RaveThe New York Times Book Review... [a] fierce, loving group portrait ... Despite Gloria Naylor\'s shrewd and lyrical portrayal of many of the realities of black life (her scene of services in the Canaan Baptist Church is brilliant), \'The Women of Brewster Place\' isn\'t realistic fiction - it is mythic. Nothing supernatural happens in it, yet its vivid, earthy characters (especially Mattie) seem constantly on the verge of breaking out into magical powers ... Naylor bravely risks sentimentality and melodrama to write her compassion and outrage large, and she pulls it off triumphantly.
