GSWS Feminist Book Club - March 2024

Girl, Woman, Other

Bernardine Evaristo

Hamish Hamilton (2019)

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo chronicles twelve interconnected stories of Black womanhood in Britain. The novel explores themes of race and ethnicity, sexuality, gender, immigration, trauma, and familial ties from various, and often contrasting, experiences. We enjoyed the ways the novel explored some very complicated and nuanced experiences. There was some uncertainty as to whether some characters were meant to be sympathetic or not and/or what purpose they served in the novel. While we agreed that the author accomplished a lot by including so many different perspectives across different timelines, we were left wanting more depth and development for some stories. Overall, we felt that the stories touched on important topics and challenged dichotomous or categorical thinking. Some readers did not entirely enjoy the book while others would still recommend it. 

The average rating was 3.6