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(4.5) | 4 | "A riveting exploration of the complexity within mother-daughter relationships and the dynamic vitality of Vancouver's former Hogan's Alley neighbourhood. 1930s, Hogan's Alley--a thriving Black and immigrant community located in Vancouver's East End. Junie is a creative, observant child who moves to the alley with her mother, Maddie: a jazz singer with a growing alcohol dependency. Junie quickly makes meaningful relationships with two mentors and a girl her own age, Estelle, whose resilient and entrepreneurial mother is grappling with white scrutiny and the fact that she never really wanted a child. As Junie finds adulthood, exploring her artistic talents and burgeoning sexuality, her mother sinks further into the bottle while the thriving neighbourhood--once gushing with potential--begins to change. As her world opens, Junie intuits the opposite for the community she loves. Told through the fascinating lens of a bright woman in an oft-disquieting world, this book is intimate and urgent--not just an unflinching look at the destruction of a vibrant community, but a celebration of the Black lives within."--… (more) |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions "A riveting exploration of the complexity within mother-daughter relationships and the dynamic vitality of Vancouver's former Hogan's Alley neighbourhood. 1930s, Hogan's Alley--a thriving Black and immigrant community located in Vancouver's East End. Junie is a creative, observant child who moves to the alley with her mother, Maddie: a jazz singer with a growing alcohol dependency. Junie quickly makes meaningful relationships with two mentors and a girl her own age, Estelle, whose resilient and entrepreneurial mother is grappling with white scrutiny and the fact that she never really wanted a child. As Junie finds adulthood, exploring her artistic talents and burgeoning sexuality, her mother sinks further into the bottle while the thriving neighbourhood--once gushing with potential--begins to change. As her world opens, Junie intuits the opposite for the community she loves. Told through the fascinating lens of a bright woman in an oft-disquieting world, this book is intimate and urgent--not just an unflinching look at the destruction of a vibrant community, but a celebration of the Black lives within."-- ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
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amazon ca:A riveting exploration of the complexity within mother-daughter relationships and the dynamic vitality of Vancouver's former Hogan's Alley neighbourhood.
1930s, Hogan's Alley—a thriving Black and immigrant community located in Vancouver's East End. Junie is a creative, observant child who moves to the alley with her mother, Maddie: a jazz singer with a growing alcohol dependency. Junie quickly makes meaningful relationships with two mentors and a girl her own age, Estelle, whose resilient and entrepreneurial mother is grappling with white scrutiny and the fact that she never really wanted a child.
As Junie finds adulthood, exploring her artistic talents and burgeoning sexuality, her mother sinks further into the bottle while the thriving neighbourhood—once gushing with potential—begins to change. As her world opens, Junie intuits the opposite for the community she loves.
Told through the fascinating lens of a bright woman in an oft-disquieting world, this book is intimate and urgent—not just an unflinching look at the destruction of a vibrant community, but a celebration of the Black lives within.  | |
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Knight does a fantastic job of putting the reader right in the middle of the East End of Vancouver; the descriptions are vivid, and it's interesting to see it through the different characters' eyes. The characters themselves are distinct, strong women in their own ways, albeit none of them are perfect. Knight's prose is melodic, beautiful without becoming over-the-top, and it makes for quick, enjoyable reading.
My main critiques apply mostly to the beginning of the novel, when Junie is still a child. She seemed very naive for her age, and while that's not inherently a bad thing, I had a hard time believing she was thirteen and not, say, ten. There were also parts that seemed to be outright stating on the page what Knight was trying to get at; I felt this most with Miss Shirley, although some of the other characters had their moments, too. Again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it felt heavy-handed enough that it took me out of the story in several places.
Overall, this is a really poignant novel. Knight delivers on all fronts, and there is something for most readers to like here. I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, feminist or queer fiction, or literary fiction.
Thank you to Book*hug and NetGalley for providing a copy for review. (