Kin by Tayari Jones

I enjoyed reading Kin but don’t have a lot to say about it. The two girls’ diverging stories were interesting, one rising through society while the other stays stuck near the bottom. I felt sad about how both ended. Jones’s use of letters throughout the book cleverly conveyed the characters’ feelings. The writing was good, sort of just getting out of the way to let the story shine rather than wowing me on its own.

I read Kin for a book club at my local library. Most of the regular attendees are older women of color who probably grew up only a decade or two after the book’s protagonists, who seemed to be coming of age in the early 1960s. I’m very curious to hear what they have to say about it.