United States
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What's Mine and Yours
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
An instant New York Times bestseller!
"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.
A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the next twenty years.
On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee's steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he'll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle's headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn't protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.
When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers-each determined to see her child inherit a better life-will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.
As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What's Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.
An instant New York Times bestseller!
"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.
A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the next twenty years.
On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee's steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he'll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle's headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn't protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.
When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers-each determined to see her child inherit a better life-will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.
As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What's Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.
Editorial Reviews
"At its heart, What's Mine and Yours is a coming-of-age story-one that examines the unraveling of marriages, complexities of siblinghood and reckonings with parents… 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
"The complex characters will stay with you-maybe even change you."―People
"Coster's remarkable characters, each one of them authentically flawed and gorgeously realized, propel this wise and loving story ever forward, making for a graceful meditation on family, inequality, and the ties that bind."
―Esquire
"Coster is an exacting observer but also an endlessly generous one… It's the individual moments that are exquisite, each chapter a tiny snapshot of a whole world. Tender but-miraculously-never sentimental."
―Kirkus (starred review)
"What's Mine and Yours is a once-every-few-years reading experience for me. I was completely seduced by the honesty of Coster's prose, the tenderness she has for her characters. To say Coster pulls off something special here is a massive understatement. I've placed this novel on a shelf among those most dear to me, and I imagine I'll return to it many, many times."―Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"Coster balances the tender and the sharp moments shared between families better than anyone else writing."―Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award winner of Poet X
"What's Mine and Yours is both intimate and sweeping: an exploration of many kinds of love, the repercussions of long-ago decisions, and the burdens of personal and political history. In deft, elegant prose, Naima Coster limns passions and betrayals and long-held grievances, the ties that bind and the ones that fray and tatter. I loved this novel."―Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train and The Exiles
"What's Mine and Yours explodes with love, passion, and their piercing aftermath. Naima Coster renders two unforgettable families, their labyrinthine bonds and heartaches, with propulsive and startling clarity. This is a novel of scorching beauty."―Patricia Engel, author of Infinite Country
"Coster… depict[s the characters] complex situations and moral ambiguities with depth and compassion. Weaving numerous plot threads - miscarriages, abortions, divorces, brain tumors, benders-into an intricate tapestry, Coster shows, as one of her indelible minor characters declares, that 'It's only our life if we say so. Otherwise it belongs to them.'"―Minneapol...
―New York Times Book Review
"The complex characters will stay with you-maybe even change you."―People
"Coster's remarkable characters, each one of them authentically flawed and gorgeously realized, propel this wise and loving story ever forward, making for a graceful meditation on family, inequality, and the ties that bind."
―Esquire
"Coster is an exacting observer but also an endlessly generous one… It's the individual moments that are exquisite, each chapter a tiny snapshot of a whole world. Tender but-miraculously-never sentimental."
―Kirkus (starred review)
"What's Mine and Yours is a once-every-few-years reading experience for me. I was completely seduced by the honesty of Coster's prose, the tenderness she has for her characters. To say Coster pulls off something special here is a massive understatement. I've placed this novel on a shelf among those most dear to me, and I imagine I'll return to it many, many times."―Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"Coster balances the tender and the sharp moments shared between families better than anyone else writing."―Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award winner of Poet X
"What's Mine and Yours is both intimate and sweeping: an exploration of many kinds of love, the repercussions of long-ago decisions, and the burdens of personal and political history. In deft, elegant prose, Naima Coster limns passions and betrayals and long-held grievances, the ties that bind and the ones that fray and tatter. I loved this novel."―Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train and The Exiles
"What's Mine and Yours explodes with love, passion, and their piercing aftermath. Naima Coster renders two unforgettable families, their labyrinthine bonds and heartaches, with propulsive and startling clarity. This is a novel of scorching beauty."―Patricia Engel, author of Infinite Country
"Coster… depict[s the characters] complex situations and moral ambiguities with depth and compassion. Weaving numerous plot threads - miscarriages, abortions, divorces, brain tumors, benders-into an intricate tapestry, Coster shows, as one of her indelible minor characters declares, that 'It's only our life if we say so. Otherwise it belongs to them.'"―Minneapol...
Readers Top Reviews
jbanders2
Not sure how I feel about this book, liked the general idea of the plot but it didn't feel resolved, and definitely weak in some areas and with some of the characters. Also felt that the ending was disjointed and disappointing.
Dan BlanknynanaMansi
Too much unnecessary graphic language. The ending was very weak and unrealistic. I can’t find myself recommending this book to anyone.
