Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio
Published: March 2, 2021
Source: Finished copy via Grand Central Publishing / ALC via Hachette Audio
Summary:
From the author of Halsey Street, a sweeping novel of legacy, identity, the American family-and the ways that race affects even our most intimate relationships.
A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next twenty years.
On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee’s steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he’ll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle’s headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn’t protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.
When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers-each determined to see her child inherit a better life-will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.
As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What’s Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.
My thoughts:
I love multi-generational family sagas and this one appealed to me right away, so of course I had to read it. It’s definitely a thought-provoking book and one that I can see as the perfect book club choice as there is much to unpack and discuss after reading this one.
There is a lot going on in this book and I think this is definitely one that I foresee myself reading again because it’s just one of those books that the more you read it, the more you take away from it. It definitely tackles some big themes but at it’s heart is the length that parents will go to in order to do what they believe is best for their child. Sometimes that leads to good things and sometimes that has the potential to backfire.
I will say that there are some characters within these pages that are just hard to like, but I was able to find empathy for them and to me that is where the story shines. I might have questioned their choices, but in the end, these characters believed they were doing the right thing and you can’t really fault them for that.
This story is a little hard to get into because of the way it is structured – the different timelines and all the characters, but just give it time. Once you get used to the rhythm of it, it really does come together quite well and I really did like it. Again, as I mentioned above, I definitely plan on reading it again because I feel it’s one of those books that would just benefit from multiple readings.
Audio thoughts:
This book really comes alive on the audio and the narrator, Bahni Turpin, does a fantastic job with the performance. She gives all the characters their own unique voices and her pacing and intonation is spot on. I really enjoyed listening to this one.
