Girl, Woman, Other – Book Review
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo is a multiple perspective non chronological fiction novel that speaks on interconnectedness, womanhood, race and culture. This was a joyous reading for me, this book was like coming home, exactly the kind of book I’ve needed for so long. The book is about the lives of twelve women, their inner thoughts and experiences. The characters feel real and tangible at often points during reading I wondered if she had interviewed twelve women and written their lives into fictional characters.
Evaristo’s writing style is insightful, funny and ironic. Her fiction fusion writing style is immensely enjoyable. The unpunctuation narration and dialogue flows together, further highlighting the point of where multiple trains of thought link together to create a true picture of a person.
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The story starts off with Amma’s play opening and though many of the women are directly linked to each other, they tend to go in threes. And at points it felt that much of the internal monologues in the individual stories couldn’t possibly relate to any of the other counterparts of the novel, quite drastically in opposition. However the strength of Evaristo’s writing guides us to see that despite the differences in ideology, the pressures and boxes the world tries to put them in is remarkably similar.
This book is very good for readers who love stories with multiple distinct characters with widely different and sometimes conflicting perspectives, and can keep track of multiple characters with different perspectives. Every character’s story grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go, this book has had a very tangible impact on me. As even the characters I couldn’t quite relate to, the details and nuances of their struggles and experiences opened my eyes in many ways. As well as the character’s experiences I did relate to, some of the feelings Evaristo wrote about I didn’t even have a voice for until the reading of this book.
The interwovenness of this book makes us all feel like we are connected to each other in one way or another, whether we are girl, woman or other.
