A group of women shared their life from Childhood to their Old Age. Living in Queens NYC, they share their experiences, their difficulties as being born Brown Girls, being children of immigrants in the United States of America.

Written in a succession of short chapters, the book is divided into eight parts, exploring different moments of the Brown Girls’ lives. Daphne Palasi Andreades writing is beautiful. We are immediately immersed into the colorful life of the Girls. Schools, boys, jobs, friendships, deaths, many topics are explored in this novel.

I really enjoyed this eclectic novel. So many colors, perfumes, languages, and musical styles. This book is a true adventure. ( )

The writing had a poetic quality which I loved. Each chapter dropped in on the lives of a group of friends from Queens at different points in their lives. The reader doesn't get to know any individual character; instead, a portrait of how life is for this group of girls/women is created. ( )

I really liked this debut novel. The vignettes show one girl’s experience growing up in the “dregs” of Queens. The girls come from so many different countries. All have families who come to live with them from these countries for lengthy periods of time. These girls are all the shades of brown possible. The writing is descriptive as she talks about things like picking a high school to attend. What the reader leaves with is the shared family of immigrants. She showed me a world of which I knew nothing. Even though I never really connected with any of the characters, I’ll view my next visit to Queens and riding Train 7 differently as I move thorough so many cultures. ( )

Brown Girls, Daphne Palasi Andreades, author; Tashi Thomas, narrator
I have never read anything quite like this. It is a story of contrasts in the lives of a group of friends as they mature and move on. The experience of reading this book was almost life altering because the author has put life until death, on the page. Although it is about the experience of immigrants, of “brown girls, brown girls, brown girls”, as the author writes, in 8 parts, the book could also be about any girl as she experiences her life, from childhood to the end of life. In lyrical prose, many of the important moments of life, coupled with some trivial ones, from birth to growing up and finally to death, are all included in the novel. They revolve around the mundane daily life experiences we all have with our siblings, family and friends, in our faith or lack thereof, in school situations, when in danger, when dealing with crime, assault, romance, lovers, parents, joy and pain. The story comes alive with not one wasted word. Race is front and center, but so delicately handled that it is never offensive and always all embracing.
Although I am not brown, and I did not grow up in Queens, I am part of a group that is not quite mainstream, and I, and my siblings too, could identify with some of the struggles and the achievements described in the novel. We also wanted to satisfy our parents’ dreams, and our own dreams. We knew the experience of being the “first” in the family, like first generation American, first to graduate from college, first to go to work and being independent, sometimes defying and betraying their dreams and our own. I remember aiding family members in need, having disappointing siblings, but still loving them, and holding on to the memories, refusing to let them die. I found this book to be transcendent.
For me, the most powerful sentence in the book was the one when the child declares that she wants to wear her mother’s skin. If only skin were that easy to ignore, the world would be a far better place.
Although the author even discussed politics I did not agree with, it was with a gentle touch. I wonder though, if the book had been written today, would she have judged the one President she did judge, as harshly, since the current occupier of the White House is doing far worse, especially with the raging pandemic.
Although the book is about girls from immigrant families in Queens, it could be about girls anywhere who feel out of place. Girls who are not native to the area in which they are living, girls who feel that they might fit in better someplace else, in another part of the world or another city perhaps, finally discovering, in their upward mobility, that there is no nirvana. No place is perfect, but home calls us all, family ties and memories all call us back to another time and another place with nostalgia, and we are glad to have had that home and those precious remembrances.
The girls try to march forward; some succeed and some fail. The idea is to keep getting back up even when the wounds may be self-inflicted. It is indeed a thorough, sometimes harsh, sometimes tender, look at a life of color, of immigrants and of differences. The hopes and dreams, disappointments, successes and failures are universal, however.
The narrator read this book with such perfection that I could see her standing on a stage as she performed it. Her tone, her expression, her emotional approach was superb. She defined every moment into lifelike scenes. ( )

Title: Brown Girls
Author: Palasi Andreades
Publisher: Random House Publishing
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:
"Brown Girls" by Palasi Andreades

My Opinion:

'Brown Girls' was quite an exciting collection of vignettes in the way this author brought it all out to the reader of the stories of these brown girls [friends] growing up in Queens, New York. This author did an excellent job as she 'depicted the lives of these teenagers through adulthood.' From middle school until ...as the journey consists of from middle school, on through college, going to their 'motherlands,' and then through their motherhood, the reader is given an insightful story.

These brown Girls [Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique], and others showed their uniqueness coming alive. Seeing the relationship they had with their moms was beautifully explored as they needed their commands. I loved the part where the girls were now women saw the sacrifices and the stories their moms had with them... now seeing their mothers as women with their own stories to tell.' To understand this part of the story...the reader will have to pick up "Brown Girls" to see how the author brings it all out.

It saw the girls try to reconcile their backgrounds with the American ways as they came of age. What happens as their paths change as they ascend the world? As the Brown girls went from childhood, motherhood, and beyond there will be quite an exploration, seeing the hardship, and by the end seeing all they had gone through, but they did return.

The author's works give the reader a poignant book that tells us well of 'Brown Girls' lives as the reader will be immersed in their stories. This was a good read, and I would recommend it to others.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. ( )