This novel delivers an immersive, first-person narrative weaving together the voices of three generations of women—each distinctly realized—set against the backdrop of racism, family secrets, and the enduring scars of trauma and loss. What makes it truly singular is its focus on the cumulative impact of silence across generations, resulting in a story that is both heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful. The slow, character-driven pace gives readers space to connect deeply with Kareela, Evelyn, and Violet, especially as they confront personal and collective suffering while striving for healing. While the subject matter is heavy and unflinchingly honest, the prose and character work provide a moving, empathetic reading experience that has resonated strongly with critics and readers alike, making it a powerful recommendation for those interested in thoughtful, emotionally complex contemporary fiction.

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We Rip the World Apart is one of those books that hits you right in the gut. It’s about family, identity, and the complicated ways we hurt and heal, and it doesn’t shy away from the messy parts of life.

A multi generational novel that spans decades, we see three women grappling with decisions and ramifications of choices made. As secrets come to light and emotions boil over, the women are forced to confront their pasts, their pain, and the fragile thread that still connects them. It's raw, it's real, and it's definitely a rollercoaster.

Carr does an amazing job of capturing complex mother-daughter dynamics. The writing is emotional without being overdone, and. I felt the delivery was done in such a poignant manner. The story touches on grief, generational trauma, and forgiveness in a really powerful way. Overall, it’s a beautifully written, heartfelt story that makes you reflect on your own relationships.

If you're into emotional family dramas with depth, honesty, and strong female voices, this one is definitely worth a read.

Tebby Fisher gracefully delivered the narration, pulling off all the characters and accents in a way that kept me fully immersed in the story.

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia/ Recorded Books for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

We Rip the World Apart is a story packed with emotion, family tension, and the kind of secrets that can fracture generations. Charlene Carr writes with passion, and there are moments where the characters’ pain and love feel incredibly real. The themes—grief, identity, and motherhood—are powerful and timely.

That said, the pacing felt uneven. Some sections moved slowly while others jumped forward too quickly, making it hard to stay grounded in the emotional arc. I also found myself wanting more depth from certain characters, especially in key turning points. There were times the emotional buildup didn’t quite pay off in the way I’d hoped.

Still, it’s a thoughtful exploration of how women carry both visible and invisible weight. While it didn’t fully hit home for me, I can see how it might resonate more deeply with readers who connect personally with the mother-daughter dynamic or the unraveling of long-held family truths.

A Gut-Punching Masterpiece of Raw Emotion
Wow. Just... wow. Charlene Carr's We Rip the World Apart isn't just a book you read; it's an experience that grips you from the first page and doesn't let go. This novel is a true masterclass in raw emotion, and it genuinely hits you in the gut with its unflinching honesty and intensity.

From the moment I started, I was struck by how incredibly real and raw the characters felt. They aren't sugar-coated or idealized; they are messy, complex, and utterly human. Carr delves deep into their vulnerabilities, their struggles, and their triumphs, making them feel so authentic that you almost forget they're fictional. Their pain became my pain, their small moments of hope, my own.

I felt the reality of it in my bones. It’s unflinching in its portrayal of difficult truths, yet it handles them with such a delicate balance that it never feels gratuitous. This isn't a comfortable read, but it's an incredibly important and impactful one. I was totally lost in the read, completely absorbed in their world, unable to put it down until I'd consumed every last word.

If you're looking for a book that will challenge you, move you deeply, and stay with you long after you've finished, then We Rip the World Apart is an absolute must-read. It’s emotional, visceral, and profoundly affecting. Charlene Carr has crafted something truly extraordinary here.

Charlene Carr has an innate ability to tap into some of the most painful emotions of the human experience and somehow turn those dark, lonely feelings into the most beautiful, poignant stories you’ll ever read. When I first read her book Hold My Girl I was moved by the way she wrote so tenderly and so honestly about motherhood womanhood, and the way that race intersects with those identities.

We Rip the World Apart is no exception. In the book, we follow two main storylines, although a third is peppered throughout and by the end you realize is equally important to the heart of the story. We have Evelyn, a white woman who travels to Jamaica to start her own life. There, she meets the love of her life, Kingsley, and all would be perfect except this is Jamaica in the 1980s and political unrest forces them to flee. Years later, relocated in Canada, police violence touches their lives in a way that completely unravels their family. The second storyline follows Kareela, their daughter, as she navigates life as a biracial woman in the present day. Her life has been cast in the shadow of the loss of her older brother, and she struggles to understand her place in the world.

This book covers so many important, sensitive topics, and Charlene Carr writes with a deft hand that understands how to be honest while also valuing the dignity of her characters. It takes a skilled writer to pack so much trauma into a story while still having a through-line of hope.

I got to experience this book as an audiobook, and Tebby Fisher does a really great job of bringing differences into the tones of each character. I would definitely listen to another book narrated by her, and specifically recommend this book on audio because hearing some of the harder scenes really brings the emotion to life.

