A review by serendipitysbooks
What You Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
What You Owe Me is a multi-generational family saga and is centred on the cosmetics industry. It begins in the late 1940s when a tentative work friendship develops between, Hosanna who is Black, and Gilda, a Holocaust survivor, leading to them establishing a small cosmetics business. Then there is a betrayal, the plot jumps forward 50 years and the lens widens to include a wider range of characters and their many intertwined storylines. In many ways this was a shame since the main thread gets somewhat lost. While I didn’t hate the reading experience and liked the nuance with which one of the main themes (how children respond to their parents’s expectations) was explored, I do think a tighter focus in the second half would have made for a more satisfying reading experience. 
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