I found the beginning of the book a bit difficult to get into. But I love the multigenerational characters in the deep discussion on race and seeking identity through family. Emotionally charged.

It normally takes a lot for me to get into a historical fiction book unless it's got some type of fantasy involved and I'm not gonna lie, I thought I'd have to fight my way through this one in the beginning. But I can honestly say that Everyman is different.

From the first page, it's written with a true appreciation for the south, and having grown up in both North and South Carolina (which are COMPLETELY different) that resonated with me. And Eve is a character you can empathize with and feel for — from her struggles with fitting in, to loving a toxic family member, to trying to uncover family secrets and understanding where HER roots come from.

Every (or Eve) Mann doesn't know her history. Her mother is dead, her father is gone, and the aunt who raised her won't tell her a thing about anyone. As far as she's concerned, it's just her and Every. But Every refuses to accept that and is on a journey to find out everything she can from whoever she can. So, she heads to her birthplace of Ideal, Georgia in a search for answers. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction but would say this feels targeted more towards Gen Xers rather than Millenials, so keep that in mind.

Everyman is a novel rooted in family history as the main character, Every wants to discover the history behind her mom’s background as well as her family’s origins. She has a strained relationship with her aunt due to her not divulging her family and genealogy. Her aunt seems like she’s trying to protect her from some kind of harsh truth and in doing so pushes Every away from her. It’s a novel from the very beginning that takes us to multi-generations as well as various timelines as the narrator every tries to figure out what is family and what family means to her.

While this novel discusses generational and family history, it also brings up multiple discussions between the characters as what is defined as “Blackness” by society. Every frequently questions her family history and what it means to be black (as well as her entire identity). The novel opens up a larger conversation of different stereotypes and limitations are that are placed on people and places and how they stay throughout time (but evolve into different forms). I also like how we get details of Every’s history throughout the book and how people tend to record history throughout time.

"Written record is privileged over oral tradition, and in the burying of the past it is the written word that must be plunged into hiding. It opens itself up to the reader, formed and solid. Nothing changes it. While the spoken history is in constant manipulation by the speaker. New tone. New emphasis. New words. New omissions. New additions."

An all I can say is that Everyman is one big generational family saga without giving away too much of the story. It not only heavily discusses race through multi-generations but additionally focuses on the impact of trauma and grief and so many more emotional. The first half of the book was very slow but the second half is where the plot comes together. Because it is a slow-moving novel, I recommend reading it in smaller chunks in order to capture the entire story.

M Shelly Conner's Everyman might be my favourite book of the year. I was captivated by Every's search for her roots. The worlds of Georgia and Chicago came alive for me in this book. The set pieces -- the homes, the bars, the corridors, the well -- were so finely drawn. There's discovery here, there's tragedy, there's violence, there's acceptance and joy. The story is packed with enthralling characters both central and pivotal (esp. Nelle -- I'd read an entire book just about Nelle). It's the kind of book you want to shout about, and that you feel changed by.

First appeared in the Historical Novel Society Review:

“The south is syrup,” author M. Shelly Conner tells us in the prelude to her debut novel, everyman. When her protagonist, Eve Mann, arrives in a small Georgia town in 1972, time has moved more slowly there than elsewhere. This serves Eve, who is searching for the truth about the mother who died giving birth to her, and the father she never knew.

In a series of extended flashbacks, we learn about Eve (actually named Every), her Chicago upbringing, and the lives of family members and friends who help guide her path. Between her best friend Nelle, whose acknowledgment of her queerness alienates Eve, a charismatic young teacher who inspires Eve, and Eve’s mother-figure Ann, who keeps her own secrets, a rich story of Black history unfolds. Those characters and others experience the Black liberation and civil rights movements of the 1960s and ’70s, Jim Crow repression of earlier decades, and the Great Migration north.

The wide cast of characters and the depth of their stories make this a thought-provoking reading experience, though the digressive character studies and extended flashbacks may lose some readers. The mystery of Eve’s birth is largely eclipsed—intentionally, one suspects—by the bigger question of Black identity in 20th-century America. The novel offers memorable characters and important questions about the struggle for freedom and life, against the backdrop of slow Southern towns and one fast-paced northern city.

