You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Read for the 52 Book Club Challenge: prompt#11: Takes Place during Roaring Twenties
For me, I either click right away with Kate Atkinson novels or I don't (I have one book in particular that I've tried to read 4 times and I never make it through the first few chapters). This one was really great. Loved everything about it.
For me, I either click right away with Kate Atkinson novels or I don't (I have one book in particular that I've tried to read 4 times and I never make it through the first few chapters). This one was really great. Loved everything about it.
Kate Atkinson's last book ("Big Sky" in the Jackson Brodie series) came out before the pandemic so there was excitement and waiting for this at the library. I have marked it as a mystery as it has a number of puzzles which are solved through different foci for the chapters and re-telling of incidents from different perspectives. (I love the varying chapter lengths and especially the short ones). I marked it as outside-the-US-or-travel as it is set primarily in London (with hints of York, Shropshire, and "the provinces" here and there) in 1926. Rather than one of Atkinson's sprawling-the-generations books, this one sprawls across characters during a period of several months at most.
Nellie Coker (based on a real person but primarily fictive) has built up an empire of nightclubs, ostensibly to support herself and her six children, now ranging from their thirties through late teens. Some of the police are working to bring down this empire believing that terrible things are happening in the clubs (and some for other reasons). But all the "good guys" are not good and many situations and people have a mix of good and bad in them. Lots of partying, dancing, theatre, missing persons (many young women), dead bodies (many in the Thames), friendships and manipulations, flashy cars, fallout from World War I, drinking and drugs, and some emerging women's opportunities.
Atkinson is an engaging storyteller and in addition to her strong female characters, I particularly enjoyed the chapters where one young Coker attempts to write a book and talks through the process -- clever!
Nellie Coker (based on a real person but primarily fictive) has built up an empire of nightclubs, ostensibly to support herself and her six children, now ranging from their thirties through late teens. Some of the police are working to bring down this empire believing that terrible things are happening in the clubs (and some for other reasons). But all the "good guys" are not good and many situations and people have a mix of good and bad in them. Lots of partying, dancing, theatre, missing persons (many young women), dead bodies (many in the Thames), friendships and manipulations, flashy cars, fallout from World War I, drinking and drugs, and some emerging women's opportunities.
Atkinson is an engaging storyteller and in addition to her strong female characters, I particularly enjoyed the chapters where one young Coker attempts to write a book and talks through the process -- clever!
I really wanted this to be good, but it just wasn’t. Too many characters to develop a relationship with any of them, and the couple of halfway interesting ones were abandoned instead of being further developed. The final wrap up of each story line was cinematic and clumsy—and not surprising or even satisfying at all.
The Jackson Brodie series is fantastic, but every book I’ve read of Kate Atkinson’s since is boring. This book, in particular, is chock-full of way too many characters with stories that don’t go anywhere. The book kept putting me to sleep no matter how much sleep I had.
London in the Roaring Twenties, the criminal underworld, corrupt police, good police, a librarian, missing girls and a family held together by a clever matriarch. What's not to love about the wonderful Kate Atkinson's latest?
I wanted to give this book four stars. I really liked it. I liked the era, the characters, the style of writing. I was invested. And then I got to the ending. So disappointing. It felt as though the author was in a hurry to meet her deadline. After finishing, I just couldn’t give that fourth star.
By the end, I quite enjoyed this book and I did like many of the characters and the way it was written. However, for the first 50% (maybe more) of the book I found it a complete punish. There were so many characters and it was impossible to tell who was relevant and who was described in minute detail, only to be never heard of again. Each time I’d start to get interested in a story line it would flit off to a different new story that felt like it had no connection. It took a long time for it to all come together and that made it difficult for me to get into.
However, by the end it did come together, and I enjoyed that, before it wrapped up very quickly.
However, by the end it did come together, and I enjoyed that, before it wrapped up very quickly.