This book was thoroughly touching. By the end I had teared or cried for almost every character (except Johnny Lyncook. Forget him). The writing is beautiful, the characters become friends and fairly quickly. The connections between generations, personal histories and realities and the love a mother gave to her children and friends is deeply intimate, personal and touching. One of my favorite books of all time.

Finally got around to picking this up after hearing everyone rave about it for the last year. Sometimes when that happens, expectations are too high and it ends up being disappointing. That was not the case here. Hooked from the first page, I couldn't put it down.

I really enjoyed Black Cake. The mystery, the family drama and learning about other cultures. The back and forth timeline might feel a little choppy to some but I didn't mind it at all. Very entertaining story.

Thank you to Ballatine and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for my honest opinion.

The origin of black cake lies in British plum pudding, but the heart of black cakes lies in the Caribbean. For Benny and Byron Bennett, a black cake is a last gift from their mother Eleanor. A cake and a recording of Eleanor telling her story is their heritage. This book covers a lot social and political ground. Yet, the thread always winds back to Eleanor's story, which is emotional and compelling. Given that this is Charmaine Wilkerson's debut novel, I look forward to what she writes next.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2023/03/black-cake.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

Estranged siblings Bea and Bryon come together after their mother died. Ma’s lawyer has a video tape that is eight hours long and which must be heard together and in the presence of the lawyer. The tape tells the real history of their family, not the one that their parents had them believe all their lives. And they are told that they must eat the Black Cake in the freezer at the “right time.”

This wonderful book is beautifully written. It addresses so many issues including family beliefs, immigration, race, identity, sacrifice, tough decisions, sexuality, and the environment. And it does so in a way that doesn’t interfere with the story, but enhances our knowledge of the characters and the hard decisions they made in their lives.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

First things first: I really need to find a good recipe for black cake! This is the Caribbean treat that is part of family traditions. It is saved for important events such as Christmas, weddings, and anniversaries. It sounds delicious.

Charmaine Wilkerson does an excellent job of describing life in the Caribbean for a mixed-race girl, who suffers from racial injustice, a broken family, and many hidden details about her life.

The reader follows Covey, her children, and her friends through many years and ordeals. As the story unfolds, we learn about her surfing and swimming. We hear about her arranged marriage, abusive relationships, and her lifelong struggle for survival.

This was Charmaine Wilkerson's debut novel and I look forward to future books.

Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel Black Cake is the story of Eleanor Bennett’s past. Through the stories of her past she leaves in a recorded message to her children and the last cake she made that is in the freezer, her children get to know the mother they never knew, and in doing so, they get to know more about themselves. I voluntarily read and gave an honest review of this complimentary copy of this beautiful, well-written book full of secrets, family, friendships, loyalty, betrayal, and memories. This book will keep you reading to find out the answers to the secrets that have affected many of the characters' lives.

Thank You to Charmaine Wilkerson and Netgalley for the ARC. I had selected Black Cake months before my Book Club picked it for our discussion and read it with my group. While they all thought it was terrific, I found it just ok. I like the story on the island, and the life that was experienced in England, however the build-up to the final pages left me wanting it to not be so buttoned up.

It took me some time to get into this book, but in the end I thought it was done really well and was really interesting. The character development was fantastic, and the story itself was unique.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson was a wild ride. Traveling back and forth in time and between people, two grown children learn about their mother’s past through her recorded oral history. In this novel, we learn about this family’s secrets, cultural histories, and just so many things. Continue reading to get my hot take on this new novel by Charmaine Wilkerson.

Narration
I’ll be honest at first, the jumping between points of view was initially distracting. Eventually, it became integral to the narrative. Eleanor, the late mother of Byron and Benny, and her audio recordings narrative much of Black Cake. In the recordings, she reveals aspects of her and her family’s past. I think the fact that much of this is through an oral history justifies what might seem like unorganized jumping around in time and tangents about random people. This is the recollection of a woman who lived a full life full of secrets and traumatic events; a person will not perfectly lay out their entire history. I know when I tell stories, I often jumble and confuse the narrative.

I think this narration style also helps to reflect the emotions and confusion of Eleanor’s children Byron and Benny. The siblings that were once so close are coming together after years of estrangement. In addition, they are now facing the revelations of what their family’s true history was. What might seem to be at times a jarring narrative really works well to situate yourself in this family’s shoes.

Pace
I admit Black Cake was at times a slow read, but not necessarily a bad way. This is not a book filled with action that keeps you flipping the pages. It is a slow burn as you are taken through this family’s history. I think it also helps you experience it the same way Byron and Benny are experiencing their mother’s audio recording. It takes them several days and sittings to go through and process what their late mother is telling them.

Plot
I think Wilkerson did a great job of weaving in the different aspects of cultural identity and belonging (or not) as we traveled through an unnamed Caribbean island, to the UK, Italy, and eventually the US. I enjoyed seeing how historical (and present) issues such as race, sexuality, and ethnicity are present in Eleanor’s story, as well as the experiences of Byron and Benny. The incorporation of the black cake was an interesting focal point of Black Cake, which lends itself to the importance of culture to this novel.

