The Rest of You

I was floored by this novel. It is absolutely going to be in my top five of 2024 for sure.

It's such a beautiful and heartbreaking story of family, unknown and known, grief, trauma, and love. The shared perspectived were a wonderful insight into both generations of women whom we got to know throught the book.

I want to say more but I just don't feel like I have ample words to describe it. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with this story and these characters. Maame Blue is definitely an author I am going to be keeping an eye on in the future!

Content warning - Generational trauma, Migrant journey, Childhood trauma, Racism, Discrimination.

An internationally award-winning writer makes a triumphant American debut with this emotionally powerful story. It follows a woman's journey to uncover a pivotal family secret from a childhood she cannot remember.

On the cusp of thirty, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah, a gifted massage therapist, can sense and heal her clients' trauma but is unaware of her own hidden suffering from a tragic youth.

A dangerous encounter with her boyfriend triggers fragmented memories, leading Whitney to uncover the buried truths of her early years in Kumasi, Ghana.

This multigenerational story, narrated by Whitney, her aunts Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, spans three decades and reads like a journal. It takes us back to mid-90s Ghana and contemporary London, highlighting the struggles of being Black British and the impact of generational trauma.

The book is reminiscing, emotional, and mysterious, depicting Whitney's journey to finally acknowledge and heal from her trauma, with memories of Kumasi revealing the hidden truths.

This is a multigenerational story and it feels like reading a journal. Narrated from the perspectives of Whitney, Gloria and Aretha. It takes back to Ghana in mid 90s and London. For immigrants, life has not been easy, author has shared the struggle of being a black british and how generational trauma affects an individual. The book is reminiscing, emotional and mysterious. The main character finally decides to acknowledge the trauma and heal. The memories of Kumasi unveils the truth.

Thanks to the Publisher

Maame Blue's "The Rest of You" follows Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner nearing thirty. Whitney's journey starts after a dangerous encounter with her boyfriend triggers forgotten memories from her childhood in Kumasi, Ghana, during the 1990s.

The novel masterfully blends themes of generational healing, Black British identity, and the complexities of womanhood. Spanning three decades, the story is told through multiple viewpoints—Whitney, her sisters Gloria and Aretha, and their house help, Maame Serwaa. Through these perspectives, Blue expertly explores generational trauma and the immigrant experience, especially elaborating on the Black body and womanhood.

A standout theme is how trauma manifests in the body. Whitney's ability as a masseuse to sense clients' trauma underscores how our bodies carry untold stories. The author portrays the immigrant experience and family secrets, showing how confronting the past can lead to healing.

The ending of "The Rest of You" didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It confirmed suspicions I had long held, but I was left wanting more—more details, deeper exploration of motivations. It felt somewhat unresolved, leaving key aspects hanging in the air. While some readers might find this ambiguity powerful and intense, for me, it detracted from the overall satisfaction of the conclusion.

Despite its flaws, I found "The Rest of You" to be a compelling read with thought-provoking themes that really struck a chord with me. It's the kind of book that stays with you, despite its imperfections, and I think it deserves a reflective 3.5-star rating, which I'm rounding up to 4 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this book's digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This is a dual time line across both Ghana and London, with 2 generations and their lives and stories.
The London timeline is set in the present day and follows Whitney as she turns 30 years old and is still trying to find her place in the world. She moved to London as a toddler and doesn't know much different.
The Ghana timeline follows Gloria, her sisters and baby Whitney and the trials they go through as a family looking after their orphaned niece, Whitney.
I really enjoyed this story, I liked the dual timeline and enjoyed the story. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and some of the lose ends are left to the reader to work out, but overall I would recommend. It was well written and the characters were interesting and all had different personalities.

This story takes place over two different time periods, the mid 1990s and present day. It is told from the perspective of three women from the same family and follows the fallout of a very traumatic event and how they deal with this in their different ways, how they hurt themselves and each other unintentionally by trying to protect, avenge or just have access to the true facts of what took place. You see how this event impacts on the lives of these three women and ultimately their relationships with each other and also the relationships/friendships they have with other people.

I felt like Whitney was scrambling to make some sense of her life without having all the information. How do you deal with trauma when you don't fully remember and understand the event but it has still had a massive impact on your life. It's asks questions about whether or not you can fully know and understand yourself without important connection, knowledge and understanding of your past and your culture.

I really loved this book, the characters were all such different personalities who although perhaps misguided in how they handled certain things (and isn't that just being human?) it was their love for each other that influenced their actions.