Overall, I loved this book and plan to read anything Charlene Carr writes in the future. If you like stories that center people and their experiences this is certainly one that you need to read.

I read 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐌𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 by Charlene Carr last year and I was so invested in the characters that I took sides in the battle early on in the battle for a baby girl born in an IVF mixup. I was PISSED. I was just as invested reading 𝐖𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐩 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 but this time not in taking sides per se. Just invested in all of the main characters, their POV. Their pain. Their fear. It was Intense. The social landscapes of Jamaica and mostly Canada. In me newly realizing that Canada has police shootings of unarmed black men and protests too. That colorism and racism is not just an American problem. The insight into how police violence tore this family apart is incredible. You read the headlines but when the spotlight is no longer there, what happens? The book describes what happens from the POV of those left to struggle with it in the present and the past. What struck me the most is hoe the author writes the way women are silenced and the way women silence themselves. How daughters judge mothers without knowing the full story. Once the full story is revealed, it is even more intense. And it was powerful. Charlene Carr’s writing is powerful. This story is gut wrenching. I need to lie down. This was a lot. You must read.

I listened to the audiobook for the first few chapters then switched to the ebook.

What a thought provoking novel! This is a Multi-generational story told mostly from the "mother" and "daughter" points of view. Spanning the 80's to present day. Mixed within the chapters sporadically is the point of view of the "grandmother" when she lived in Jamaica previous to the 1980s. This is a story of race told through the eyes of being a mother, sister, wife and soon to be mother. Although the story was raw and heartbreaking, it was also a beautiful story of adversity. I would highly recommend this book. Thank NetGalley and RBmedia for providing me with a copy of this book.

Thank you @bookmarked @netgalley & @recordedbooks for the complimentary book & audiobook.

Emotionally devastating. Oh my god, my heart was in a vice from the very first moment and stayed there until the very last word. We Rip the World Apart is an unforgettable exploration of the profound and lasting consequences of racism and violence, and the trauma and grief it leaves in its wake. It’s not an easy read, nor should it be. It was a punch to the gut, yet it’s incredibly important and necessary. I strongly suggest waiting until you’re in the right headspace for something this heavy so you can fully appreciate it.

I honestly can’t recommend this book enough despite the emotional toll. Poignant and powerful, I don’t want to give too much away because the synopsis says enough. Beautifully written, every single word.

Additionally, I must give a standing ovation to narrator Tebby Fisher, absolutely phenomenal!

We Rip the World Apart will leave a lasting impression. Guaranteed to leave you speechless, this is a book you won’t soon forget.

this was absolutely beautiful and the perfect example of fiction’s power to represent experiences of discrimination in order to provide a community for people who share them, as well as allowing those who don’t a deeper, more empathetic understanding of them.
i loved how racism but also women’s issues were explored through a multigenerational narrative, focussing on the connected, but rather different lives of three women. while frequent time jumps and switches in perspective can feel deteriorating in many novels, they worked very naturally here and created an incredibly powerful whole. not least thanks to the brilliant narration of the audiobook, i very quickly felt for the characters and the struggles they were facing, which were always laid out in their entire complexity. the novel does extremely well at portraying all of the different layers of each topic it addresses, which is quite an achievement considering the multiplicity of it’s themes. i absolutely loved this and couldn’t put it down! it’ll definitely stay with me for a good while.

Unfortunately, this one, We Rip the World Apart by Charlene Carr, did not hold my interest and I did not finish.

This story was serious, including addressing current events, and it felt too deep and too uncomfortable. I wasn't able to complete the story for that reason.

This story was very relevant and timely to the current climate of the world, especially when it comes to racial injustice and women’s health inadequacy. I thought the past and present sections, with international experiences was nicely done.

I loved Charlene Carr's Hold My Girl, so I knew that We Rip the World Apart would be full of emotion and dynamic characters. It met my expectations and took me on a gripping emotional journey with Kareela as she navigates a surprise pregnancy at 24 years old.

Through Kareela's experience, Carr guides us through the generations of her family experiencing the oppression of people of color in Canada. This book is very heavy and very well written. I encourage you to look at content warnings before jumping in.

I truly enjoy how multi-dimensional Carr's characters are and how believably they handle trauma, grief, and difficult decisions. This book does such an excellent job of putting the reader into the emotions of a family torn apart by racism and violence, while ending with a strong thread of hope.

OVERALL RATING: 3.75 STARS
I may have enjoyed this book more if I had read it instead of listening to the audiobook. There is one narrator, and while she did an excellent job switching between no accent and a Jamaican accent, there was little narrating difference for the other characters. That did take away from my enjoyment of the audiobook.

