I’ve wanted to read this for a long time. Everything about it spoke to me.

Evaristo’s prose is fragmented and verse like in style. It took a little while to get used to it but as a poetry lover, I really enjoyed it. It felt free and unrestrained.

Each woman’s story is complex and layered. As the novel unfolds you appreciate the little and significant ways their lives intersect.

Evaristo examination of what it means to be a girl, woman or other is thoughtful and confronting. She is able to highlight all of the richness and vitality of women but also their shortcomings. She raises poignant questions around privilege and asks why we feel the need to compete about who is the most woke. So much of this resonated with me both in who I am and people I’ve met.

As a mixed race woman it felt empowering to read the thoughts of characters who thought or felt similarly to me. Being ‘ambiguously ethnic looking’ can be difficult and the lack of belonging this can create for a young person is hard for many people to understand. Evaristo captures the intricacies of this beautifully.

The last lines of the novel truly reflect what this narrative highlights at its core -
“this is about being
together”

I whole heartedly recommend this to everyone.