It’s my turn to take a crack at convincing you to read our fall Read With Us book selection, The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor. While I’m tempted to just say, you should read this because Kym and Bonny and I recommended it . . . I realize that may not work for all of you. So, here’s my pitch.
Read it because it’s an award winner. Yep. Naylor won the National Book Award for first fiction for this book back in 1983.
Read it because it’s short. At only 192 pages it’s a fast read. If you choose to listen it’s just over 3 hours long.
Read it because it may help you walk in another woman’s shoes. You may be meeting characters who are different from you, who have had experiences that are unlike your own. At it’s core this book is about women who face incredible challenges because of their race and economic circumstances, women who experience pain that is so real it will make you cry, women who are blamed and judged and ridiculed . . . by each other and by society. Some of this will make you angry. A lot of it will probably break your heart and there are parts that may make you uncomfortable. But when we read about situations that are different from our own, when we encounter characters we struggle to understand and settings unlike where we live, that’s when we find empathy. That’s when we grow, not just as readers but as human beings. That, my friends, is when reading becomes magical.
I hope I’ve convinced you to read The Women of Brewster Place with us.
Nicely done, Carole! Three very good reasons to read The Women of Brewster Place — and especially that third reason. XO
Just started listening yesterday. Looking forward to this Carole. And that last reason…thank-you.
To walk in another’s shoes – that’s why I read many books and one of the most important for all of us. You convinced me!
I enjoyed it and look forward to the discussion!
I’m reading it now. My only problem is I bought a used copy off of Amazon and it has notes written in all the open space which distracts me. I haven’t read any of the notes but they just pull my eyes away from the reading. I will plug through as I keep telling myself to ignore it all.
I read the first three chapters and then had to set it aside for Library Books … looking forward to getting back to the story(ies) – so far I’m loving it!
So well said, Carole! It is an important book in the canon of American literature which makes it all the worthy of the time (the short time) it takes to read and discuss!