Reviewing Girl, Woman, Other: an Ode to Womxn

Genre: Literary Fiction

Series: –

Format: Paperback

Pages: 452

Publication Date: March 5, 2019

Publisher: Penguin

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

GoodReads || Book Depository

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My Review:

Girl, Woman, Other is a true masterpiece. If you know me and follow my reviews for a while, you may have noticed that I am veeery critical of what I read; I like analysing and deconstructing what I read and I like finding things to criticise. So believe me when I say that while reading the novel I really tried to find something to comment on, but I just couldn’t. Bernardine Evaristo has managed to write a true masterpiece, a piece of art which is nearly perfect.

I mention in the title that the book is an ode to womxn and I stand by that statement. The reader is introduced to the lives of several womxn and gets to experience their struggles, their faults, their successes and their failures. Evaristo touches upon a plethora of societal and political issues and does the unthinkable: she does justice to them all. Not once did I feel like I was force fed informantion in contrast to so many novels that fall victim to that; nor were there issues left unexplored and underdeveloped. If she, for example discussed feminism in regards to white feminism and exclusion of black women, trans etc she did so wholly and coherently and in a way that did not let room for confusion.

Now I really want to talk about Evaristo’s writing style and prose. This woman is so SO talented I swear to God. She gave us (if I’m not mistaken) 12 different povs but be careful now; NOT of the same story! There were different povs and different stories every chapter and she NAILED IT. Every character had a unique voice which was totally distinguishable. I don’t know how she managed to create so many personas and incorporate their stories to the one larger story without confusing the hell out of readers but here we are.

Her narrative transcends time; from beginning to end I was totally captivated by her storytelling and her way with words. It is not a plot driven book by any means; to be honest there is no plot. What it is, is the epitome of a character centered story. The individual is put on the spot and is thoroughly examined under the at times poetic prose of Evaristo. Weaknesses, strengths, sins; they are all put under the microscope and are dissected right in from of the reader’s eyes.

A quick disclaimer before I finish this review:

I hate -and I cannot stress the word enough- that she had to split her rightful award in half and share it with Atwood. It is even more infuriating because the two of them write about similar themes and have a similar writing style so there was ground for valid competition. When you have two similar things, you can compare them and decide who is the best. The fact that the joke that is the booker prize jury decided to not give the money prize to Evaristo but made her share her moment of glory with that famous bestselling high paid WHITE author speaks volumes about white privilege and white fragility. What’s more infuriating is that we collectively accept the explanation that they did it because she didn’t win for The Handmaid’s Tale so they had to make it up to her like???? Do they even hear themselves they are not kids to be coddled, Atwood is a grown ass woman knowing damn well what she’s doing. Appropriating black struggle and oppression to make “woke” stories about “feminism” all the while stealing prize money from black women I AM FURIOUS. This was supposed to be a quick disclaimer lol I’m sorry.

ANYWAY, I know I am pretty late to the party and that most of you have already read the book, but in case you’re one of the few still hesitating for whatever reason, please PLEASE go buy Girl, Woman, Other. I promise you will not be disappointed.

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Have you read Girl, Woman, Other? What are your thoughts? Did you love this book as much as I did?