I waited too long to read Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. I had a feeling I was going to love this one, because so many of my reader friends with similar taste loved it, so I nominated it for book club. I am so glad I did because I did love it! The chapters are essentially interconnected short stories - each chapter follows a Black British woman (plus one non-binary identifying character) that relates somehow to other characters in the book, but the relationships between them aren’t the most important thing, so don’t worry too much if you aren’t taking notes. I found it easier to treat them as almost unrelated, and then it felt like when I made the connections, it was a bonus.

Almost every single section was compelling to me. These women were strong, they were flawed, they were doing their best, and they felt completely real. This book is written in a stream of consciousness style with no punctuation, but once I got into the flow, I was hooked and fully invested. I felt like it almost read faster because of that. This book touches on a lot of important themes of modern literature - feminism, racism, sexuality and gender, and more - while never feeling preachy. I absolutely loved this one and I’m so glad I finally picked it up. If this has been lingering on your shelves, I encourage you to do the same!