topic an easier read. Recommended.

I can see why this won the booker prize. Twelve portraits of twelve very different women. This is an easy read on some levels, but the subject matter can be harrowing at times. Domestic violence and coercive relationships, gang rape of a minor, the constant discrimination and what it means to be a black woman in the UK.  The twelve women are all linked together very loosely all coming together in the after party of a play at the end.    I thought it was interesting to see the domestic violence portrayed with a lesbian couple.  The difference between how people see themselves contrasting with how others see them was very well portrayed.  

The use of punctuation in this book is unconventional.  No capital letters and full stops to demarcate sentences, but lots of paragraphs instead.  It works though, and after the first few pages, I didn't notice it.