12 Women tell their story

Girl, Woman, Other

Bernardine Evaristo

453 pages, Paperback, First published 2 May 2019

Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives of mainly 12 women tell their stories over several years. Each character has an individual chapter but there is a commonality between the stories as they are grouped into four sets of three.  

As you commence with Amma’s story you quickly realise that there are no full stops and no quotation marks. Okay, I can handle this and adjust, even though a couple of times I did lose who was speaking and had to back track. In researching the reasons for the style chosen, I understand Evaristo adopted a style of fluid prose poetry across all 12 stories to enhance the connection.  

Back to Amma who kicks everything off, as she heads toward the theatre for her professional debut as a director and playwright at the National Theatre. Amma lets us know about her struggles, challenges, successes and doubts. When you think, you’re about to find out if Amma is a success or not, we are whisked off to Yazz, Amma’s daughter for her story. That is how the rest of the novel proceeds as you begin to know the character, you are introduced to another and their journey.  

There is domestic violence, misogyny, rape, racism, poverty, drugs, and trauma. It is all laid out brutal and honest as the women make their way in the world.  

It is a powerful novel, that takes an unconventional writing approach to land the big messages.