Black Cake
Ratings91
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings91
Average rating3.9
We can't choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we are?
Byron and Benny haven’t seen each other in years. Now these estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s hidden past. When their mother Eleanor dies in California, they are left with a puzzling inheritance: a traditional Caribbean black cake and a voice recording whose contents will change Byron and Benny’s lives.
Will hearing their story help them to repair their broken family bonds and resolve their own struggles with identity? Or will they end up feeling more lost than ever? Theirs is a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to the UK and back to California. This is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history.
Reviews with the most likes.
I really enjoyed this book. It is a story of family secrets, what we will do for our children and to protect those we hold most dear, and finding ourselves in the midst of expectations that are placed on us by society, family, and community.
The structure of the book is a dual timeline, but is cleverly done in a way that doesn't give the reader whiplash from one storyline to the next. The short chapters and back and forth reads very smoothly, and adds to the story rather than distracting the reader.
The themes of family, inheritance, motherhood, race, emmigration, and grief are intertwined in a tale that has the reader rooting for the characters.
Great book club pick, and the author has a book club kit with a spotify playlist and recipes included!
I found it a little hard to get into initially but once I did I had to keep reading to see what would happen.
Black Cake starts off promising with an enigmatic premise. Two estranged adult siblings learn that their dead mother wasn't who they thought she was. It was interesting and engaging to watch the story unravel at first, but the second half of the book really suffers from trying to do too much at once. As other reviewers have mentioned, the author addresses a whole host of social and political issues from the perspectives of numerous characters. I really felt that the plot started to drag and we had too many digressions. It feels like the author didn't want even a single loose end, but many of the resolutions felt contrived to me. Some questions don't need an answer, especially if the answer is obvious or unremarkable.