The overall story was timely and interesting. I am not from Canada, so it was interesting to read a book about racism in a country different from my own.
The story covers several different timelines. All dealing with racism, assimilation, sexism, and loss and grief, for 3 generations of women. The story also explores the complexities of being bi-racial and self-identity and blackness.
It is a multi-generational story (Kareela, Evelyn and Violet) and we watch these women struggle with choices many women face in motherhood, dating and marriage.
At times, I think this book tries to do to much and incorporate too many themes, which results in part of the book falling flat.
I would recommend the book, over the audiobook.

We Rip the World Apart is a multigenerational story told from different perspectives and timelines. Kareela is 24 years old and just found out she’s pregnant. Unsure if she wants to have a baby, she’s also trying to understand her identity and her family history. We also get the perspectives of her mother and grandmother and learn more of their family history.

This is a story about coming of age, understanding where you fit in and how to be fully yourself, decisions on motherhood, how race impacts your identity, the things we don’t know about the people we are closest to - it’s very difficult to summarize in a brief review but this was a compelling read. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free audiobook.

One of those multigenerational novels that teaches you a lot about the human experience and rips your heart out in the process.
Beautifully written.
Follows different women in the same family to paint a story of generational trauma and how it manifests in everyone.
Definitely character driven and slower paced but easily binge able and unforgettable

Thank to netgalley for an eARC.

When Evelyn and her husband fled to Canada from Jamaica in the 1980s, they were to find that their new country did not quite live up to expectations. At least, not in terms of how black men and their families were perceived.

Suppressed pain and family secrets flavour the complex environment in which Evelyn's daughter, Kareela, grows up. And while their family circumstances eventually provide her with an opportunity to explore her origins, she struggles with her identity and the decisions she must make.

This is a multigenerational tale of what family ties mean, the power of memory, and the strength of the women who are the keepers of family legacies.

WE RIP THE WORLD APART by Charlene Carr

Thank you @recordedbooks for my #gifted copy.

📖 We Rip the World Apart is a sweeping, multi-generational novel, spanning from the 1980s to the present day, focusing on the experiences of three women, each grappling with the pervasive impact of racism.

💭 Powerful, wise, and emotionally charged, We Rip the World Apart is a thought-provoking, multilayered novel that explores themes of motherhood, generational trauma, racism, colorism, interracial relationships, politics, activism, and social justice. Perfect for fans of Charmaine Wilkerson and Brit Bennett!

🎧 The narrator, Tebby Fisher, breaths life into these characters and this story, and was a pleasure to listen to. While I did have to pay close attention to the change in perspectives as it wasn't always clear by the narration, this is not uncommon with single-narrator stories. That said, it may have benefited from multiple narrators.

All in all, this was a deeply moving novel that I'd absolutely recommend!

📌 Available now!

I just finished We Rip the World Apart by Charlene Carr and here are my musings. I listened to the audiobook and read the e-version.

Imagine being 24 and pregnant and not knowing if you want to bring your child into a world that has taken so much from you. This is Kareela, she doesn’t feel black enough and she doesn’t feel white enough. She feels like she has straddled two worlds but is a part of neither. After her brother was murdered by the police as a child, her family was never the same again. Her Canadian mother never got over the loss and her Jamaican father hit the bottle. Her grandmother was the person who was there for her… Her heart and her family are in shatters and trying to find any path to take a first step on, is the scariest thing she has ever had to do.

This book follows two timelines and POV. We get Kareela in the present and her mother Evelyn in the past.

Firstly, the audiobook was amazing. The narration was top notch.

This book hit me in a way I can’t really articulate. I could never imagine this kind of loss and the feeling of not belonging. Kareela not only doesn’t know who she is in the world but she has the added sadness of feeling like she doesn’t have a family that sees her. Her family fractured the day her brother was killed and she had to grow up fast. Both of her parents may as well have died too considering they basically forgot they had a living child. My heart aches so much. The trouble with me is the whole pregnancy and whether she wants the child purely because the man she is with is white. She allowed his skin color to prejudice her own feelings, well thats how it felt for a good portion of the book but finding out that she didn’t know who she was because she had spent her time bending to make him more comfortable, I had a major lightbulb moment. I understand that it was done for a reason but I felt a little annoyed with her for a majority of the book then I felt really guilty.

This book shows you that your side of what you are feeling based on a situation isn’t always the same as the other person. All 3 women had their own reasons for doing what they did but it had negative effects on others. Honestly I was really drawn into Evelyn’s story and it helped me to understand Kareela more.

This book highlights the fears that POC had then and how those fears are still here today. It’s horrible. I cannot imagine what that must be like to have these kinds of fears on a daily basis. Fear of someone making assumptions over the color of someone else's skin.

This book hit me in a really profound way. It was beautifully written and did a wonderful job of weaving the kind of story that needs to be said loud enough for the people in the back to hear.

4.5 stars
Thank you @netgalley @sourcebooks @recordedbooks for my gifted copies

A beautiful, heartbreaking story about three generations of Caribbean-Canadian women struggling with racism and tragedy while navigating motherhood and finding their place in the world. It's an emotional read, gorgeously told, and the narrator has perfect delivery.