Kin: Oprah's Book Club: A Novel

Tayari has written a non-traditional love story or maybe even a series of love stories beautifully woven together through the lives of two characters of precarious beginnings. There are so many quotes but the truest of them all might be "Atlanta is a black soap opera".

It’s a sin. It’s a shame. It’s a scandal. Their lives have never been fair; they have always been on the opposite sides of the table. Annie Kay Henderson is the daughter of Hattie Lee, who wasn’t cut out for mothering, and the granddaughter of Irvina Henderson, who couldn’t cut out of mothering. Vernice Irene Davis McHenry–Niecy–is the daughter of Arletha Irene Merriweather Davis, who was murdered before she had a chance to be a mother, and the niece of Irene Merriweather, who never wanted to be a mother but did the best she could. Niecy’s first word is mother, and Annie thinks it will be the last word she says before they put her in the dirt. Although they are born cradle friends, they take different tines at the fork in the road. But what you have in common isn’t what binds you. Hearts grow strings out of shared knowledge, and experience to knit together the gaps of loss for what’s gone missing. Love is both the needle and thread that repair and the quilt in need of mending. Like a bolt of yellow flowered fabric or silk in the clearance bin because of a rip or tear. Kinship lines the blossoms up just right and uses stitches so tiny they vanish into the pattern. "We come to love people in many ways. Much is made of the burning love that hits like a smoldering remnant of a star hurled down to earth. Yet this is not the only type of love any more than the camellia is the only flower. There is the love that blooms from decency, and from that love, passion." There is the love that blooms from dignity, and from that love, friendship, kinship. "Love requires bravery, but it fortifies you at the same time. I don’t know anything else in the world that gives back the exact same treasure it demands." Next of kin is part of being a doctor. Even a dentist has to ask. But why do they say it? Is there a second next? A last of kin? The truest kin are not necessarily related by blood but those who give us mother-love. Kin isn’t just the people you’re related to, it’s how you feel when you’re with them. They are the women who do not know us from Eve, but love us with the care that people save for kin, those who show us that you can love a stranger as deep as you can love somebody you’ve known for years. Receiving their friendship is akin to Favor. Aunts, grandmothers, sisters, roommates, lovers, girlfriends are our next of kin, and Tayari Jones’ Kin is a tribute to that sisterhood.

One of the best books Ive read in a long time. Every page has a quote that will speak to your soul.

This is an incredible story of lives similar but so very different. I loved every word, every page, every moment. Read it