I suppose one drawback from the plot would be the ending, which did seem to tie up too neatly. The number of people who were still living at the end surprised me. Not that there is murder or war, but this is a multi-generational narrative. Some people I would have expected to have died of natural causes as was the case with Eleanor.

Overall
While it did tie itself up too neatly for some, I think the overall story worked for me. I did enjoy Black Cake as a casual read. It did take some time to get through – not due to being bored, but just by the natural progression of the novel. Wilkerson did address important social issues that I think always have a place in narratives. While stories are supposed to take us away from the world, we cannot forget them. If you get the chance, I strongly recommend you read Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson.

I am honestly not sure if I can accurately put into words how I feel about this book. I originally rated it 4.75 stars but honestly, it's been like 2 weeks and I'm still thinking about it, so I should probably bounce that up to a full 5 stars. This is really saying something, since there's a lot of historical fiction to it and that's one of my least favorite genres.

Charmaine Wilkerson just wrote this book so beautifully. From the mix of past and present tenses, different POVs, different cultures.... everything blended so perfectly. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel. I will definitely be looking for future releases from her.

Thoroughly enjoyed this story and I am shocked it is a debut! I thought the history of the family was really fascinating and kept me engaged, but I felt that the story could have been a lot more immersive with vivid descriptions of the surroundings of the island, the other locations throughout the book, and especially the foods (especially since the title was a type of food).

I loved this book! I don’t think this is a book I would have picked up on my own. Sadly I tend to judge book by their covers and this cover isn’t like the ones I typically choose. I also don’t gravitate toward literary fiction, but since I was invited to preview this book I downloaded it. It had been sitting on my kindle for quite awhile before I gave it a chance. I absolutely loved it! I loved going back in time and learning Eleanor Bennett’a story. I loved how the relationship between B&B ebbed and flowed. I loved the various settings which made me want to visit the Caribbean. The ending tied everything together nicely and gave me a feeling of contentment and happiness. Highly recommend!

This has been sitting on my shelf since it came out last year, and after seeing @bookedwithbecca rave about this audiobook I knew I needed to listen to. I loved the audio. You get several different perspectives throughout, and I loved how the narrators were able to make those different perspectives stand out since we were switching between them + the past/present pretty quickly.

We start out with two siblings, Byron and Benny, who are estranged and come together to execute their mother's final wishes. Her wish? She has made a recording of things that she hasn't been able to explain before for them to listen to, and leaves them a black cake for when the time is right. This book reminded me a lot of The Vanishing Half. I think that was because of the mysteriousness surrounding Eleanor's life.

This book is immersive, and such a good mix between focusing on the plot or focusing on the characters. I felt like the characters were real, and there were times when I absolutely loved them, but also times were I wanted to shake them and ask them WHATTTTTT are you doing?

I do wish that I knew more about Byron and Benny - don't get me wrong you do learn a lot about their circumstances and why things are the way they are, but I would have loved to learn more about them. Outside of their mother dying, outside of them being estranged, just more of them being them.

4.75 stars. What a compelling, layered, well written family saga. The back & forth between timelines and characters, the short chapters, the secrets, and the breadcrumbing was just so dang good. I saw someone compare the chapters to choppy waves, and I totally agree. I think the beginning is a littleeee slow, but once I got hooked, I couldn’t stop listening. Audio was pretty good, though I think print would’ve been just as effective for me.

Anyway. I really loved my reading experience of this one. If you’re into family stories, this is a good pick.

BLACK CAKE by Charmaine Wilkerson is an exquisite, deeply imagined and lovingly written novel that spans countries, generations, and new identities, tied together by a cherished black cake.

This novel covers so much - family, friendship, identity, loss, love, transformation, redemption, forgiveness - and does it all so very well. The writing is enchanting and beautiful from start to finish. Wilkerson builds a detailed world of characters that you will miss after the last page. I loved Bunny and Covey, Benny and Byron. It was a joy to watches stories unfold and collide, to see how ancestors impacted characters in unexpected and beautiful ways.

BLACK CAKE is a treasure and I'd recommend it whole-heartedly! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review.

Wow wow wow.

What an absolutely incredible book. I don’t even know where to begin with reviewing it because it was just magical.

This will be a favorite book of mine and for sure one I would recommend to anyone and everyone. I must now go buy a physical copy because I need to have this on my shelf.

The main theme of hope. In every aspect and part of this story there is just hope. Hope surrounds all the tragedy and love brings it all together in the end. I cannot even put in to words how much I loved this.

I could not get into this one. It just seemed like another one about a mom dying(or grandma as some do) and the children learning secrets that may or may not devastate them.
The learning about the culture was ok. I like doing that. But the storyline just did not make me love it. I know I’m in the minority about this but I have to be honest. I just didn’t like it.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Black Cake is a rich family saga that is beautifully written. At the reading of their mother’s will, a brother and sister learn about secrets that send them on a journey to unravel their mysterious past. Entertaining and thoughtful, this book is as rich as the black.cake that is at the center of the book.

I really enjoyed this family story that unfolds after Benny and Byron’s mom dies. She left an audio recording about her life and the siblings discover many secrets they didn’t know. The characters were well-developed and I loved learning about the culture of the unnamed Caribbean island that is central to the novel.