The prose was difficult for me to stick with--there was a lot of detail I didn't think was necessary, told in a present-tense vernacular voice that didn't grab me.

I’m finding a lot of ARCs aren’t formatted properly for Kindle. So it becomes an exercise in tedium to read them, making my enjoyment lessen. I’m not going to fight with an ARC.

I have been trying to come up with a way to describe this novel which is comprised of multiple first person point of view characters - both girls and women - each narrative centering around the death of a local teenaged girl. It wasn't until the final sentence of the novel - which I won't spoil here - that it came to me via the author's own words. The story feels like a kaleidoscope - confettied, fractured, yet also circling in surprising patterns, at the center of which is Lucy (the girl who died).

I always caution my writing students when they consider alternating first person perspectives: it's tricky to pull off. But Grabowski skillfully and clearly delineates each of these characters. And from those at the periphery of Lucy's story to her own grieving mother, we circle closer and closer to Lucy and to understanding what happened to her.

The one byproduct of so many points of view (and none of them repeated or returned to) is that the reader's time with each character was limited to a single chapter, making it difficult to invest in any of them. But ultimately, the cumulative effect is the vivid portrait of a town, of a community, and of a single lost girl.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to take an early peek at WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST.

3.5 Stars

I found it difficult to engage with this book; parts captivated me but others left me bored.

In Nashquitten, Massachusetts, a fictional coastal community, teenaged Lucy Anderson dies at a house party after a fall. The circumstances around her death are not clear: Was it an accident? Was it caused by a medical emergency? Was it suicide? Was she deliberately pushed?

The novel is divided into two sections: Pre and Post. Various women and teenaged girls, five in each section, speak about their lives before and after Lucy’s death. All ten are connected to Lucy, some very closely and some more peripherally. For instance, we hear from the president of the PTA at Lucy’s school, Lucy’s best friend, and Lucy’s mother. Sometimes characters will reappear. Jane is the first narrator in the Pre section, but she makes a cameo in the third chapter and is a character in the fourth Post story. The principal of Lucy’s school is not one of the ten narrators but drifts in and out of several chapters. Sometimes a character appears but is not clearly identified until later; this is the case with Maureen who actually talks to Jane in the first chapter though she is unnamed until she narrates the eighth chapter.

There is the mystery of how Lucy fell to her death, and people do speculate about assigning blame. Though there is no definite conclusion, the addition of perspectives negates some theories. But there are other mysteries: Why does Layla advise Sophia to write about her mother in her university application essay? What is in the video posted about Lucy and who is responsible for it? What will happen to Robert Taylor? Why is Eric sent home from his part-time job? Finding the answers for these questions does provide motivation to continue reading.

As the title implies, the focus is on women and girls. The book does touch on some of the difficulties of being female in a small community where everyone knows everyone or thinks they know everything about everyone. Virtually all the females are aware of societal expectations and judgments. Anonymity and privacy are virtually impossible and reputations quickly ruined. Two observations made by the PTA CEO really caught my attention; looking at a mural of the Virgin Mary, she muses “You know a man conceived her because she has this empty, faux-serene expression on her face that conveys absolutely nothing besides: I am here to sacrifice. A miserable image.” And she also thinks that “a girl and a child are not the same. A child is a pet. A girl is prey.”

Men remain secondary characters and often are not portrayed positively. There are two male teachers who have inappropriate relationships with students. Natalie works for “the founder” who is psychologically abusive. Rae’s poet is manipulative. Jane is being raised by a single mother. Maureen is a single mother. But the female characters are also not always likeable. Mothers (Jane’s and Olivia’s and Sophia’s and Emma’s) often behave in ways that negatively impact their children. All this is to say that the author has excelled at characterization; everyone is complex and flawed.

