What's Mine and Yours: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Naima Coster
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A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
An instant New York Times bestseller!
A USA Today bestseller!
Named a Best Book of 2021 by Amazon - Esquire - Marie Claire - Refinery29 - Kirkus - Redbook - Ms. Magazine - The Millions - Undomesticated Magazine - Paperback Paris
"A once-every-few-years reading experience."--Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"Coster portrays her characters' worlds with startling vitality. As the children fall in lust and love, grapple with angst and battle the tides of New South politics, Coster's writing shines"--New York Times Book Review
From the author of Halsey Street, a sweeping novel of legacy, identity, the American family--and the ways that race affects even our most intimate relationships.
In the Piedmont of North Carolina, two families' paths become unexpectedly intertwined over twenty years. Jade and Lacey May are two mothers determined to give their children the opportunities they never had. After a harrowing loss, Jade wants to hand down the tools her son, Gee, will need to survive in America as a sensitive young Black man. Meanwhile, Lacey May, having left the husband she loves, strives to protect her three half-Latina daughters from their charming father's influence.
When a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into a predominantly white high school on the west, each mother stands on different sides of the integration debate. Gee meets Lacey May's daughter Noelle during the school play, and their families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.
What's Mine and Yours is an expansive yet intimate multigenerational tapestry of motherhood, identity, and the legacies we inherit. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9781538702338
- Binding
- Paperback
- Authors
- Naima Coster
- Publisher
- Grand Central Publishing
- Published Date
- January 25, 2022
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 368
- Physical Info
- 1.1 in H x 7.9 in L x 5.1 in W (0.6 lb)

I really like the story. The writer's style was difficult to follow. There were a lot of characters. The story leapt from one character or family group to another and back over time from "past" to "present". Finally it bounced from one side of the country to another. Even though the year and place were stated at the beginning of each of the many chapters it was difficult to keep it all straight. That said I thought the characters were well developed and the story wonderfully intricate. It isn't great literature but it is good reading.
Dysfunction and prejudice is manifested throughout this narrative. This novel is just one the realities of our society. Not many redemptions occur, which made it more realistic.An interesting story!
I loved the ensemble cast in Naima Coster's novel, What's Mine and Yours. Coster covers a wide scope in a non-linear fashion, incorporates several story lines, and intertwines it all in such an interesting way. I also appreciate the cultural commentaries she has baked into this, especially the role of schools in shaping us, both individually and on a societal level. The mothers in this book do not disappoint. Okay, well sometimes they do disappoint, but they provide lots of food for thought. This book launched a great discussion in my bookgroup and, wow, I think Coster has written the best first chapter I've read in a long time.
I struggled to decide what to rate this. It’s very hard to get into because there are so many characters and going back and forth was confusing. But, once you get into it, it seems to move along.But the ending was abrupt and I personally felt like I was left hanging.So for that reason I gave it three stars.
Interesting story of our times...mostly present day. Twists in the plot were done well. Surprises unfolded at the end. But the actual END was very very abrupt and left me unfulfilled.
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