What do readers think of Something Like Beautiful by Asha Bandele? Write your own review.

This is a poignant memoir of a woman who discovers everything she needs to survive loneliness, abuse and depression can be found in the presence of her daughter, Nisa, whom she raises by herself.

One Single Mother's Story is Asha Bandele's memoir dealing with motherhood.

She fell in love and married a prisoner serving a 20 to life sentence. A memoir ensued.

She got pregnant and had a beautiful baby girl. Another memoir.

Asha is adopted and has issues with her birth mother; I imagine a memoir dealing with her search for her birth mother might be next.

This book is well written and has some lovely thoughts beautifully expressed but at the end of the story I felt I'd been a fly on the wall during a very long therapy session.

I finished Something Like Beautiful by Asha Bandele today. At first I was not fond of her sing-song style of writing, but then she is a poet by profession first. I knew that this was to be a single mother's story, but I wasn't prepared for the raw, gut wrenching tale that Ms. Bandele wrote. She pulls no punches and it reads like a personal diary. I didn't always like or agree with the things that she did and said, but there is an honesty that shines through and makes it a very worthwhile read. I do admire the courage she exhibited both in her life and in writing this book.

This book was difficult for me to get into - at first. Asha Bandele writes her memoir in stream of consciousness. Sentences ramble (some have 79+ words), and I'm not sure why some things become separated paragraphs. Having said that, I got used to it.
I've not ever read a book where feelings and emotions were always present. I could understand her pain, depression, coming to grips, her profound love for her daughter, her losses and her endurance of life. She continues throughout to open herself up to her work in progress.

In the end, I felt connection.

When I started this book, it seemed to be about choices and hopefulness, with an innocence about it. However, by the time I was to the middle, I stopped feeling sorry for the writer. I was distressed by the events in her life and what seemed to be her poor decision making skills. This woman is clearly intelligent, but how she choses to live her life was frustrating to read about. She obviously loves her child and very much wanted a family, but I found the book to be very sad. Asha is so gifted that I wanted more for her.

Bandele's book, though beautifully written, struck a somewhat sour note with me at times. Being a single mother myself, I could identify with her frustrations and anxieties, but a lot of her problems were due to her own very bad choices and I did not see this fact adequately acknowledged in the narrative. Still, it is a worthwhile read and will resonate with struggling single mothers..

For a rather short book, it took me awhile to finish it. Not because I was too busy, but because this book just did not engross me at all. The writing is too poetic and dramatic for me to lose myself in the story. I was painfully aware throughout most of the book that I was reading more because I felt I had to than because I wanted to. The writer rambles on in multiple tangents and monologues about wide and far reaching issues that many people could (and do) complain about.

On the plus side, I was able to relate to her in some ways and every time I found myself about to give up reading, the subject matter would get more interesting and I would press on. However, in the end, I had expected more.

I must be fair and state that this is not the type of non-fiction I normally read. I like my books to be engrossing and insightful, as well as well-written. This book reads as an essay, beautifully written and touching, and gives many insights as to love and relationships with an incarcerated husband, as well as the troubles and joys of single motherhood. I think that if you enjoyed the author's earlier work you will enjoy this as well!