Book review: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a lovely, funny, sarcastic and yearing-for-a-London-now-lost read. Though filled with ideas, and a deserved winner of awards, it didn't feel "literary" - it was such a joy to read.

"Girl, Woman, Other" is the great, last Brexit and pre-COVID19 British novel. The characters mention Brexit and you can't help but wonder (as you read the book in your quarantine) what the multitude of characters portrayed here would do once the virus disrupted their lives.

Some may feel there are too many characters (like some in my bookclub did). One character's story bleeds into the next, until strange connections pop up, forming part of the novel's humour, charm and surprise. The novel opens and closes with the press night of a lesbian play at the National Theatre, which amused me greatly as I used to work for the NT's press office (and no, we did not have waiters on those nights or serve champagne - it was just regular white and red wine that reviewers and friends of the cast could help themselves to - but everything else was correctly portrayed.)

All types of women and transexuals get to share their voices here. Identity is a constant question, a mark of struggle and suffering, but also how so many of these women find each other, and find love in their lives. But the main theme, to me, seemed to be the ultimate inability to understand each other - that inevitably, identity was a very private choice (or stamp given by destiny) that nobody can change, regardless of who they are to you. Even the text itself plays with form, sometimes unsuccessfully, but always in an interesting manner.

All characters were flawed and very recognisable, especially if you are a Londoner. Being now away for 8 months from the Big Smoke I felt immediately back there. I also was left wanting to read everything else by Evaristo, while sitting in a London pub sipping on a pint.



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