For me this is a story about women and their shared trauma, how they relate to each other because of the trauma inflicted upon them by bad men. Special mention also for Whitney's friends Chantelle and Jak.

A wonderful, loving and heart wrenching book.

Maame Blue is a Ghanaian-Londoner and an internationally award-winning writer. Her newest book “The Rest of You” is a powerful story of a Ghanaian Londoner, Whitney Appiah, a masseuse with magical hands. She seems to be on the edge of her life. She has two friends, Chantelle and Jak, who seem not to speak to each other, but to Whitney. In this part we can see contemporary London. These parts are written in the second person past tense. This technique feels like you should be present in the story, but the story itself is kind of distant. Whitney feels like a part of her memory is missing. While being intimate with her boyfriend, he violates her boundaries, which leads to parts of her lost memories coming back. Whitney desperately wants to learn what happened during her early years in Kumasi, Ghana.

The story is told through multiple viewpoints. Besides Whitney, there are also her aunts, Gloria and Aretha Sarpong, and their house help, Maame Serwaa. The past, mid-90s in Ghana, is told in the third person past tense and shows the cruel destiny of Whitney's relatives. We also encounter a little bit of magical realism, as there is a dark legend told about the Sarpong family.

This book inspects trauma at different levels. Living through something terrible keeps not only your memories and psyche hostage, it also takes a toll on your body. Here, we explore generational trauma, the life of women and what it means to be black and British.

The ending of "The Rest of You" is revealing and gives you hope for other broken families and lost friendships. Even if the themes were strong and heavy, the flow of the text itself was easy to follow.

I received an ARC ebook for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

We meet Whitney in London on her 30th birthday where her chapters are told from a second person past tense, which took some getting used to. We then have chapters from the past in Ghana with various povs, Whitney’s aunts, Gloria and Aretha and the house maid, Maame. The story of why Whitney at the age of three was removed from her home, her heritage and her family to live with her aunt, Gloria in London emerges. Whitney feels a disconnect to her Ghanaian roots and although she’s conscious of not wanting to upset her aunt, she wants to understand her early life. There are hints for the reader throughout this book which keeps you interested and invested. Overall I enjoyed this book 3.5 stars upgraded to 4 for the descriptions of Ghanaian life.

4.5 ⭐️

This novel beautifully combines themes of generational healing, Black British identity, and the challenges of womanhood.

It delves into the immigrant experience and how trauma shows up, especially in the body and in women’s lives.

One of the most striking elements is the main character, a masseuse, who can sense her clients' trauma, showing just how much we carry in our bodies.

It’s a touching, sometimes heartbreaking story about family, love, grief and trauma. The perspectives of two generations of women give us a deep understanding of their struggles and shared history, both known and unknown.

The dual timelines might seem a bit jarring at first but they come together with a clear purpose. Each one adds to the story in a such meaningful way, really layering the story.

The characters are flawed but real, and instead of neat resolutions, we’re invited to sit with the complexities of their lives.

This is a story that sticks with you long after you’ve finished it.

The Rest of You is an emotionally resonant exploration of generational trauma, identity, and the complexities of what it means to be Black British. Maame Blue weaves a powerful narrative that spans decades, deftly exploring the unspoken wounds of migration, family secrets, and self-discovery.

The dual timelines, though jarring at first, eventually come together with a sense of purpose. Each timeline—Whitney's, her aunts Gloria and Aretha, and Maame Serwaa's—holds a narrative weight that makes you yearn for more. The characters are beautifully flawed, offering no easy resolutions but instead inviting the reader to embrace the complexities of each woman's life.

The descriptions of London are very accurate, with just one or two creative liberties about location and verbiage.

However, some storylines feel unfinished, leaving certain aspects under-explored. Also, the blurb seems to promise a story that is quite unlike the one given to us. Despite this, The Rest of You remains a deeply moving tale of belonging, survival, and the invisible threads that connect us to our past.

This is a beautifully written narrative of family, trauma, friendship and migration. The story interweaves two time frames, one set in the past - predominantly in Ghana - and one in the present, taking place mainly in London. Whilst at first I found the narrative in Ghana easier to get into and more enjoyable, I quickly warmed up to the other and enjoyed the way this narrative structure enabled an exploration of how the past and its traumas can affect the present. The characters were wonderfully written and very human. I especially enjoyed reading about their relationships and desperate attempts to maintain them across borders, traumas and time. I would, however, say that this is a very heavy book and has a number of possible triggers (including domestic abuse, chiid abuse, murder and rape) for its readers which they should be aware of before picking up this book. With this in mind, it is a fantastic exploration of the human experience across time and continents.