If Everyman wasn't bogged down with historical references and set in the time it's in, I probably wouldn't have liked it as much. Conner's writing style is the type I like; smooth and whimsical. The writing is part of the kept me reading (well that and the mystery of Every's question). Words, wordplay, and their meaning were sprinkled throughout Everyman. The epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter were a very nice touch and I enjoyed them a lot. I enjoy generational sagas but I had some trouble keeping track of the details and information coming from each character. The jumping around kept my head spinning. The mystery and finding out family history was beautiful and it kept me turning the page. The complex narrative that Conner spins inEveryman was complex and multifaceted. The themes and dialogue Everyman presents on black feminity, black feminism and black sexuality would make for an interesting book club discussion. Race and racial identity were also very present in Everyman and a discussion could be had about that as well.

The nagging thing that kept me from truly truly enjoying Everyman is the jumping POVs, Everyman wasn't truly about Eve Mann. It was about all the characters and I didn't necessarily like that. I didn't care to spend as much time as we did learning about Brother Lee Roy or have Nelle's dilemma be a main part of the story. I do love fleshed out side-characters BUT not when they're being fleshed out with the same amount as the main character. I'm a big fan of showing and not telling but Everyman did the complete opposite.

M. Shelly Conner’s, Everyman, encapsulates all that I enjoy about a multi-generational, historical fiction novel. It was layers deep and interwoven with Black history throughout, including but not limited to the Great Migration. It is an examination of mothers and daughters and the bonds that tie them together. It is about love and its complex simplicities. It is about secrets and lies and the things we take to our grave. It is about race and passing, acceptance and community. It is about women…strong women and their collective strength in rebellion. This book evokes so many emotions and does so thoughtfully.

Everyman follows the story of Eve Mann who has been searching for answers about her history her entire life. Having been raised by an aunt who holds familial truths, Eve finds herself in need of the truth of who her people are as well as what that means for her. It is a coming of age story with beautifully developed characters that help tell Eve’s story. I really loved the emphasis on the black woman and her journey and struggle to be made anew. Conner does a fantastic job of capturing the women’s desire to be free beyond what lives have been structured and provided.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. The author does a wonderful job of intertwining the stories both past and present. I also really appreciated the real facts that were touched upon. Ms Conner is very talented and has a way of making the reader feel like they are part of the story. Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to read an E-ARK.

This is a sprawling family saga of secrets and lies in a fairly slim novel. Eve, who was raised by her aunt after the death of her mysterious mother, is back in Ideal, Georgia looking for answers. Set in the 1970s and moving backward, it's a look at multiple lives and loves. Eve felt smaller to me in some ways than her friend Nelle who is out and proud at a time when this was less common. The story winds in many issues of the period, deftly showing their impact on a family. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Pick up this book! I teach American History and focus on inequality throughout, yet I learned quite a bit of history from this fiction work. But dry academic tome it is not. This is a complex work with a web of relationships, wonderful character development of each individual, a compelling plot, and additional layers beyond the immediate story.

Some things that may impact your enjoyment:

- there is a late Medieval morality play called Everyman that adds an important layer to this. At least skim the wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyman_(play)
Conner is not doing a direct retelling, but instead a reinterpretation based in the history her book explores.

-there are a lot of characters and relationships to keep track of, and time jumps around a lot. Should I have the opportunity to teach this, I would have students do a timeline and/or relationship map. If you struggle with such things, I recommend doing the same. You'll get so much more out of it and maybe save the book for you.

-reading other reviews - the issue of telling and not showing is important and part of the narrative here. It's us, the reader, getting the full story that pretty much no single character has because of the silence of the characters. We get to know what was lost, and what was lost is so much of the book. It's how Every is Eve.

Thank you to M. Shelly Conner, Blackstone Publishing, and Netgalley for an advanced ecopy of this book!

