3.5/5. A collection of stories that paints a picture of the lives of Brown Girls. From childhood and friendship to immigration, careers and motherhood, the simplistic prose describes all facets of life. It is important to note that this is written as a collective "we," which blurs the lines a bit in the experiences of women of color. This is a quick read that I would recommend to those that enjoy short stories because even though this isn't written as a collection of short stories, the nature of the chapters gives that sense of movement through multiple plotlines and characters.

Brown Girls was a beautiful read, even at its most honest of moments. It has a wonderful musicality to the prose that's lyrical without waxing on too long. Not a single word is wasted in this book, all of them deliver with a full punch that made me feel like I was getting a full picture with only a few words. What a feat!

I was surprised at how much I connected with the 'main' character despite her not being named. I felt what she did intensely. I was so proud at times, and I felt her complete dismay in others. I could see this book being a YA coming-of-age story, something that switches POVs between a bunch of girls, but I think it would've lost some of its magic that way. The gorgeous, impactful language that makes it literary fiction is what sold me on this book, despite my usual dislike of lit fic.

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting and a really unique read. I may not be doing it justice here because my own words are failing me but I'd definitely recommend it.


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

Brown Girls is a lyrical prosem that should be required reading. Highly recommended for anyone and everyone. I couldn't put it down.

I liked this! It's misleading to call it a novel, though. It's more like a series of vignettes. There aren't really any individual characters that we get to know, it's all "we." But I liked the writing and found it very evocative of a time and place and stage of life.

This is an ode to brown girls in Queens, even though you don’t have to be from Queens to find yourself in the pages of Daphne Palasi Andreades's first book.

Andreades takes on the voice of all the brown girls, using interconnected poetic vignettes that take on the collective first-person. We follow Trish, Nadira, Naz, Anjali, Michaela, Mae, Sophie, Dee, Jhavani, Lisa, Luciana, Parveen, Josefina, Maya, and more. We follow these girls from different backgrounds—the Philippines, Ivory Coast, India, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica, Ghana, and more—who go through childhood. We watch them survive the trials and tribulations of that special brand of teen angst that only exists for girls of color who aren’t expected to leave the confines of their neighborhoods. They push through the weight of impossible familial expectations and the painful disinterest of society and achieve more than their wildest dreams.

The part that Andreades nailed the most was that sometimes achieving your wildest dreams comes with a caveat. You can find yourself occupying spaces you never thought you belonged in surrounded by people who couldn’t fathom your life.

What a fantastic debut novel from an incredibly talented writer. I did not put the book down once I started reading it. I will be on the lookout for titles from this author in the future.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do here. I think some folks had issues that she was trying to write within cultures that weren’t her own but I really liked how she use that as a writing device to illustrate how brown girls everywhere experience similar things. I loved how the author told the story and the chorus really brought you right into Queens in New York

Thank you to Random House for allowing me to read this story for an honest review.

After finishing this book I find it hard to believe that this was written by a debut author. It is powerful and poignant and I connected with so much of this. It actually took me a while to finish because while it is actually a quick read sectioned in parts, I had to stop a couple of times to let my thoughts settle.

This book is about the experiences of a group of girls from Queens, New York that follows them throughout their lifetimes. It speaks of friendship, loss, love, trauma but of course it centers the girls and their cultures and emphasizes that there is no one type of minority. These pages are filled with the power of the American dream and the unfairness that exists along side it. What is home or success and how do we cope with the unexpected? The prose is outlaid in a verse format but for me was easy to understand and lends a dreamlike quality to the story.

I would highly recommend this book for anybody but especially fellow brown girls like me. I was raised in a small city but still found myself nodding along while reading about these New York girls that reminded me of summer days with my own group of friends and that feeling of growing up and growing apart and finding that place I belong.

In Brown Girls, Andreades takes us into the lives of brown girls from Queens. From middle school cliques and make-up trials and parties to post-high school graduation career and education choices. From family expectations and get-togethers that defy assimilation to friends and siblings whose dreams have fallen flat or choices have led them to futures they never planned. From being the ones who “got out” (and the ones who are “too good for us now, huh?”) to the ones who never left (by choice or through inertia). From those who studied law and medicine to those who studied arts and performance. From those who visited family homelands to those who never want to. From those who married and had children to those who followed non-traditional family paths. From those who speak up, choosing activism on behalf of their race/womanhood/sexuality to those who stay silent, choosing not to “rock the boat.” And all of them the brown girls who fought tooth and nail for visibility and hope and a future and did it all while singing together at the tops of their lungs and meeting up for midnight pizza and donuts because that’s what being there for each other means.

