PositiveThe BBC... has \'readability\' ... The portraits are well-drawn if a little sketchy ... Bernadine Evaristo is a good writer. She\'s funny, precise and confident. Her characters have plenty to say, most of it worth listening to, some of it enlightening ... Full stops are abandoned in preference for a poetic style of punctuation with line breaks used to control rhythm and beat...the technique works a treat with prose flowing and sparkling like the prosecco at Amma\'s after-party ... The collage of well-composed individual stories the author has constructed into a single, albeit fragmented novel, succeeds in depicting a rich and textured account of life in Britain as seen and experienced by her cast of characters. It is very nearly a great book, but not quite. The cracks appear about two-thirds through the novel, when it becomes apparent that the sum is never going to be greater than the parts...instead of building the story and developing the protagonists and their relationships, we are given yet another batch of brief biographies, all of which are fine in isolation - some excellent, actually - but they are too much in the context of the whole ... becomes a bit monotonous, a tad formulaic; a little predictable ... Evaristo does attempt to add drama and three-dimensionality by way of chapter-connecting plot devices, but the set-ups are too obvious and the pay-offs routine ... leaves you frustrated - too many delicious starters without a truly satisfying main course. In fact, it is doubly frustrating, because this is a book with so much going for it: compelling characters discussing important subjects with intelligence and verve. It is disappointing to be denied the chance to get to know some of them better ... a strikingly contemporary novel that has plenty to say (it very occasionally spills over into lecturing), and does so with some of the finest writing I\'ve read in a long time.
