I started off thinking this group collective narrative was a really interesting way of telling a story but I'm not sure how sustainable it is. About halfway through, I wanted more - more depth, more personal interest and it couldn't deliver on this. I think it would work much better for a short story, or a novella but for a novel it doesn't offer enough to be truly satisfying. Yet, it did also offer a perspective of the 'othered' members of society and how some people can see them as a collective, as a homogenous group and not as unique people in their own right. As such it's a thought provoking book, but ultimately I found it a bit frustrating.

Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for a free e-copy

Well what can I say, I really haven't read anything else like this before but first of all I LOVED this. I read it within hours, I really couldn't put it down

I am not a PoC but that did not take anything away in terms of the writing style and references and story, I got it all but all!

Daphne is a lyrical genius! the poetic style of writing and flow was amazing.

The patriotic chapter really got me, i am a childless woman in my 30's and I felt every single word written there,

I will definitely be recommending this to others and looking out for more writing from this author.

Omg this book...the imagery is so strong. I could imagine every detail. The short chapters, poetic style and rhythm are just so brilliant.

The book follows a group of friends through their lives from childhood to adulthood, though not always by name. Their a few that appear throughout the book. For 225 pages, the book sure does cover a lot of ground and many, many experiences of Brown girls from Queens. Some stay in Queens, some leave for college and come back rarely. Some visit the country their parents are from. They experience relationships, some with men, some with women. Some with white men, some with Black men. They experience their Brothers getting into trouble and treated unfairly. Some what to be parents, some do not.

I just love how vividly the book describes lives, even without naming characters. The way the book uses 'we' really made me feel the unity of the girls despite their different experiences. The book highlights their successes and struggles, their experiences of racism, the extent of the micro-aggressions they face.

I definitely recommend this book, it's just so full of perspectives that I learned from. (It does have Covid in the last part though, which I thought was fitting giving the messages but some might not want to read about it)

Written in the 'choral we' this novella, is visceral storytelling about brown girls growing up in Queens, every detail of their lives are recorded, just as teenagers would describe their lives. Daily micro racial and sexual aggressions are also recorded, sometimes challenged but always noted. For me this is the strength of the book, showing the mundane reality of teen life, whilst also navigating sexism and noticing what Brown girls in particular have to deal with.

With thanks to Net galley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Brown girls is a compelling snapshot of the lives of a group of 'brown girls' as they navigate their lives from infancy through to old age. Exploring primarily the sense of identity and ownership that the girls confront on a daily/hourly basis to find their place in an ever changing world. The anonymous narrator weaves a sense of shared experience as well as the individual strands of the 'girls' as they grow away and towards their heritage, both in terms of ancestry, citizenship and nationality. The voices of the girls as they question the choices made by their parents, siblings, friends and selves are at once universal and unique.

The choice to primarily use short chapters allows Andreades to show the urgency and changeability of attitudes within society at large and 'the girls' themselves - ever evolving, hard to fix down and disorientating to live through.

A vivid book that will encourage discussion and feels timely and true.

This was an amazing and touching read. The short chapters and writing style meant I was unable to put the book down once I started to read. The stories, characters and lyrical voice is exquisite and as a debut novel completely blew my mind.

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades

Wow, not sure what to say other than just READ THIS BOOK! I've never read anything quite like it. The first person plural voice of a group of women of colour from Queens, New York grabs you and doesn't let you go until the last word of the book - what a journey! An amazing book, very VERY highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I struggled to get into this one to be perfectly honest. The story itself and the characters were quite compelling but the writing style just didn't do it for me. It's written in the first person plural and is one of those books that don't use quotation marks for dialogue. I think this can work where the dialogue is sparse but this is such a hectic, chaotic novel that it made for a mentally exhausting reading experience for me personally.

Review not posted anywhere else.

It was such amazing and touching read. I could not put this book down, especially knowing that this is author's debut novel. The immaculate writing style, the stories and characters, the lyrical voice.

Exceptional way to wrap up 2021 reading year. Definitely 5 out of 5 from me.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the e-arc in exchange for honest review.

This book is a lyrical, fun and energetic ride through the titular Brown Girls' lives in "the dregs of "Queens". It races through these women's lives, taking us from their childhoods, first loves, desires for freedom and their growing adulthood, where they seek solace in each other and in community.

The plural "we" throughout incorporates these women's voices into one strand, which at times really soars and gives a lot of clout to a specific experience (that of being an outsider and an 'other', especially in a school where they are surrounded by many white faces), but also sometimes, I felt, elided multiple identities into somewhat basic descriptions.

That said, I still enjoyed this a lot, and thought it quite cleverly articulated grievances, joys and desires in a way that was both breezy and profound.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really fresh read, deceptively simple with hidden depths. It's unusually written in the first person plural, and this gives a poignancy to the girls' stories, making them both less personal but also more unique in the telling.