This is an electric and completely original debut novel. Based on the description, I was expecting something totally different: a story that follows a few friends through their specific lives and stories. But this book was decidedly not that. The whole novel is told from a first person plural, “we,” point of view (something I’ve read rarely, if ever), and Andreades gives more of a survey of the lives of brown girls, with many examples and representations and inclusions. There is a range of voices (I love, love, love the repeated recitation of names) and reactions that encompass more than an individual but don’t assign traits specifically. There are shared traits and possibilities. There are places where realities diverge. I was really glad for the short chapters. With the “we” and “our” writing style, as well as the overview type perspective, as opposed to following anyone with more individual detail, it could easily have gotten out of control or overwhelming (and made me feel distant from the voices the author was trying to highlight). Instead, it brought a tangible life to the page, laying out the small details that make a daily existence, that make a life, and it feels like you can reach out and touch it, smell it, taste it, hear it. There’s a tenderness in that shortness that is a masterful literary combination.

For such a short overall piece, Andreades was able to address so many larger, complicated, issues. She highlights all the conflicting messages to (brown) girls like “grow up to have babies/families but don’t get pregnant” and “study and get good grades for success but stay close to home and do you think you’re too good for us?” She touches on class, race, gender and sexuality, family, style, names (oh so many names and, again, I loved that detail). She shows all the messages explicitly or implicitly, from family and strangers, delivered about what is expected of a brown girl. And she takes the “we,” the faceless/lumped together, and gives them individuality in the myriad ways these brown girls internalize and react to their realities. I feel like I want to really point out that last part again, because it was just masterful. Andreadres really addresses the breadth in the definition/idea of brown girls, and shows the diversity that is lost with the lumping together of all non-white faces. And overall, I love the way all these very real issues and truths are presented as simple reality/fact/existence, without direct judgement or commentary from the author (not at all, not towards a single decision or choice).

I sped through this novel in two or three quick sittings, the writing was just that propulsive. Like I said, I’ve never read anything like it before and I was blown away by the creativity and the strength of the group voice, the many voices. This was so human, so alive, so fierce. Big yes from me.

appreciated the sentiment behind this book presented as a chronological series of vignettes exploring the lives of a large cast of characters, and can see from other reviews that it’s been well received. Unfortunately I struggled with it, I think because the structure was such that I couldn’t really engage with the characters (who didn’t receive much development, in any case) and there was (intentionally) no real plot line to follow. The novel often seemed to be abruptly stopping and starting over. That said, the writing was strong and I will be interested to see what Andreades does next.

“Why did we ever believe home could only be one place? When existing in these bodies means holding many worlds within us.”

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades is the author’s debut novel written in vignettes and having as protagonist a collective “we” of brown girls growing up in the Black or immigrant neighborhoods of NYC.

The entire books is in first person plural narrative and takes us on a journey through time from when these girls where little to when they die narrating key aspects of their lives. Some decide to stay in their neighborhoods and go to school there while others get scholarships and end up to upper class neighborhoods, some go away to college and others stay in NYC, some date white boys, some work in STEM and others in art, and so goes.

I actually enjoyed the first parts of the book a lot as the collective narrative was an intriguing idea I hadn’t experienced before. Towards the final parts, however, I got a bit tired due to the length of the book and felt like some parts were being repetitive.

My favorite parts of the book were the first person plural narrative that made it seem like every possible path mention was actually probable for these girls and all the mentions to immigration as they were relatable and often comforting.

“We become fluent in the language of our colonizers. Our English, impeccable. Our mother tongues, if we were taught them at all, become atrophied muscles, half-remembered melodies.”

This is not a story of any specific characters, but many unnamed female characters who grow up together in the heart of Queens and live their lives together and apart. Trish, the only named character in the group, serves as a guiding light as these women develop their own sexualities, families, careers, and worthiness.

