Written from the perspective of a choral “we,” Brown Girls captures a sense of solidarity among these women, who Daphne Palasi Andreades follows from childhood, into their adulthood as some leave their borough, and eventually the city they first called home. But Queens is always with them, and in the novel’s vignettes, Andreades explores the specific experiences of these girls: childhood summers spent sunbathing on concrete and singing Mariah Carey, teenage nights spent sneaking out to house parties, and the quiet, painful realization that your youth is not forever.

My first encounter with Brown Girls was three years ago, in Manhattan Chinatown, at a reading where Andreades read from the manuscript that would become her novel. I still remember the rhythmic beauty of her prose, which captured all the small glories and pains of immigrant girlhood in Queens. It’s a world I’m familiar with, but not one that I have encountered in literature, and I knew, then, that this was a writer whose work I wanted to follow.

Andreades has said that she started the novel after Toni Morrison’s often-quoted instruction: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” The novel reads, in that spirit, like a literary re-mapping—from its first lines, Andreades reorients the reader: “We live in the dregs of Queens, New York. Where airplanes fly so low that we are certain they will crush us.” This is our destination, this is the new center. Look here at these girls, she says, and listen to the stories they have to tell.

I loved this group of friends so incredibly much! The poetic language was absolutely beautiful and very readable as well! This is a story for Brown girls everywhere.

It's debut time! But seriously, there's nothing I love more than picking up a debut novel, especially if it is in one of my favorite genres. Written by Daphne Palasi Andreades, Brown Girls is one of those books that begs to be read.

New York is full of different cultures, as people worldwide come here to find a new place and path in life. Among those trying to reconcile their backgrounds with their future are girls such as Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, and Angelique, just to name a few. There are hundreds of girls just like them.
Brown Girls celebrates their journey, turning it into a poetic adventure that any reader could resonate with.

I can see readers going one of two ways with Brown Girls: either they're going to love it or hate it. I fall into the former category. If you enjoy a novel that portrays lots of little moments in people's lives, this might just be the read for you.

Brown Girls is essentially a collection of vignettes featuring many characters, including those I mentioned above. They are short and sweet, bouncing from one to the next. Despite all of these transitions, the story is relatively easy to follow. It helps that Daphne Palasi Andreades stuck to a chronological storytelling format.

There is something so beautiful about the writing style of this book – it would not be an exaggeration to call it poetic or lyrical. It flows throughout the narrative, weaving in and out of each character's story. It's so compelling and wonderfully human, making it the perfect delivery system for the story of Brown Girls.

3.75
I liked this book and its unique narration style, but the execution was a little flawed.
Told entirely in first person plural ("we"), Brown Girls takes us through the lives of a diverse set of girls growing up in Queens, and in some ways perhaps growing OUT of Queens. We're privy to their successes and their struggles as they move through school, into college, jobs, and relationships. The writing is descriptive and lyrical and paints a vivid picture. That being said, who exactly the "we" is gets very fuzzy at times. The title can make it feel like the author is trying to represent the experience of all brown girls, which is patently ridiculous. At first I imagined it was going to be more like "various brown girls from a wide range of backgrounds in Queens" but it's really even more specific than that. Sometimes the "we" reads like it's supposed to be just a specific group of girls, other times it reads more broad. Overall, even though the unique narrative style was a great idea and a large part of what makes the book special, I think at time it hindered the coherence and flow. Could have been better if maybe we had vignettes from specific perspectives separated by first person plural sections conveying more broad shared experiences. I would definitely read from this author again in the future.

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades is an intriguing read exploring the immigrant/first generation experience of the “brown girl”. Written in prose, the story shares the experience of the the “brown girl” told via a collective “we” narrative. There is no one main character but rather a telling of the shared experience of growing up “other” in Queens, NY. While the descriptions and names shared are rooted in cultures from the Caribbean, Africa, India, the Middle East, and other locations, the common thread is how their experiences in the US often overlap and mirror each other regardless of culture. They are other… and relegated to the “brown girl” descriptor in most spaces they enter.

The expectations of immigrant parents, the difficulties of interracial relationships, the micro-aggressions in the work place… these are all common place for these girls who become women.

