Rather Be Reading

“They were hard-edged, soft-centered, brutally demanding, and easily pleases, these women of Brewster place. They came, they went, grew up and grew old beyond their years. Like an ebony phoenix, each in her own time and with her own season had a story.”

I’d rather be reading The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor than going grocery shopping.
The Women of Brewster Place weaves the tale of seven women and the circumstances that led them to the community dubbed Brewster Place.

Brewster Place was a housing development that was destined to be an unfortunate place since the people linked to its creation are all corrupt. Despite the secrecy surrounding its development, Brewster Place is the end destination for these women. Mattie Michael, Etta Mae Johnson, Lucielia “Ciel” Turner, Melanie “Kiswana” Browne, Cora Lee, Lorraine, and Theresa’s lives are explored in short stories that chronicle the ups and downs many women of color face.

The life history of Brewster Place comes to resemble the history of the country as the neighborhood changes with each new historical shift. The apartments interweave the lives and struggles of these women who forge their own sanctuary in a place that both threatens and protects.

Naylor’s effortless storytelling makes this a breeze to read. It’s her debut novel, it won the National Book Award for First Novel, and it was adapted into a television show in 1990 called Brewster Place on Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions. Although some women’s stories are heartbreaking, other character’s lives fit right in to provide the uplift that the novel teaches overall.

The end of the novel is strange and somber if it’s possible to feel that way at the same time. But it leaves the reader with a greater understanding of the strength of a community of women.