Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

March 18, 2020 Kirsty Hanson

I’d heard everyone and their neighbour talk about this book – about how important it was to be read, about how funny, real and eye-opening it was. Then, as luck would have it, I had to read it for my MA Creative Writing course, so it was the prefect opportunity to buy and it and read it straight away!

Teeming with life and crackling with energy — a love song to modern Britain and black womanhood

Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.

Feminism is a key topic within today’s society, whether that fighting for the rights of women, or fighting for equality, and literature such as Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and The Power by Naomi Alderman is perfect for exploring these themes.

“Be a person with knowledge not just opinions.”

Then, in 2018, Bernadine Evaristo debuted her novel, Girl, Woman, Other which won the Booker Prize alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. Girl, Woman, Other explores the lives of twelve different women as they navigate their way through society. The novel opens up with Amma, who is directing a theatre production called The Last Amazon of Dahomey and is showcasing it at the National Theatre. Throughout the novel, we meet a cast different black women in each chapter, and experience what they have to go through on a regular basis as a woman, but also as a black woman. They navigate their way through exploring their sexualities, their identities as a whole and their role as a woman in society.

“When they leave for uni it’s gonna be with a huge debt and crazy competition for jobs and the outrageous rental prices out there mean her generation will have to move back home forever, which will lead to even more of them despairing at the future.”

Evaristo’s use of twelve short stories that intertwine throughout is reminiscent of James Joyce’s Dubliners. The ending of Girl, Woman, Other brings all of the protagonists together as they all meet, and there is a feeling of a nice, tidy ending that warms the heart, knowing that the novel has been ended properly.

One of the problems with this book, and with the publishing industry overall, is the need for trigger warnings. Rape, domestic abuse and verbal abuse are present throughout this book, and with society becoming more and more aware of what needs to be done in order to make a safe society, trigger warnings should have been put in the beginning of then novel, or even on the back cover with the blurb.

“Yazz reckons that by the time guys her age want to settle down, her ovaries will be busted and they’ll be on to women half their age who can still drop babies at the drop of a hat.”

Evaristo explores the act of domestic abuse in same-sex relationships. I feel like this discourse hasn’t been spoken about enough in texts and has always been something that was shown to be a norm in heteronormative society, and not society as a whole. The main focus of the novel – and rightly so – was the representation of woman, but let’s discuss the role of masculinity. Most of the men in Girl, Woman, Other were portrayed to be damaging to the women around them, they were abusive and useless. It is good that black women are finally getting a voice in Girl, Woman, Other, but if we are going to feminists, we need to fight for equality in genders, not build a new hierarchy.

Honestly?

This book was amazing. I loved every single one of the short stories but my favourites had to be Amma, Yazz, and Carole – especially Yazz. I felt like I could relate to their problems so much more than the others, and with Yazz’s point of view, it was about the current political climate in the U.K., education… I lived for it.

“Ageing is nothing to be ashamed of especially when the entire human race is in it together.”

I think that it’s important for all women of all ages to read this book, ranging from teenage characters to elderly women. I also think that it’s important for men to read as it delves into deep societal issues such as ‘catcalling’ and the difference between how businesswomen are treated alongside businessmen.

There’s something for everyone in Girl, Woman, Other.