So many secrets.
That’s all I kept thinking reading this.
Every Mann who later changes her name to Eve, just wants to know WHO she is. Who her people are. She needs to know more about herself.
What she knows is that her mother, Mercy, gave birth to Every on her deathbed. Then, Mercy’s sister, Ann, took Every and raised her in Chicago never telling her much about her mother, her family, or about how she came to be.
As Every grew older, the more she needed to know, so she set out to find out for herself with or without her Aunt Ann’s help.
I enjoyed the book over all, but I feel like some characters were built up only for their story to be left incomplete. I also, feel like Ann and Mercy’s story was kind of left under developed, there was real opportunity to elaborate more on their relationship.
I’m the end I waited for a huge plot twist that did not happen, but I was not completely disappointed.
Thank you to Net Galley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I liked a lot about this novel, which is a story about family history and violence and gaining a deeper worldview, and about what social change and movements meant during the 1960s and 70s. It's interesting to me to try to understand how someone like protagonist Eve, a not very complex person or particularly deep thinker, views the enormously complex things going on around her at both micro and macro levels. I understand Nelle's frustration with Eve, and Brother LeeRoi's desire to draw her into a greater understanding with the world.

I was upset, though, to see quotes from Alice Walker as chapter headers. I know a lot of people have been influenced by Walker's work, but her antisemitism makes celebrating her work impossible for me and many others, and I hope the author and publisher will change these quotes.

I did not like this at all. It felt like a bunch of characters in search of a plot, and they never found it. The timeline meanders, the characters meander... it's routinely hard to follow while also being about nothing. There were small moments and stories that I appreciated, but it all ultimately felt pointless and disconnected. (What was the point of Br. LeRoi, honestly?!)

Everyman shows the story of a young woman in the 1970s trying to find out where she came from and who she is amid a backdrop of societal change and awakening. As a Brit, a reasonable understanding of American history and politics is useful, although much of the story deals with the individual characters, including Eve(ry)'s best friend and her mentor. I found the extended flashbacks into other characters' lives did slow the narrative for me somewhat, and we learn about Every's background less through her own explorations and more through the author telling us. That said, the prose was carefully and beautifully written and a sense of the time period the book was set in evoked. It was nice to see Every come to terms with her best friend's story through finding out more about her own background.

I love this book. It deals with three genaration of a black family and others characters. Eve wants to know about her mother but her religious aunty doesn't want to tell her the truth so Big Eve musts find the answers by herself. We lean a lot about black activism and the homophobia in it. Religion strengthens the homophobia in black communities til nowadays.
They're some traumas but it's not to heavy. Really, you should read this book. I hope it'll be translated into French. I'll recommand it to my French book lovers.
Shout out for Nelle, My favourite lesbian!!!

everyman is a beautiful story about a Every (later transformed to Eve) and her quest to find her family and history. Since her mom died at her birth, Eve has been raised by her aunt, Ann who has stayed quiet about their family past. Eve travels to Ideal, Georgia, to find her roots.

This book explores many critical subjects. My favorite is Eve’s best friend, Nelle and her exploration of her sexuality and queerness. This portion was refreshing and captivating to read. She was my favorite character as she especially witty in her observations and fearless in her acts.

I love Connor’s integration of history in all the retracing of Eve’s family. Her thoughtful facts about African American history smoothly integrated in the narrative. It all worked so well together.

That last chapter. Wow. Just wow.

Wow!
I requested an ARC of this novel because I have always been a lover of a multi generational story. This is the epitome of that.
At the core of this story is Every/ Eve Mann trying to learn more about her family as their has been kept as a secret from her.
We follow her journey through finding herself, her name, her family, and finding acceptance for people who are different than her.
Nelle as a character stood out a lot to me. She was strong in who she was and didn’t apologize for it. She was a lot more open minded than a lot of characters in this book were. I wouldn’t mind a novel about her and her own journey!
I also loved how every chapter started with a quote. There was also a lot of history embedded into this story. It all worked very well.
And that last sentence, ugh.
It tackles the subjects of race, Blackness, Black homosexuality, homophobia, relationships between friends and between families, love.
It was a shorter novel- small, but mighty. It was very captivating. Great read.