Black Cake: A Novel by Charmaine Wilkerson
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Web ID: 15435069Enjoyed
Great book, a story of survival
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Still a great read
I’m so happy that I finally read Black Cake, it has been on my TBR for a while. I was expecting it to be a five star read, but it turned out to be a four star. I thought the book was well written, beautiful, and heartfelt, just not five star worthy. Maybe it was too hyped or it just didn’t impact me like everyone else, which is fine.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Drew me in completely!
This book is brilliant. Layered and full of rich history and characters, so intertwined. I can't wait to watch the show!!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Survival, Family and Love
I picked up the book because of the notoriety even though I had it for a while. My paternal side of the family are Caribbean so I was familiar with "Black Cake" and wasn't sure how a whole book could center around the fruit/rum based cake. The book centers around Coventina "Covey" Lyncock and Eleanor Bennett and her relationship with her kids, husband, friend Bunny Pringle, Pearl and others. Story of how one young Caribbean/Asian woman survived a serious of events in the 60s where girls and women did not have a say in how they would live their lives and could be married off by her dad or any other situations. Covey has beaten the odds of bad events and reinvented herself. She is estranged from her daughter Benny. Benny's brother Bryon cannot understand how Benny can just turn her back on her family. Upon their mother's death, Benny and Bryon cannot believe the recording that their mom has left them and the secrets of their family and her life. She wants Benny and Bryon to cut the Black Cake she has stored in the freezer but only when the time is right. They are in shock of what they learn and certainly don't want to believe another shock that they see with their own eyes and definitely know that this last shocker determines the eating of the Black Cake.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Story of Grief, Love, Secrets and Sacrifices
“And what about a person's life? How do you make a map of that? The borders people draw between themselves. The scars left along the ground of one's heart.” I’m so glad that I decided to pick this up before the adaptation drops on Hulu later this year. I passed on it when it first came out because I don’t read a lot of contemporary books, but this was a good one. Black Cake is the type of story that I love. It’s a story that follows a woman named Eleanor Bennett who has passed away and left a tape to her two children, Byron and Benny, detailing her life, including a past that they knew nothing about. Eleanor shares her story from the beginning when she was an island girl who loved swimming until she had to flee her home in order to save her life. As her children learn more about their mother and her past, another secret, the biggest yet, is revealed and it changes their lives forever. I loved the way this story was told. It is told in flashbacks and then comes back to the present. This is Eleanor’s story, so she is the character we get to know the most. I found her actual story to be the best part of this book. I was always interested in what was going on with her in both the past and present. She went through so much and there are parts of her story that are not easy to read about, but she was such a dynamic and interesting character. I also enjoyed learning about her culture and the parts about her island and their traditions. I do think the beginning was a little more difficult to get through and I think that had a lot to do with Benny and Byron’s stories. I agree that their stories weren’t as engaging as their mom’s, but I don’t think it was intended to be. This is obviously a book about Eleanor and her children's stories were kind of just bonuses and a way to show how their lives may have been affected by their parents' secrets. I did enjoy their stories towards the middle through the end though. I love complicated stories involving families and that’s exactly what this was. The relationships between a lot of these characters including Byron and Bennet, as well as Eleanor and her father, were both fascinating and heartbreaking to read. There are a lot of characters to remember, so I do recommend people keep a list to keep track of everyone. Sometimes the characters are introduced and you have no idea who they are until a little later. This didn’t bother me, but I know it can for some readers. Despite some of the pacing issues in the beginning, I do think the book is worth sticking with until the end. I really enjoyed how the story itself wraps up and while it was a little sad, it was also beautiful and hopeful. CW for r*pe (off page), abuse, and death of parents
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Too many POVs.
Let me start off by saying I enjoyed how the story began, that immediately intrigued me and sucked me into the story. I liked getting to read from different perspectives to really understand the whole story but the mom's story confused me enough to take me out of the story. It's objectively a well-thought out book but with how many different POVs there was the story is way too difficult to follow. I did end up having to look up spoilers to understand what was going on and unfortunately this book did have my least favorite trope. *Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books for the gifted copy for my honest review*
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Really Disappointing
I really felt that this book really offered something different and I really enjoyed the backstory of the mother and family. The tie in with the black cake was beautiful. I loved how the story unwound and the pieces came together. All of sudden though this book turns into social commentary out of nowhere and it seriously ruined what this author has created. There was no place in this book for that and it was just forced into being. I understand that our social climate in the US is a mess, however this was not the place to unwrap this. This was just devastating for this book. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Loved it!!!
Title: Black Cake Author: Charmaine Wilkerson Release Date: February 1st, 2022 Page Count: 402 Format: Audiobook Start Date: August 27th, 2023 Finish Date: September 4th, 2023 Rating: 5 Stars Review: When I first started reading this book, I was not sure if I was going to be a fan. I just really couldn't get into it. I think I wound up having to start the book over two to three times. I wanted to stick it out though. My mother really loved the book. For the most part, she and I have the same tastes in books. I'm glad I kept reading it. There was a lot of layers to unpack in the book, but I see that as a good thing. It just took a little bit to get into the heart of the matter so to speak. I found most of the characters completely relatable. There were two that just irked me in so many ways. I won't get into the two. I'm sure that I'm just being overly critical. This is why some of my reviews take a little longer to write and post. I don't like thinking negatively of characters. So I try to process my thoughts. Honestly, there were also characters that I feel I related to more than I thought I would. This story was beautiful. It was tragic. It was intriguing. This author knows how to throw curve balls. When I first heard about this book, I really didn't consider it. I thought the name was intriguing, but I didn't love the cover. Fast forward several months later and my book club was reading it. I saw it as a sign. I'm so glad that I got the second chance to read the book. It's definitely an experience.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com