Evaristo’s poetical narrative style isn’t hard to settle into. Breaks are more frequent than standard paragraphing. The story is plot-driven and the style supports a clear narrative account of the lives of its multi-generational cast of characters.
“Show, Don’t Tell” is a writing cliche.
we have lots of novels now
where a writer shows us a character telling us
Describing the characters is discouraged
showing the actions of the characters is encouraged
so the novel reader can watch, like tv
and pretend the writer isn’t.
The writer works with one skill tied behind her back.
Girl, Woman, Other has chapters that are characters.
Lots of them.
Each of them knows some of them’
DNA knows two of them
they talk to each other sometimes.
But all of them do lots of things without the others.
Somebody has to tell
not show cause that’s when nobody’s looking
except the writer
and these women in the book are not foolish women.
They are very busy living
and probably don’t even notice this Evaristo character
in a corner at the big party, let’s say, laptop on her knees, telling us what they have all been doing
in short sentences, breathless with trying to keep up
Girl, Woman, Other
by Bernardine Evaristo
New York: Grove Atlantic Paperback, 2019; 452pp.
