This was recommended by a member of our book club but it wasn't chosen.
I must admit, the novel wasn't what I thought it would be. I probably didn't read the description well enough but somehow I thought this was mainly about immigrants and racism in the UK. And it was, partly. But that was not the main topic, at least it didn't look like it. The first couple of women that the author talks about, are all lesbians, later we also have non-binary people. But there are so many people. Every chapter brings new characters that might or might not turn up again in later chapters. So it feels like a collection of short stories (which I don't really like). Only toward the end you get a feeling who belongs to who, where the links are between the chapters. It was all a tad confusing.
I've said this before and will say it again, I'm not a fan of Booker Prize winners, there's always something that doesn't go well with me. And often I can't even say what it is. I definitely would have liked more about the racism topic.
From the back cover:
"This is Britain as you've never read it.
This is Britain as it has never been told.
From the top of the country to the bottom, across more than a century of change and growth and struggle and life, Girl, Woman, Other follows twelve very different characters on an entwined journey of discovery.
It is future, it is past. It is fiction, it is history.
It is a novel about who we are now."
Oh, you're *definitely* not alone in not being a fan of the Booker Prize winners! They seem to have a very odd criteria of what makes a book good/outstanding...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that, Kitten. I have read a few of those winners that were not too bad but mostly, they just weren't my thing.
DeleteI'm sorry this one wasn't what you thought it was going to be. Too many characters does make a book confusing. (And I seldom even try to read any of the Booker Prize winners or nominees; they're just usually not my cup of tea.)
ReplyDeleteNow there are already three of us who don't like Booker Prize winners, LOL. I'm glad I'm not the only one, Lark.
DeleteI've been on the fence about giving this book a try. I think I'll give it a pass after reading your review of it.. Too many other reads out there.
ReplyDeleteI hope I haven't kept you from a book you might have otherwise enjoyed, Lisa. But I doubt it. I have talked to someone else who read the book and was equally distracted by the amount of characters and didn't enjoy it, either. There are so many good books out there I would recommend, this is not one of them.
DeleteYour review most likely will not keep me from reading a good book.... I think aspects of this book sound intriguing, but it hasn't been one I strongly wanted to read. I don't think it's one I'll miss out on.
DeleteWell, Lisa, I can imagine that some people might like it, I just don't belong to them.
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