Woodson tells a complex story in many disconnected pieces. As far as creating character, mood, and image, she excels, though sometimes the plot is confusing and I felt like I was "missing" something several times. This is well-done, though I definitely like Brown Girl Dreaming better. 3.5 stars.

This novel reminds me of Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous- beautifully written, powerful, and haunting. In the same way, it is more of a poem than a book. For me, that means rather than remembering individual characters or plot, I will reach for this from time to time to revisit moving moments and sentences.

I had heard so much about this book that when I saw it at the library I brought it home. The librarian's eyes shot up--did I have time to read it? she asked. Its a small book, I'll fit it in, I replied.

I read it in an evening.

What a beautiful book. I loved it. Woodson wanted to write about growing up a girl in this country, drawing from memories of her teenage years. She created four girls whose friendship creates a safe haven.

August has come north to Brooklyn with her father and little brother. She watches and envies the girls who play on the street below their apartment. When she finally meets them, they claim her, saying, "You belong to us now."

"And for so many years, it was true," Woodson writes.

"What did you see in me? I'd ask years later.

You looked lost, Gigi whispered. Lost and beautiful.

And hungry, Angela added. you looked so hungry.

And as we stood half circle in the bright school yard, we saw the lost and beautiful and hungry in each of us. We saw home."

And with that scene I was caught in Woodson's story-web, wishing I had been one of those girls who had so early found a home in a threatening and changing world.

Adult August returns to Brooklyn for her father's dying and death, the memories return of growing up, of changing bodies attracting men, the discover of hidden talents and gifts. It is a story of 'white flight', addict war vets lurking in hallways and accosting young girls, and of parents who want the best for their daughter or who are incapable of caring for their children. The girls grow up, imagining 'another Brooklyn,' another reality to be claimed.

Woodson writes. "Creating a novel means moving into the past, the hoped for, the imagined. It is an emotional journey fraught at times with characters who don't always do or say what a writer wishes...in many ways, the characters a writer creates have always existed somewhere."

These girls will exist in my heart for a long time.

This was reflection of a girl named August's coming of age in Brooklyn while she also struggles with the absence of her mother. The book interested me from the begiining and I wanted to find out what happened to August. Overall, the book ws just okay. I had difficulty connecting with the characters and the flow of the novel was not that good. I appreciate the author's observations and decsription of Brooklyn as I have spent many years in Brookly.

A concise and lyrical novel about a young girl growing up in 1970s Brooklyn, the forming and unravelling of her tight-knit group of friends and her attempt to find her way in the world.