Recent great fiction by Black authors

 I've been neglecting my book reviews so I'm terribly behind! Here's my first brain dump of reviews!

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

Lakewood was a chilling read. It helps to have background knowledge about the ways white people have conducted medical experiments on Black people and have just generally treated them like nonhumans. For example, the Henrietta Lacks cell line or the syphillis study at the Tuskegee Institute. Read here for more historical background: https://blog.primr.org/medical-mistrust-and-the-historic-role-of-sickle-cell-testing-in-the-african-american-community/

Giddings builds off this history with her story of Lena Johnson, who agrees to be part of a mysterious study for the promise of the money her family desperately needs. It is creepy and disturbing, but lacks a satisfying conclusion at the end...probably on purpose.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

I'm not usually drawn to short stories. I prefer novels where I can really sink into the characters and the story. Girl, Woman, Other felt like a series of interconnected short stories about the lives of various British Black women. Some of the stories drew me in more than others, but overall it was a beautiful book. My only regret was not taking notes about each woman throughout the book...because I couldn't always remember who they were when they popped up again! Evaristo is a gifted, adventurous writer...this book did not follow typical grammatical practice, so that took a bit of getting used to. But so much of this novel will stay with me.

I read Embers on the Wind not long after Girl, Woman, Other, and at times I was actually confusing myself!! Both novels were created with interlocking short stories. Most of the characters were connected to someone else in the novel, but each had her own story. Once again I regretted not taking notes and writing down names because at times it got confusing when a new character was introduced!

With that said, I highly recommend this novel if you're comfortable with ghost stories and reading about trauma. It delves deeply into generational racial trauma, and Rosenberg does a beautiful job weaving together the stories of the runaways with Black, white, and biracial people today. Wonderful book...although I definitely want to read some chronological novels after the last two...where I can keep better track of all the characters!