Reviews

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

amlibera's review against another edition

3.0

I liked this book a lot more than I expected to and a lot less than I wanted to. Ultimately something about the events and motivations of the characters did not ring true to me. There can still be truth in exaggerated melodrama or grand tragedy or absurdist extremity and there are moments within this grand and complicated story that do and then so very many that don't.

jenniferdeguzman's review against another edition

4.0

The Queen of the Night is a trashy romance attending a masquerade ball in a literary fiction gown — and I mean this as a compliment. The largest difference is that the sex occurs in line breaks or one-sentence euphemisms, which is too bad, actually. I don’t mean it in a prurient way. A more clear picture of what sex was like with her various lovers would give more insight into the relationships. We take Lilliet’s word about her one true love, but we don’t quite get to see that love in action, so to speak. How does it differ from what she did and felt with other lovers?

Chee’s prose sometimes runs away with his meaning, and there were several passages that I had to reread to get at what they meant. Overall, though, it was a fun read, if not a page-turner.

fashionable_duck's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

There's something about courtesans that promote and provoke thought. This book scratched an itch that I didn't know I had. 

earthgirl207's review against another edition

1.0

1000% too much rape for me. Really wanted to like it, author has interesting things to say, but the heroine consistently makes terrible choices and terrible things just keep happening to her. Quit halfway through.

linireads's review against another edition

3.0

Queen of the Night checked off all of my Christine Daae fantasies: an orphan who grows up to become a leading lady in the Paris opera scene? Absolutely yes, give it to me. Liliet has won accolades for her work, but the one thing she was missing was a chance to originate a role. When an unknown composer reaches out to her, offering her the chance to achieve her final goal, it is a dream come true. There is only one problem. The role being offered? It was a story of her own life. Someone from her past has betrayed her, for the libretto told the tale of everyone she had ever been, every path she crossed, every reinvention of herself.

Alexander Chee digs deep into history, class divides, opera, love, and betrayal as we learn the tale of Liliet. His writing is beautiful, but I struggled with some characters being less memorable than others, some being introduced in one way and then referred to as another later on. He waxes melodic about the opera scene, which I did not find as dull as his endless list of furs at one point. At one point she meets someone, has a connection, and then spends a solid amount of the book just thinking about that one moment and dreaming of possibilities that lasted more pages than I was willing to read through. I am firmly of belief that this book could have easily been 100 pages shorter and nothing about the plot would be lost.

There were many parts I did like, but overall the book went on a little bit too long. It took me ages to read it because it wasn't holding my attention.

ginny17's review against another edition

3.0

This book was equal parts fascinating and incredibly boring.

ashleybenbow's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

corlaine's review against another edition

3.0

Chaotic yet tedious. The underlying epic love story had potential but it simply tried to do too much which made it drag in too many places.

danielledtetreau's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book held my attention at times and at others it lost me. Usually I’m a big fan of converging timelines, tell me the past while the story proceeds in the present. This one was difficult to follow sometimes and I think I would have preferred just the one timeline.  I also got a little lost when the past time story converged with present time, that felt rushed and the whole purpose of the story was solved and then somehow there was still conflict to be resolved. 
The parts about the past and the singer solving the mystery were great. The convergence at the end was rushed and muddled.

unicornbanzaiiking's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5