There is a lot that I really liked about this book, despite the fact that literary fiction isn't generally my jam, but I also feel of two minds about it. On the one hand, the conceit of the book—telling the stories of twelve different Black women, whose lives fit together like puzzle pieces—is what is unique and compelling and kept me reading, wondering who I was going to meet next and following the Easter eggs of who popped up in someone else's story. On the other hand, I would have really liked to spend more time with a smaller number of characters and grown closer to them, so that the way they fed into each other's lives packed more of an emotional wallop. As it is, when one of the women I'd already met wandered into someone else's story, I found myself having to remember why I knew her and what her story had been and it ended up being a bit of a distraction. I also didn't really need the last section where a bunch of folks ended up at the same party, it kind of undercut the graceful way that the stories wove together (though the epilogue was a really lovely note to end on).

This is a truly lovely book and I absolutely recommend, there are just a few bits that kept from really loving it, despite everything that's really great about it.