Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

 

I’ve already mentioned that this novel by Bernadine Evaristo was a joint winner with ‘The Testaments’ by Margaret Atwood, and this highlighted to me how difficult it must be to pick a winner from the Shortlisted books because to have got to that stage means that each book is of particularly good quality. I think that’s what I love most about reading the Bookers is the opportunity to read such brilliant books that are exceptional, and that have the ability to enlighten and enhance my life.

I started by listening to this book in audio format, but managed to get hold of a physical copy from the library and so switched to that. And as a result I realised that audiobooks don’t always capture all there is to a book as in the case of ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ which is written in an unconventional format without usual punctuation, paragraphs and other constraints of conventional prose. Nearly each chapter is written from the perspective of a different person; mainly women, mainly black and from different generations. I loved how the characters intersected and the time shifts allowed for a great depth of story-telling, through diversity rather than a deep dive into one protagonist’s perspective. It felt so refreshing, especially with the form of the writing, with a clarity similar to poetry in its conciseness and edited insights.

The different perspectives in turn each gave layers of revelation and explored different avenues about characters that challenged the views represented by another character’s perspective. This gave such a richness to the lives represented and reinforced how we’re only ever seeing our own version of events and people. I particularly liked the diversity represented in the characters, all kinds of women including someone who identified as non-binary. I didn’t realise how much my Booker reading experience was missing out on this breadth of expression.

Inherent in this style of writing, was sometimes a sense of wanting to stay longer in a particular character’s world, or come back to it, like in ‘The Testaments’ when the story rotated through three characters. But being left with a sense of wanting more was somehow appropriate within the writing style; succinct and purposeful writing with a clarity that could have got lost in a more wordy format. Each chapter was a brief interlude from one’s own life and experience, dipping into an incomplete representation of another person’s life, and it was a joy to read.