The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis (4/5)

Through Ayana Mathis’ thought-provoking tale, readers of all backgrounds are enlightened, learning a valuable lesson through the eyes of a determined mother and her twelve children. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is a standalone novel written by Ayana Mathis which was published in 2012. It details the lives of Hattie Shepherd’s twelve children and her constant struggle to raise them to survive in a dark world designed against them. Each chapter highlights the unique stories of Hattie’s children, orientating around both their personal struggles with identity and their shared struggles as African American minorities in Philadelphia. Hattie faces the difficulties of balancing her love and toughness for her children while preparing them for the much tougher real world that she had to deal with with no one to prepare her for it. Loaded with regret, sorrow, and grief, she discovers that she cannot change what happened in the past, but she can change what's happening in the present. She must not only forgive her children for their mistakes but also forgive herself. Mathis’ strong use of emotional connections to the readers forces them to empathize with a woman who did all that she could for her children, and yet the tough world decided that even that was not enough. The children’s twelve different stories combined with Hattie’s overall story caused me to think about how society failed every single one of them, how every single one of them was misunderstood, and yet they persevered. This novel was very inspiring and empowering. However, the twelve stories mixed together may have been confusing to some readers. It was difficult to understand with so much going on at once, and some parts of her writings appeared very vague and subtle. Personally, I enjoyed this book as a challenge for both my comprehensive skills and human morality. I recommend this book to those who enjoy more of a challenge and seek to improve upon their comprehensive and inferential skills. I rate this book a ⅘ due to the unclearness of some areas in the novel, however, the actual content of the book was very intriguing for me.