I am first generation American with Caribbean parents so I related to many of the experiences described by Andreades. My only criticism is that it did take me a while to get into the story because of the lack of a main character. This was a stylistic choice that I know really resonated with many based on some of the other reviews I have read. Once I got into it, the story soared.

This novel, which really feels more like a long form poem, is an ode to Queens and the the diverse women who call it home. It is a beautiful book and a celebration of the friendships, struggles and journey that it means to be a woman, especially in a place like New York. I was in love with the language, the images and the voices of all the women. A gorgeous read!

I recommend listening to this one, as the pace of the prose and the stream-of-consciousness style makes for a lyrical and dreamlike experience. I both read the ARC and listened to an ALC from Libro.fm, and found the audio experience to be more enjoyable.

Brown Girls' narrative structure is interesting - the novel is framed as a collective, episodic memoir (these are the experiences of a group of brown girls). Although some acknowledgment is made of the diversity of experiences, we as readers are still invited to think of the main character as a group of brown girls rather than any single, named individual. I would say that in some ways, it falls just short of representing how non-monolithic that experience might be. There are a few hints at some of the brown girls being QTBIPOC, but for the most part, the narrative is relatively heteronormative.

This book is a beautiful & lyrical ode to growing up. We follow a group of girls as the author describes as the “dregs of Queens” as they grow from young girls, to high school students through leaving your home and returning as an adult. The story is written in first person/we, which both makes the writing and experience of reading incredibly personal but also generalized. Refraining from the use of “I” adds to the shared experience of the characters, it’s a delicate and powerful nuance.

There were so many themes in the story that I was drawn to. How friends grow, change and loose each other as they get older, how they find each other again. How relationships with mothers grow from at times frustration or confusion ultimately to respect and understanding. The pull to leave the place you’re from or the pull to stay. Underscoring it all the experience for Brown Girls the pressures to be a certain way coming from all directions and the beauty in being understood by the friends who had always been there.

This isn't a book meant for everyone, and I'm counting myself in that. The writing is good, but the usage of the collective We negatively affected my experience of it. The story loses some effectiveness through the method of trying to tell the story of everyone, and absolutely everyone who is a woman of color (Asian, Hispanic, Black, etc.). At one point, I thought it was finally giving us some characters names but then you aren't sure what's happening to whom. Despite the usage of the collective We, the story focuses on a certain kind of experience - those young women who make it out of their immigrant neighborhoods, become white collar professionals, and more affluent lives. There is no emotional connection to any characters, because there are no characters - at least whose names you know. I appreciated the story of the children of immigrants who straddle two worlds, but I wanted something more than good writing. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House who provided me with a free e-copy of the book.

This book is:
-coming home after feeling homesick
-that feeling you get staying up laughing and talking with your best friends
-a comforting bowl of ramen in a cold, winter day 

Brown Girls is a game-changer. It is a tour-de-force -- real, whimsical, inventive, and immensely moving. Brown Girls is truly for all brown girls out there growing up straddling 2 worlds.

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 7-𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵. 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘪𝘭. 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘦. 

There is no main character. Set in the dregs of Queens, the main character is a collective US --us brown girls who have to code-switch, be good, be obedient, be better for the sake of our parents who broke their backs getting here. It is us brown girls who have to hide things that we love, sneak behind our parents' backs, study something we should study versus something we want to study. Us brown girls sometimes feel they will never be good enough, us brown girls who have an amazing, rich cultural history and so many stories to tell. We are a chorus. We are brown girls.

I loved it, especially since I grew up in Queens. I too have crossed Queens Boulevard, the boulevard of death; snuck back into my house way past my curfew; helped explain things to my parents. I too, continue to search for who I am… You don't have to be from Queens to enjoy this magical book. Slim, at only 200 or so pages, Brown Girls feels epic and lyrical and will envelop you in a warm embrace. I have nothing but admiration for Daphne Palasi Andreades.

 Thank you @randomhouse for the #gifted book and to @netgalley for the e-ARC.

