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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
This novel has many of the best qualities of a Kate Atkinson work: beautiful language, gorgeously painted settings, and historical accuracy. And yet . . . it missed the mark for me. For one, there are the characters. I had a hard time keeping them straight in my head, partly because there are too many, but also because they aren't fully developed. The good guys aren't that good and the bad guys aren't that bad and almost everyone else falls into this middle ground where I just didn't really care what happened. My other struggle was with the pacing of the story. It's slowwwww to get going, finally comes together, and then the ending feels incredibly rushed. It's still an enjoyable novel (I mean, it's Kate Atkinson so I'm going to read it) but it's sure not Life After Life
Historical novel with a lot of characters whose lives eventually intersect which is usually my jam. This…was not. The intersection of everyone’s stories happens at the very end, and is rushed and silly and doesn’t align with the previous 90% of the book at all. There are too many characters and some of them never get any resolution, they just linger out there with a half-told story. I wanted so badly to love this, but it was not for me. 2.5 rounded up to 3.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing is 5 stars. Her sentences are beautiful, and surprisingly witty.
I have some small beef that it was very boring for the first 60 or so pages till all of the connections were made and characters established. Once it got into gear, I was into it.
I have some small beef that it was very boring for the first 60 or so pages till all of the connections were made and characters established. Once it got into gear, I was into it.
3.25 stars rounded down to 3.
I am a big Kate Atkinson fan. Life After Life is one of my favorite books. Her style of writing contemporarily relatable historical fiction speaks to me. I have also enjoyed her detective stories.
This book, however, missed the mark for me.
I have a suspicion that I might have liked it better had I read it rather than listened to it. The narrator, Jason Watkins, was good and his voice was clear. His accents were great. But when I read a story featuring female protagonists, I think I really prefer to hear the story in a female voice.
That said, Shrines of Gaiety takes place in the 1920s Soho Clubs, in the days following the Great War. It is the story of a crime matriarch, Nellie Coker, her six children, and those that aim to take her down. It is also the story of the young girls that were the unwitting victims of those criminal enterprises. Apparently, it is loosely based on the real "Queen of the Clubs" Kate Meyrick.
I can't bring myself to give this a raving review because I found the occasionally sneering narration distracting. However, I really think I would have enjoyed it more in written form.
I am a big Kate Atkinson fan. Life After Life is one of my favorite books. Her style of writing contemporarily relatable historical fiction speaks to me. I have also enjoyed her detective stories.
This book, however, missed the mark for me.
I have a suspicion that I might have liked it better had I read it rather than listened to it. The narrator, Jason Watkins, was good and his voice was clear. His accents were great. But when I read a story featuring female protagonists, I think I really prefer to hear the story in a female voice.
That said, Shrines of Gaiety takes place in the 1920s Soho Clubs, in the days following the Great War. It is the story of a crime matriarch, Nellie Coker, her six children, and those that aim to take her down. It is also the story of the young girls that were the unwitting victims of those criminal enterprises. Apparently, it is loosely based on the real "Queen of the Clubs" Kate Meyrick.
I can't bring myself to give this a raving review because I found the occasionally sneering narration distracting. However, I really think I would have enjoyed it more in written form.
Enjoyable but Kate Atkinson does not know how to write an ending. Also, one of the major characters in the book () doesn't get any character development.
Spoiler
Nellie Coker
I really enjoy Kate Atkinson’s style and overlapping plots, but having read a few of her novels now I do feel she hand waves away the last few chapters and never really gives them an ending which dropped this from a 5 star read for me. That said, I really loved this for the most part, despicable characters, evocative setting, stories threading together and pulling apart unexpectedly - my favourite kind of book.
"Betty had moved on from her salad to a peach that she was flaying meticulously with a little solid-silver penknife that was engraved with her initials and had been given to her by an admirer. Nellie was in two minds about this gift--more useful than flowers, certainly, but to what end would you give a woman a knife? she puzzled. It was an invitation to a stabbing, in Nellie's opinion."
"How far in the past the Boer War seemed--the stuff of dreary history books now--a dried up beetle on a pin compared to the raw, raging behemoth of Gwendolen's own war. (She was possessive of it, it had changed everything.)"
"How far in the past the Boer War seemed--the stuff of dreary history books now--a dried up beetle on a pin compared to the raw, raging behemoth of Gwendolen's own war. (She was possessive of it, it had changed everything.)"
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Audiobook
I liked all the characters and it was a fun time to get the feel for.
I liked all the characters and it was a fun time to get the feel for.