Judge's Girls

I really enjoyed this book. Told from the viewpoints of Maya, Jeanie, and Ryder, it tells a heartbreaking story of how these three deal with the loss of their father/husband. They each struggle, whether it is by hardening their heart, drowning in drinks, or getting into trouble and they only way to get through it is to band together as a family and deal with those demons. I really felt for all three of them but I did like the way Maya and Ryder were such good sisters and I was rooting for them the whole time. This book deals with the monsters of racism (like the hard times Jeanie and Joseph had when they got married), inequality due to sex or race, and alcoholism as well as the grieving process. Those were woven in well, as well as how Maya and the others dealt with these issues. There are sweet moments too, with growth from all of Judge's girls. I definitely recommend this book! It stays with you and makes you think.

Judge's Girls is the story of a family learning to come together after the loss of the patriarch and glue that held them together. It focuses on three women all learning to live life without the titular Judge and coming together in their grief. I think what makes this novel special is how the three women all handle the loss in very different ways. Jeannie, the widow, turns to alcohol; Maya, the adult daughter, suppresses her emotions; and Ryder, the teenage daughter, starts acting out. The book explores these different ways of grieving, for better or worse, and shows how these characters get through the pain of losing the beloved father. The book also deals (very subtly) with race relations in the south. The characters each explore ideas of race as their family is mixed and how that impacted their family and the town as a whole. It discusses how racial bias effects the daily lives of these characters and shapes how they were raised and how it has shaped who they have become. Judge's Girls is a lovely book that handles highly charged and emotional subjects with grace and charm, in true southern fashion.

Oh my god. What the heck just happened and why am I sobbing?!? THIS BOOK LET ME TELL YOU. This book is brilliant and beautiful and funny and lovely and heartbreaking and everything you could possibly want. I loved Ryder, who was smart and a kick ass poet and completely lost when her dad dies. I loved Maya, who takes stuff upper lip to the extreme, but is passionate about making the world a more just place. And Jeanie, who I couldn’t stand at the beginning, but as she is revealed through the pages, becomes real and lost and more... The racial aspects of the book are handled beautifully, with a bit of a smack on the head, and so much grace. This book was perfect.