The theme that is strongest for me is the interconnectedness amongst people. Donne’s “No Man is an Island” even came to mind. What one person does can impact many. Certainly, Lucy’s death affects many people, even some who barely knew her. All of the characters are connected in some way. I wish I had kept a chart of the connections among the various characters because one character often has connections with several others: Rae is Mona’s friend; Rae’s landlady is Maureen; and Rae serves Brynn at the bar. And Rae’s nephew works with Jane! The theory of six degrees of separation also came to mind: Natalie’s best friend is Mona; Mona knows Rae and works with Marina; Marina is at the party with Lucy, Brynn’s daughter, and Olivia; Olivia is the daughter of the principal who fires Layla, Mona’s roommate; Layla counsels Sophia, Lucy’s best friend; Sophia becomes friends with Jane; Jane has an encounter with Maureen, Rae’s landlady.

This book probably deserves a re-read because I’m certain I’ve missed important ideas and connections. Some of my questions are unanswered: Why does Rae hate trains? This book is not an escapist read; its disjointed structure requires the reader to concentrate in order to see links. Unfortunately, I found some of the chapters tedious and the subject matter rather dark so I have no desire to do a second reading at this time.

There are dozens of small towns in America encircling large cities where industry has departed for greener pastures. Their declining economies now service commuters and, in a few instances, tourists. Many of the long-term inhabitants of those communities are poorer than the newcomers and have interconnected, frequently dark, histories. Grabowski splendidly captures the insular nature of these psychosocial dynamics in her novel. The adults are flawed and challenged by their own problems while the kids seem to be left to their own devices. Nashquitten, MA is just such a place.

In her novel (really a collection of interconnected short stories), Grabowski explores multiple themes engendered by a small-town setting. These include age, gender, class, ambition, education, isolation, and responsibility. These swirl around the tragic death of Lucy Anderson at a high school party. Each chapter is narrated by a different female character with some set before Lucy’s death and others after. The varied perspectives suggest that Lucy may have been truly an enigma, or this may just reflect who’s talking. In any event, this structure provides some mystery to a plot that is essentially character-driven.

Although the novels structure admirably captures the mood of townies in a small bedroom community, it presents with some problems that Grabowski fails to fully overcome. The novel is quite disjointed and her choice of immersing the reader into each chapter with little to signal context can be jarring. Moreover, the shear number of voices and the brevity of their time on stage make it difficult to fully engage with any of them.

Whether Grabowski meant to make Lucy into a cipher is not entirely clear. However, her failure to resolve the question of cause in Lucy’s accident is not very satisfying. Did she slip? Was she pushed? Did she have a seizure before the fall? Was it suicide? Grabowski makes a plausible case of each of these but leaves the resolution to the imagination.

I wanted to like this one. The writing was stellar, and the premise sounded right up my alley. I loved the diversity of each female POV but there were too many voices, without enough development to grab on to anything solid. I spent much of my time in each chapter trying to figure out why this character was important to the plot and how they intersected, to get lost in the story. One of the POV’s that could have been the most interesting and could have helped with the ending, wasn’t given. leaving it feeling incomplete.

Thank you to Netgalley and SLP Lit for the opportunity.

Gorgeous narrative structure in this interesting debut. I loved how the tale was told by ten people, five before and five after. Thanks for the arc

In a dying, small coastal town in Massachusetts, a young woman dies under mysterious circumstances. For some in the town, the death shakes their world and changes their lives forever. For others, its effects are more remote but nonetheless significant. As some in the town seek answers to what really happened that night, others are determined to keep the truth hidden at all costs. Through the eyes of 10 different women in the town, the author shows many different perspectives of the event and its impacts, all while reflecting on the challenges of modern life and the nature of connection.

This is a perceptive and well-written novel. With strong and complex characters, it explores interesting themes around grief, ambition and frustration, and friendship and family.

Highly recommended!

Women and Children First by Alina Grabowski is a beautifully written story set in a small Massachusetts town. It involves the lives of mothers, daughters, sisters and friends and how they intersect around the death of a teenage girl. Grabowski’s poignant insights will remind many readers of Elizabeth Strout or Alice Munro. For those who know my taste, this is the high praise I intend it to be.