This is for the brown girls. Experiences may vary and that’s the point. We all wont come from the “dregs of Queens” but we all live, we may love, we may leave the nest, but some may stay. I enjoyed this book and the way in which it was written. The use of the phrase “brown girls” was used in place of “people of color.” And there is no single narrative within this book or in life, for us brown girls. And that’s what makes the telling of this story so unique. In Brown Girls, Palasi Andreades is able to tell the varying stories of brown girls. I saw myself in many but not all of them. Saw my friends, other brown girls, in some but not others. What I read in these pages were lives lived.

I’d like to ask Palasi Andreades what made her tell this story this way. There wasn’t a main character because brown girls, (multiple, all of them?) were the main characters here. Our lives are vast and yet many experiences are encapsulated in these pages. Is this a definitive look on the lives of brown girls? No, and I don’t feel in any way it was meant to be.

I began to appreciate this story, the more of it I read. As I went through this book it was so easy to see the different reflections of us as we grew, as we changed, as the world around us changed and then changed us. I finished this book and all I could think about is how we are not a monolith and yet we can relate so easily to the other experiences of brown girls. This was book for and about brown girls

"Brown girls brown girls brown girls who, in their bones, are beginning to understand that they are the sum of many identities, many histories, at once."

Thank you netgalley for the advance copy.

This short and beautiful book was really great. I'm not sure I've ever read a book that was entirely in first person collective - the choral we - and it worked.

It was very evocative of friendship, family, neighborhoods, and growing up and older. And the writing was very poetic.

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades

“IN KITCHENS REDOLENT WITH GARLIC and onions, brown girls stand, hovering over pans, cracking open brown eggs, stirring them just so and frying them. We lie, starfish-like and still, atop sun-warmed concrete in backyards. We sing Mariah, Whitney, Destiny’s Child, our voices straining for the same notes as these brown singers. Say my name, say my name. When no one is around you. In bedrooms, we adjust training bras for the first time. Hook it like this under your rib cage. Now twist it back around.”


This book is a quick, poetic read. I read the entire thing in one sitting (oh, the joys of holiday break).
It is a collective of stories from a group of friends that captures their portraits as they move from childhood to womanhood. It is a true tour de force picture of what it means to create a life despite racism, marginalization, and classism in America. But mostly, it is a compelling peek into the lives of women/friends growing up - watching the many aspects of friendship as women change and grow. Some friends follow similar paths, while others make choices that pull and tug at their bonds. All are finding their way home. “It is in our blood to leave. But perhaps it’s also in our blood to return. Why did we ever believe home could only be in one place? When existing in these bodies means holding many worlds within us. At last we see.”

You will fall into this story of a group of immigrant girls growing up in Queens, New York. They begin at the beginning, and as they grow and change, you watch the city grow and change around them. Their similar experiences drive them to an empathetic closeness. Their lives travel down the road of adulthood that as they try and justify their immigrant experiences with the American dream.

I interviewed the author for BOMB.

"I was interested in exploring the solidarity and kinship that can, and so often does, exist between people of color. The “we” allowed me to examine shared experiences of, for example, how forces such as colonialism and imperialism shaped the characters’ family histories. Also, the gender and familial expectations that are imposed on them, and the racism and marginalization they face in contemporary America. I knew that this chorus of voices would be tough, smart, brash, and tender all at once."

I really liked hearing more about the experiences of different girls growing up brown in Queens and comparatively how different it was from my own upbringing as a brown girl in the Midwest. I found that the descriptions of the city in this book really highlighted the thoughts and feelings and the girls were having and that the book was really meditating on the impact that. the place that one calls home, and the people in this place, can have on their lives. I did feel that at times it got a bit confusing and that the collective voice may have taken away from some of the narrative.

Gorgeous, lyrical not quite a novel but what? I’m not sure. It reads like a poem, like a song, like a jump rope rhyme. Intimate and universal lives of brown girls, brown women, brown lovers and friends. The sound of BROWN GIRLS will linger.

Brown Girls is such a beautifully written book, It tells the story of a group of girls from Queens, New York. It talks of family, love, immigration, jobs, losing touch, and more. It is an incredible piece of sensory writing that you won't soon forget. Easy reading that flows from page to page and is over before you know. it.

