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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this. This type of historical fiction can be disappointing but I thought this one was very well done. It calls itself "a novel of the Titanic" but that's not the main focus of the story; it's really about their relationship to each other and her relationship to society. It managed to be written in a way that didn't get me grossed out by the age difference
So, so good. I love historical fiction from early 20tb century, especially involving the Gilded age and NYC elite. This book is very well written with such descriptive and exquisite words and detail. A good, quick read.
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An interesting telling of the story of John Jacob and Madeline Astor and the Titanic. I liked the shifting perspective from the third person to Madeline’s letters to Jakey.
The Second Mrs Astor by Shana Abe is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early August.
Ahh, I hadn’t known that I would be reading this book so soon after finishing Maiden Voyages about female employees aboard oceanliners, such as the Titanic. This, however, is the quite, quite romanticized fainting couch viewpoint of Madeleine as a partway first-person letter to her infant son about his father and partway a third-person history of how they crossed paths, married for love, experienced social turmoil and exclusion, then went for their honeymoon in Egypt, Turkey, and France to come back the US on the Titanic. Much etiquette, luxury, sweet words, and intensive emotional/sensory memories.
Ahh, I hadn’t known that I would be reading this book so soon after finishing Maiden Voyages about female employees aboard oceanliners, such as the Titanic. This, however, is the quite, quite romanticized fainting couch viewpoint of Madeleine as a partway first-person letter to her infant son about his father and partway a third-person history of how they crossed paths, married for love, experienced social turmoil and exclusion, then went for their honeymoon in Egypt, Turkey, and France to come back the US on the Titanic. Much etiquette, luxury, sweet words, and intensive emotional/sensory memories.
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
adventurous
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoy books from this time period and found this one easy to read. A mark of good historical fiction is that it makes me curious about the actual events and people. While the relationship between Jack and Madeleine Astor was controversial, partly due to their age difference, I’m thankful the author didn’t change the historical accuracy of that to make this story more palatable to the reader. Of course, we all know what happened to the Titanic, yet the author described it in a way that you felt the horror as it was happening.
Just not for me. I was really invested for the first 120 pages and kept waiting for the story to pick up or come together in some way… overall the story, the characters and the setting ALL fell flat for me. I found myself just reading to “get through” the book in the end.
adventurous
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No