Reviews

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

Only show reviews with written explanations

januaryghosts's review

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mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

truthmonkey's review

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medium-paced

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

3.0

March book for the Decades challenge (1920s). I have read worse books inspired by Gatsby. I liked the idea of focusing on the women but the added behind the scenes content stretched belief sometimes. Also it changed the perspective on a few characters. I guess that was the point but it didn’t sit well with me.

csparacino's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

emilypolle's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes

5.0

A retelling of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of the women. I really enjoyed how it gave the reader information from before the original story, but then followed the same timeline and filled in gaps. Well done and gave new insight into why things happened in the original book! Would recommend for any Gatsby lover!

kikipix's review

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Love a good “the other side of the history” take on a story. Being a take on The Great Gatsby it’s hard to avoid an expectation of the roaring 20s and glam aesthetic in the book. While this book is meant to illuminate that it wasn’t in fact, all crystal coupe classes and diamonds hair pins, it did take place amongst this glamour and that’s what makes the story tantalizing - and yet the book largely left that up to just the reader to create. I would’ve liked to have had a little bit more of the setting integrated with the story. It could be the intent was to make it not feel like the mistreatment of the women was distinctive to that period, to emphasize how much of what transpired seems to still occur in present day be it 1920s or 2020s, but that’s me giving benefit of the doubt and I would’ve like to have seen that made more clear if that was the case.

beckimoody29's review

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5.0

I think I'm one of the few people who did not like The Great Gatsby. In fact, I'd never even read it (despite numerous literature classes) until after seeing the recent t Leonardo DiCaprio movie version. So I picked this up out of curiosity, with low expectations. I really liked the mystery since every one of the women could have done it. But I also liked that it explained so much of the rest of the story. (The "but why did she stay?" ) I'm not sure the men were really portrayed any worse than in the original, except for maybe Nick who was rather a wimp in the original and not much more here. Jay is still obsessed with what he can't have, Tom still treats women as possessions, and George is in the background here but still leads a sad pitiful existence. I think it works best as a companion piece, rather than a retelling, with both versions making a well-rounded whole.