Not too long ago, a friend of mine lent me a copy of the Women of Brewster Place. As I had never read it, I was excited to dive in. Before I started though, she told me – this isn’t my favorite book by Gloria Naylor, I think some of her other novels are better. After finishing the Women of Brewster Place – a novel that earned Naylor fame as the book won recognition and eventually became a movie, it was hard to see what could be better than this!

Although there are connections between Linden Hills and the Women of Brewster Place – the heights of Linden Hills is incredible. It’s starts off deceptively similar – weaving stories of people and this place together through time and family. However, there is a dark undercurrent of fear, loneliness and horror running all underneath – similar but yet different than the hopelessness than ran through the WoBP.

I can’t do this short novel justice as it is something to be read multiple times to understand the threads between the stories and what, if any, “moral”, “message” or “theme” that exists. I will say, if you are looking for a book that truly explores the psyche of those who keep climbing and those who question the climbers and still the others who watch it all, this is an excellent novel for that.