Girl, Woman, Other

 I loved reading this book. The prose bordered on poetry, and it flowed so beautifully. The style lent itself really well to expression different idioms and slang and dipping into vernaculars that gave each character her own voice while tying the overall narrative together. I'm a little in awe of it. And of how easy it was to read. Of how much I just wanted to keep reading it.

Beyond the style of the book, I loved the structure. The books tells the life stories of twelve different women. They're all different. Different ages, different backgrounds, different beliefs and goals, different struggles and triumphs. But they're also all loosely connected. The connections are obvious in the beginning, but they become more obscure as the book goes on and more characters are introduced. Part of the fun is seeing the ways the stories interact, and what the various women think of each other.

Evaristo does such a good job of making these women interesting. Of making them imperfect in different ways. I definitely liked some of them more than others, but I found sympathy for each of them. At least while I was in each one's head. Some of them were a lot more likable than others.

I struggled with Penelope in particular. I really disliked her in the stories of the other women who knew her (a colleague and her house cleaner). After reading her story I felt like I understood her better, even though I still didn't like her very much. But she also had one of my favorite endings, and I found myself hoping for her happiness at the end of the book.

I'm really glad I dug this out of the depths of my kindle. It had me hooked from the first page, and it kept me hooked right until the end.