Girl, Women, Other by Maddie Chilcott

By Maddie Chilcott

I always try to read the books that win the Booker Prize, it’s just something I do. In 2019, this incredible book was a joint winner with Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Testaments’. I set about starting to read it and was instantly ensnared by Evaristo’s stunning exploration of identity as well as race, sexuality, friendship, loss, love, laughter, longing and a bucket full of other emotions. If anything, I was overwhelmed. Totally enraptured by the way in which Evaristo manages to create such a personal and timeless conglomeration of intersectionality.

In case you’re not aware of what the term intersectionality means, it explains the way that some social groups are subjected to not only one form discrimination but are instead bombarded by a combination of different types of discrimination. Just like at an intersection on a crossroads. The overriding message of the struggles of intersectionality coupled with the intensely personal, and borderline invasive, look into the characters’ lives makes this book so profound. We as readers are invited into the heads of the characters and for this reason, we are, to a certain extent, bombarded by this monstruous conglomeration of discriminations that so many people around the world must face.

Before I dive into my (totally unbiased) analysis of this masterpiece, I think it’s necessary to point out that I’m a white, heterosexual female who comes from a privileged background and attends a private school. While I have borne the brunt of sexist remarks, never have I had to deal with the additional pressure of racist, xenophobic, homophobic or transphobic comments. Every day, I remind myself how lucky this makes me. But, for this reason, my ignorance and privilege made this book even more interesting to read. I was transformed when I finished it, finally understanding the extent of abuse that so many people must face. So, post-Girl, Woman, Other, postBLM and post-Me Too, I would say that everyone should read this book and educate themselves about how lucky they are. Now, I apologise for the crusade, but please read it, if not for you, read it for all of those people out there stranded in the centre of a spider’s web of intersections. They need your help. They need to you realise the extent of hardship in the world. As Evaristo says “be a person with knowledge not just opinions”

Throughout the novel, Evaristo argues that all women are bound together by the challenges that we must face living in a patriarchal society. She also argues that while we are united by our mutual experience, we are also differentiated by the extent to which we must suffer the pangs of the patriarchy. What with current surges of Black Lives Matters debates and the Me Too movement, Evaristo expertly broaches the perennial problems of racism, sexism, homophobia without creating superficial characters to act as mouthpieces for a popular debate. By delving deep into the lives of the twelve characters in her book, Evaristo brings the struggle back to a personal level rather than creating an umbrella debate that is supposed to encompass the individual struggles of the millions of women stranded in the busiest social intersection around.

Evaristo also broaches some timeless issues. For example, the stigma surrounding feminists having romantic partners. Since the 1960s and 70s people have asked how can a woman incorporate a relationship with a man into her feminist life? Even Simone de Beauvoir, arguably one of the most influential feminists of the second wave, was subjected to demeaning treatment from the press for having a liberal relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre. Evaristo contemplates ubiquitous issues in such a way that makes them shiny and revolutionary. She brings the individual qualms and struggles of her characters which make the fulcrum of social change. It is this personal connection to sexism, racism or homophobia that Evaristo has created for each of her characters that makes this such a personal novel. You almost get the sense that Evaristo has broken up her soul into twelve little pieces and hidden the fragments in each of her characters. And for me, that’s what makes this book so special and so worth reading because it’s not just fiction, it’s such well-advised and rich fiction that you get a real insight into the struggle of intersectionality.

Another important point to make is the lack of full stops and capitalisation throughout the book provide a reminder that life never stops. The clock keeps on ticking and so do we and for this reason, Evaristo’s novel is ever more fascinating because it recognises the universal fact of life that we are all able to set our own pace. When reading the book, you are not bound by punctuation, you can set your own pace which for me is a perfect representation of life. Moreover, the poeticism created by the lack of punctuation suggests a certain poetic quality to life. In all its different iterations, life often possesses a certain poetic beauty and a certain poetic pain, both of which Evaristo is adept at exploiting.

The emotionally textured style of the book is simultaneously heart-warming and heart-breaking as we see the same quotidian issues examined from different perspectives. We experience racism and ageism through Amma’s involvement in the creative industry through her play The Last Amazon of Dahomey. We experience adolescent arrogance and broach subjects of feminism and identity politics with Yazz. My point is that gone are the days of banal discussion of pain and hardship. Through a collection of casual comedy, racism and character flaws, Evaristo creates a literary collage so diverse that she manages to capture the complexity of modern chaos in 452 pages.

Although it may seem impossible, Evaristo still maintains an unerring positivity, albeit soured by casual references to underlying prejudice and blatant discrimination, throughout the novel. “Life is an adventure to be embraced with an open mind and a loving heart”.

After all she has been through, love prevails. Through all the dark clouds of vicious capitalism, staunch patriarchy, inequality and rage, happiness shines through. She does not express hatred for those who oppose her or her characters, she touches on privilege and ignorance, but still there is a sense of hope, that one day everyone will understand. My favourite quote from the book is as follows: “Let us wonder at how X was just a rare letter until algebra came along and made it something special that can be unravelled to reveal inner value”. Evaristo believes that there is good in everyone, and this optimism certainly shines through in her writing.

When each section of the book ends, we leave with a new perspective. Not just a new idea, but a completely new outlook on life. If I had to sum up why I so love this book, it would be because it made me re-evaluate things more than any other book had done before. I closed it wanting to educate myself, wanting to help as much as I could, wanting to not be ignorant of my privilege. I don’t want to tell you anymore because you deserve to read it without it having been spoiled for you. So, read it please, I promise you won’t regret it.