"I lifted my head to look up into the changing leaves, thinking how at some point, we were all headed home. At some point, all of this, everything and everyone, became memory."
Another Brooklyn was a great title to give this story due to Brooklyn being personified in the novel. It was as if Brooklyn as an actual person due to the fact that 70’s Brooklyn is way different than today’s Brooklyn due to the memoir at the beginning of the book reading For Bushwick (1970-1990) In Memory. Back in the 70’s Brooklyn and Queens were neighborhoods that a lot of low class families lived in where but today the city has been gentrified where now you can barely afford to live in Brooklyn because of upper class families now coming in and pushing the poor out. ("Gentrification in Brooklyn, NY")
Much like The House on Mango Street, Another Brooklyn dealt really well with discussing the growth of our main character, August. This is an easy read, all you need is a warm blanket and a comfortable position and you can knock this book out in a couple of hours. I loved how well the novel did with going down the timeline of August’s life to me that’s the best part about a ‘coming-of-age’ book where I’m reflecting back on a character to see what made them how they are as an adult. It’s kind of like going to therapy (as an adult) if you think about it, you go and have a sit down with your therapist and reflect on your past. Matter of fact that’s sort of what August did in the novel, she went to meet with her therapist, Sister Sonja.
This novel dealt a lot with August’s past in accordance to death of her mother, now what I felt could’ve been touched on a little more in the story was when exactly did August’s mother past. Did she past as soon as the kids moved to Brooklyn? A couple of years after? We know she passed due to her questioning her father who’s ashes were in the urn only for him to reply, “You know who’s ashes are in there, August.”
Throughout the story I absolutely adored the aspect of knowing a lot about August and her friends: Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela. We get to know more about her and her friends then we do about her family. When I first read the book I hadn’t noticed that neither August’s mother, father, or brother are given a name which was interesting to me because of them being her family you would think Jacqueline would’ve. However, when do we ever address intermediate family by name? Most kids – even as adults – don’t address their parents by their first name, but how come her brother isn’t named? His wife is given a name, but not the brother.
Jacqueline did an excellent job on focusing on some of the historic moments that happened in Brooklyn in regards to the time frame: the famous blackout, the Times Square incidents, etc. So I was glad to see some actual real life events being mentioned in the book to me that gives the book a more realistic feel then just being a part of a fictional character’s journey. Being an African American female, I absolutely LOVED how much race and religion played a part into this book as well. The white flight in Brooklyn, the Nation of Islam (a strong African American religion in that time), poverty, but especially how it felt to have an outsider status in your own country. August much like Esperanza, lived in a community of people in her own race. In The House on Mango Street Esperanza is ashamed of her family being low-income, August express that her family wasn’t poor but they were always on the edge of becoming poor. Her and her brother sharing a room while her father had to sleep on a pull out couch in their living room.
Another Brooklyn is a must read for any race/ethnicity at any age. It was well written, short and to the point, the timeline could be a bit confusing but it was still easy to follow. Jacqueline Woodson did a great job with this story, and has another great book that can sort of tie this book together called Brown Girl Dreaming. The theming in this book is miraculous, there are a lot of refrains in the book as well: “It could’ve been” and “We didn’t know” which I think are great phrases that a lot of use could say in regards to our past but even now as we learn more about ourselves day to day. There are a lot of ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda’ moments in my life and I know for a fact there will be more to add to the list as continue through life.