Lucy is a student whose death at a weekend house party shakes her community. There’s been an episode of cyber-bullying and at the same time, a popular teacher has been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student. The events collide to create extensive accusations and suppositions among friends, parents and faculty. Focusing primarily on female characters, Grabowski exposes just how deeply our lives are rooted in community while exploring relationships – those that are fragile and strong – and how very often it is impossible to tell the difference.

Using age, gender, socioeconomic status and education, Grabowski has a lot to say about the opportunities life offers. Small towns are a rich context for diving into these issues, and Grabowski is efficient in how she uses her characters to that end.

I also love a book with interesting structure. This story is told in ten episodes, each focusing on a different character whose life has in some way intersected with Lucy. The narrator of each story grows in their closeness to Lucy – beginning with a school acquaintance and ending with Lucy’s mother. In addition, the first five stories lead chronologically to the night of Lucy’s death while the second five stories lead chronologically away from it.

I’ve found shorter fiction by Grabowski, but as far as I can tell, this is her first novel. Supposing that’s the case, I’m really looking forward to more by this emerging writer. This would make an excellent book club discussion.

Women and Children First is constructed as a tapestry, ten stories that intersect and focus on one event: Lucy's death. Five chapters are about women and girls on the day they find out that Jane has died; five are about the aftermath. These people know each other, and as the bokk goes on, we meet people thought he eye of one narrator, only to find out that they tell us their story about the same moment in the nect chapter.

The interesting thing is how we get to know their inner lives, their secrets and insecurities - often unrelated to Lucy in the beginning, sometimes directly related in the second part. Grabowski has written a thematic book that touches on many important issues: Grooming, sexual assault, rape, guilt, Love, sibling relationships, parenthood, motherhood, bullying, ambition, adoption, family dynamics, many different forms of grief, art... This could easily go wrong, but overall I thought this weaving was successful.

I do have one complaint, however, and that is the narrative voice. Grabowski has chosen to give us 10 female first-person narrators. And while they are not all exactly the same, I felt that they were not distinct enough. If I happened to read a non-narrative description, I would have no idea who was speaking. They do not all sound the same, but for a first person narrative they are much too close. If the book had used third person narration, this point would have been moot, but as it is, it sometimes felt like a writing exercise by a woman who knows how to write and decided to split the story into 10 perspectives. Because some of them are so similar, I sometimes found myself realising that these are not real people.

A second aspect that may not please everyone (although I enjoyed it): The book focuses mainly on the inner monologues of the women. It follows their memories, but despite a bloody death, not much happens. It is, after all, an exercise in grief, guilt, regret, and it underlines the humanity of everyone involved. If you have the chance, I would recommend reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I’ll start with the strong points of this book: the prose itself was quite good and gave visualizations and motivations to the different characters. I also enjoyed the execution of the small townie “everyone knows everyone” trope in this particular context because it feels realistic. The events surrounding the death and the way different people take it also felt realistic.

What I didn’t like was that every chapter was a different perspective. I think even cutting the total number of “speakers” in half would greatly improve the consistency and allow us as readers to become more invested in their stories. I was significantly more interested in certain characters than others and it made some chapters feel much more difficult to finish if I wasn’t into that individuals perspective. I also think it didn’t need to be quite as long to get the same feeling/points across.

Overall, I think the first half of the book was stronger than the second half. Maybe 4/5 for the first half and 3/5 for the second half, but I’ll round up to a 4/5 because the writing is good and it’s a unique premise.

Thank you Netgalley and Zando, SJP lit for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

"Here’s what happened: I was there. So was she.
I came home.
She didn’t."

To start with, this was completely confusing story. I had to try very hard to understand who is who. Maybe it would have been helpful if there had been a guide to understand the relationships of all the women mentioned with each other. There are two sections pre and post (death).