This book is one of the most beautifully poetic written books I have read in a while. I devoured it in one sitting. It reads like a collective memoir of coming-of-age stories but unique voices shining through. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

Written in soaring, lyrical prose, Daphne Palasi Andreades’ debut novel, BROWN GIRLS, is a love letter to girls who have worn the label of “other” for too long, all the while developing their own shimmering, passionate and deeply introspective lives and relationships.

Set in Queens, New York, the book immediately immerses readers in New York’s most vibrant borough, where airplanes fly low enough to shake the buildings, verdant trees tangle with power lines, and colorful bed sheets and clothing articles decorate the laundry lines across front yards. The main street, nicknamed the “Boulevard of Death” by the media, boasts cheap manicures, sizzling food from a multitude of countries, and a lifetime of backbreaking industry. Amid these sights, a group of young girls come of age, bound by their brown skin --- the shades of root beer, beach sand, fertile soil, grilled meat and even the white of snow --- and a shared attempt to assimilate into American culture while celebrating their own myriad backgrounds and those of the relatives who came before them.

BROWN GIRLS is told in the choral “we.” No single narrator emerges as a lifeline, which can make the novel difficult to sink your teeth into at first. But with each chapter, Andreades pulls readers in closer to the real heart of the story: the pulsing beat by which brown girls everywhere feel, love, think, grow and thrive. Each chapter, written almost like an essay mashed into a poem, highlights a singular problem or issue faced by brown girls: helping other relatives adapt to America, navigating the American education system without resources, and defending their choices not only to white Americans but to their immigrant parents. Through each vignette, Andreades unpacks the social and emotional pressures put on (young) women of color, the ways that they are always watched, judged and found lacking.

Despite her clear-eyed, unflinching reporting on these powerful issues, BROWN GIRLS remains impossibly tender and celebratory, full of vibrant culture and eclectic descriptions. Amid the admonitions of strict mothers and the microaggressions of teachers, the girls deal in the sounds of loud, raucous parties full of gossip, note the vivid color of a dripping popsicle on a steamy day, and belt out the effortlessly catchy tunes of Mariah Carey and other pop stars.

Andreades never lets her readers forget that these girls are not the ones you usually read about or watch on TV, but she also reminds us that they are still normal teenagers: emotional, hormonal and obsessive. They fall for boys, break hearts, shorten their skirts when no one is looking, and still call their mothers for help when they need it, even if it means a harsh scolding. At the same time, they form tight, almost romantic relationships with one another, their friendships so hungry that they vow never to let them break apart. Until they do.

Andreades follows her brown girls through the woes of high school applications, the draw of the city and the pull of expensive higher education. Though we learn their names only in passing, some of these characters stand out for their decisions to leave Queens behind, visit their motherlands or shed the group entirely. Whatever the deciding factor, each is drawn by some wish: to be more American, to be truer to her roots, to find a way to blend her two cultures and create something different.

Continuing through the Trump administration and even the beginnings of the pandemic, BROWN GIRLS feels searingly timely and also timeless, thanks to its firm grounding in Queens, a place the girls carry with them wherever they go. With no character arcs to follow or individual women to root for, the book asks for a big leap of faith from readers. But trust me when I say that it is worth it.

Although Andreades takes an unusual path in her choice of narrative structure, the result highlights the universality of the immigrant or first-generation experience, and speaks to the struggles of young women of color hiding, getting by or thriving in every corner of America. The fact that she can do this while maintaining a buoyant, hopeful air and a deeply immersive setting (read this book and tell me you can’t smell the food or hear the music) makes Andreades an incredibly deft writer and BROWN GIRLS an unforgettable, inventive read.

I considered this to be a decent debut novel, and I love how it features life from the perspective of brown girls growing up in Queens. However, I didn't expect the story to be told from a collective viewpoint. I think I would have preferred the story to be told from each individual's perspective; additionally, this would have made the book less confusing, and allowed the reader to connect with the characters a bit more. Overall, I did enjoy the narrative, and I loved how real the story seemed. I would read more books by this author in the future.