By Maddie Chilcott
I always try to read the books that win the Booker Prize, it’s just something I do. In 2019, this incredible book was a joint winner with Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Testaments’. I set about starting to read it and was instantly ensnared by Evaristo’s stunning exploration of identity as well as race, sexuality, friendship, loss, love, laughter, longing and a bucket full of other emotions. If anything, I was overwhelmed. Totally enraptured by the way in which Evaristo manages to create such a personal and timeless conglomeration of intersectionality. In case you’re not aware of what the term intersectionality means, it explains the way that some social groups are subjected to not only one form discrimination but are instead bombarded by a combination of different types of discrimination. Just like at an intersection on a crossroads. The overriding message of the struggles of intersectionality coupled with the intensely personal, and borderline invasive, look into the characters’ lives makes this book so profound. We as readers are invited into the heads of the characters and for this reason, we are, to a certain extent, bombarded by this monstruous conglomeration of discriminations that so many people around the world must face.
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