This book is an easy read that you can focus on in one sitting. It is full of real life instances, and for someone who will never experience what is happening in this book, it's a window into a world that I can learn so much from.

There is a sense of disconnect as there no dialogue or a typical plot like you might read in other books. You are taken through the life of Brown Girls, from being young all the way until death. You go with them through hardships, joy, regular life experiences. You find how they learn their identity, how they chose to relate to others that look like them or don't look life them. They celebrate who they are, they learn how to celebrate each other, they learn their own privilege in a world where they are not privileges.

I enjoyed this slice of life look into Brown Girls. I would have loved to learn more personal experiences, but that's not the point of this book. Some may not love the writing style, but it is written this way for a reason. If you want personalization, deep plot points and characters, then try another book. But if you simply want raw moments that happening in the life of these Brown Girls, I highly suggest checking it out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the early copy!

I was excited about this book but I kept putting it down. I liked the idea a lot but I didn’t feel like the writing was there. It read like a children’s book, full of flat statements and fragments but was clearly aimed at adults. It really took away from what could have been a good story about women in Queens. I felt like they stuck a mystery (?) in there that was just out of place. It had promise but wasn’t quite there.

A group of friends who grow up in Queens, New York City, a vibrant and eclectic borough. Languages from all over the globe, the scent of the ocean, dollar stores and subways, girls trying to reconcile their immigrant backgrounds with being Americans and coming of age. They roam the streets of NYC, pine over crushes, have broken hearts, trying to be dutiful daughters and heed their mothers. As they age, their paths diverge - some choose to remain home, surrounded by familiarity, while others feel drawn to other places and skylines, the unfamiliar. A portrait of life for women of color, exploring race, class, marginalization, finding their place in the world while many forces work to keep them down.

Rating 4/5 I really enjoyed the collective way this book was written in. There isn’t a singular person, it’s always “we” and names are said, but always as part of a group. The prose in this is very lyrical and beautiful. It shows us the whole range of experiences, from girls who are dutiful and do all their mothers say, to those who are rebellious and want to forge their own path in life. Those who follow career paths laid out for them, and those who choose to go against what is expected of them. We see queer women, those who don’t fit the mold. But we also see in the end they return to each other and to Queens, where their true heart is.

This debut was stunning and deeply thought provoking. A story of friendship, family, loyalty and coming of age. Well written and evenly paced, a relevant story that was well executed.

Free-form poetry with heart and soul. Honest, compelling, and challenging but rewarding as well. The innocence of childhood being replaced by the hardened worldview of adult life both shown and blended together in the lives of those unfairly placed in the background by their world, their country, and their family. This is a worthwhile read and a great read for classroom use.

I unfortunately enjoyed the idea of this book a lot more than the execution. The set up was there, the writing was nice, but I wanted more of a plot or unifying thread tying everything together. I think this book will absolutely have its audience and I am happy it is out in the world for those who will enjoy it.

At times the writing was so beautiful and descriptive I could almost hear the sounds of the "dregs of Queens." But the book is written as a collective we, first person plural, and I didn't feel a connection. I feel she is trying to convey the experience of growing up as a brown girl whether she is Black, Latino, Indian, Asian, Jamaican, etc but it didn't work for me. I couldn't find a plot and I certainly did not find a character that I could root for.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House for providing me with a copy.

It reads like a narrative poem, depicting the experiences of Brown Girls and I felt as if was there in “the dregs of Queens” with them because Andreades takes you there with her wonderful writing, introduces you to these Brown Girls born here of families from multiple places in the world, bonded by their skin

Connected by the place, their shared experiences growing up, prejudice and racism, their teachers not being able to tell them apart, their brothers going to jail for selling drugs and so much more. “We” as narrator, an ensemble of characters invites us into their daily lives, into their families, into their intimate thoughts and dreams . I found this collective narrative structure to be very effective at first given their common experience. Later though, when they go their separate ways, some coming back to Queens, reuniting, becoming mothers, later dying, I wanted more of individual character stories to connect with, rather than the collective. If it wasn’t for this distance, it would have been 5 stars . Having said that, this is an excellent debut with much to offer. Andreades is an author I will look out for.

I received a copy of this from Random House through NetGalley.