First pre part is narrated by 5 different women and later post part is narrated by other 5 women. To be honest I was not interested in the story till about first 50-60 %, the main plotline that is death of the girl doesn't really make you feel anything because book does not let you relate to her in first half. Lot many times I thought I will DNF this book but when I take projects here on Netgalley, I try to give my 100 % to every book. And then my perspective for the book changed, I was touched and wounded by the words. By what was happening.

The young girl in the small coastal town dies and ten women tell their part of the story. For some Lucy's death changed their lives. For some even that did not matter. I was feeling why some of these women are so heartless but then isn't that the how it goes? This book is very close to reality so it might feel brutal but people do move on. Those who didn't know the real you do get on easily, those who knew you take a while but they do too because that's life.

First I couldn't really make point of the book but then slowly I realised that we readers were slowly moving towards death of the girl, first watching from far drifting towards her as we came to know her through people. First for people she was just an acquaintance and then closer till we come to know POV of her best friend and her mother.

This is quite different book, I'm not sure if everyone will be able to enjoy it as I did but it is heartbreaking and memorable. And I'm pretty sure that this book is going to stay with me much longer than I would like.

Mesmerizing writing a story of a death of a teenager told through the voices of ten women in a small insular community.A book I hated to put down and will be recommending Avery special read.#netgalley #sjp

This was a beautifully written book that was mostly a novel, but also partly a short story collection. Each chapter has a new POV character. It could have been a little jarring to be constantly shifting POVs--I was actually sorry to see some of them go, as they're all so interesting--but there was a thread binding them all together. Plus the book is just written so beautifully it almost doesn't matter who's narrating the story. I had to pause a lot to marvel at the beautiful sentences. This is an author I will continue to follow as I'm sure whatever she does next will be amazing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. Women and Children First is the debut novel from Alina Grabowski and its very impressive. Its the story of 10 women in a small Massachusetts town. The town doesn't have much going for it. Most of the story surrounds the loss of Lucy, a high school student, revolving around her friends and their thoughts. Another storyline involves Jane, another student who is wrapped up with a teacher who may or may not be preying on the girls of the school. This book took me longer to read than my usual reading pace but not because of a lack of interest. The depth and feeling of the characters were what slowed my pace. Women and Children First is an honest portrayal of real life in a small town.

After a girl dies in a small, coastal town, her death leaves a hole that connects the lives of ten different women, each with their own distinct voice and perspective. Deftly written and eerily compulsive, Women and Children First is a compelling page-turner that manages to successful differentiate between multiple characters, painting a chilling, affecting portrait of grief, loss and secrets. The characters are raw and real, relatable even when dislikable.

This was great, especially for a debut novel! I loved the multiple point of views, and it felt compelling to read. I do kind of wish there had been one last chapter to pull it all together somehow, but at the same time I'm not upset about the ending. 4.5-4.75/5

A sensitive plot point that was executed brilliantly. I enjoyed the multiple POVs however I can see how that would not work with other readers. This book will either suit you or it won't. I loved the circularity and inifite feel of the story however sad it was, but it was definitely a book that I think about often since I finished reading it.

I was excited to read this debut novel by Alina Grabowski but "Women and Children First" failed to captivate me with its promising premise. The too many characters, in my opinion, lacked depth and I found I did not feel connected to any of them as individuals. The narrative felt disjointed, meandering without a clear direction. Themes of importance were overshadowed by excessive dialogue in the story overwhelming the narrative, hindering the overall flow and development. Disappointingly, the potential for a thought-provoking exploration of its subject matter seemed lost. I almost gave up so many times which is unlike me, and just as it's nearing the end it all started to fall in to place giving a captivating ending.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity.

There is something about the style of writing here that I could not get on with. It is very disjointed and told through the perspective of many people, which I found confusing. There is a great story in here but it needs unravelling for me, I'm afraid.