Brown Girls A Novel by Daphne Palasi Andreades

 Book Excerpt:

"If you really want to know, we are the color of 7-Eleven root beer. The color of sand at Rockaway Beach when it blisters the bottoms of our feet. Color of soil . . .

Welcome to Queens, where streets echo with languages from all over the globe, subways rumble above dollar stores, trees bloom and topple over sidewalks. The funky scent of the Atlantic Ocean wafts in from Rockaway Beach. Within New York City's most vibrant and eclectic boroughs, young women of color like Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique, and countless others attempt to reconcile their immigrant backgrounds with the American culture in which they come of age. Here, they become friends for life—or so they vow.

Exuberant and wild, together they roam The City That Never Sleeps, sings Mariah Carey at the tops of their lungs, yearns for crushes who pay them no mind—and break the hearts of those who do—all while trying to heed their mothers' commands to be obedient daughters. But as they age, their paths diverge, and rifts form between them, as some choose to remain on familiar streets, while others find themselves ascending in the world, beckoned by existences foreign and seemingly at odds with their humble roots.

A blazingly original debut novel told by a chorus of unforgettable voices, Brown Girls illustrates a collective portrait of childhood, adulthood, and beyond and is a striking exploration of female friendship, a powerful depiction of women of color attempting to forge their place in the world today. For even as the conflicting desires of ambition and loyalty, freedom and commitment, adventure and stability risk dividing them, it is to one another—and to Queens—that the girls ultimately return."

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.