The brown girls of the title live their lives and share their common and uncommon experiences, stories told with a heartbreakingly light touch that hits hard down to the lyrical beauty of the writing.

A joy to read, sobering and thought-provoking, you enter the girls' worlds and share their hopes dreams and disappointments as you go.

Wow! I couldn't put this book down. I haven't read anything in this lyrical, monologue style before, but it was a fantastic way to explore the themes and experiences of the author. It was thought-provoking, entertaining and heart-wrenching and I wanted to read it again immediately upon finishing. Highly recommend.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:
“Brown Girls dives deep into the lives of a group of young women of colour growing up in Queens, New York. Here, streets echo with many languages, subways rumble above dollar stores and the briny scent of the ocean wafts in from Rockaway Beach. Here, girls like Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique, and many others, struggle to reconcile their immigrant backgrounds with the American culture they come of age in. Here, they become friends for life. Or so they vow.

In this bold debut told in a uniquely lyrical voice, Daphne Palasi Andreades paints a stunning collective portrait of the journey from girlhood to adulthood, set against a backdrop of race, class, and marginalisation in America today. Brown Girls is an unforgettable love letter to women of colour everywhere from a daring new writer.”

NO SPOILERS:
This is going to be one of the shortest reviews I have written as really I want to say “Just read it!” But I will give you a little more.

Brown Girls is Daphne Palasi Andreades’ debut novel, classified as fiction but it reads a little like a memoir, too. Written in the first person plural, its style is quick fire, snappy, zipping along at quite a pace and is very easy to read. Pick up the rhythm of the writing and away you’ll go; I didn’t stop until the last word. It’s intelligent, crafted and wise. I love it.

Now, as a brown girl myself, albeit a solitary one with no peers who looked like me and born in the UK, (also, I’m 60 now, so hardly a girl, but still brown and still with no peers who look like me) there were many moments when I thought, “yes, this, exactly this!” I may have said some of it out loud. Andreades puts into deceptively simple words so many issues which scholars fail to articulate in a comprehensible way.
So, just read it. It’s brilliant.

Thank you to NetGalley and 4th Estate for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Wow this book is fantastic.

It’s written in first person plural, but not in a way that feels contrived. Instead it feels so universal in such an effective way.

I wouldn’t say it necessarily has a plot. It’s just a book about, well, brown girls, living in New York. There are dozens, hundreds of characters, but the way the narrative works it’s the perspective of all of them.

I can’t wait to see the reviews of this book. It’s definitely going to be one to talk about in 2022

Awww, this was such a wholesome reading experience. Can't wait for more people to read this. The characters are so well developed and will stay with me for a very long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I was blown away by this book. Andreades manages to capture an entire generation of brown girls in her writing, seeing every angle and putting it on the page so sensitively and lovingly. Racism, classism, disappointing your parents, colonialism, heritage, abortion, not wanting children, growing up, death - she manages to deal with these issues and many more with such a lightness of touch and yet so much depth. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

I was drawn right into this novel into the lives of these brown girls who live in a tough neighborhood of Queens New York.Their lives place in society at times their toughness kept me involved turning the pages.A book a society that came alive through their lives experiences.The author writes vividly brings their environment alive highly recommend.#netgalley #4thestate

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades is a coming of age novel told in vignettes. I found the first person plural narration quite challenging and the conflation of all brown girls experience as one problematic.

This book is described as a novel but it reads more like a memoir or piece of auto fiction. Told in a series of vignettes we follow the experiences of a number of BIPOC girls growing up in Queens and perfectly paints a picture of the vibrancy and diversity of the neighbourhood.

I was particularly struck by the beautiful poetry of the prose .Lyrical, powerful and real. I underlined several passages which have stayed with me long after finishing. Particularly the following passage abut Death.
"Death arrives on a flaming chariot, mid-stroke while swimming in the Atlantic, she arrives in the dead of night, in a dream, Death sounds like a wind chime and a croak and the faintest whistling noise, she smells like the inside of sweaty sneakers and Chanel No 5, and tastes like water purified by gravel in the Loire, cold and surprisingly. unsettlingly bland . She tastes like shit. She tastes like the best thing we have ever tasted - swear on my mother's grave"

A quick, lyrical read that’s part novel, part poetry for the way every word is thoughtfully selected for an effect that’s almost musical.

I really enjoyed this read, it was so powerful and raw in places and i really become endeared by these girls who you saw grow up on the pages navigating the issues dealt while growing up and finding your path combined with the issues that people of colour have to deal with when they are coming of age and beyond that.
It was so well written and i couldnt put it down, a very good read.