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goodem9199's review against another edition
5.0
Can I 10-star this? AMAZING. I loved this so hard. Easily one of my all-time favorites. I adored each and every character and Faye is one of the sharpest, most quick-witted authors I have ever read. I am going to miss the Paragon and all of its inhabitants for a very long time.
eve_prime's review against another edition
4.5
Very enjoyable, though there are certainly moments of shocking violence. It's the early 1920s, and Alicia James is on the run from the New York City mafia. She's been working with them closely - one of their leaders has been her guardian - but she's got a bullet wound and knows she has to get away as far and as fast as she can. On the train to Portland, Oregon, she buys a record from a Pullman porter named Max, and when they get to Portland he helps her by taking her to the all-Black hotel where he lives, the Paragon Hotel. A doctor there fixes her up, and as she recuperates she gets to know some of the people who live there, especially Blossom Fontaine, a very sharp nightclub singer. One day several of them take young Davy Lee, a mulatto boy, to an amusement park - but he disappears. Has the Klan taken him? We learn about the Klan's big presence in Oregon in the 1920s, and we also learn about the New York City mafia, as we get Alicia's backstory. It's interesting and entertaining, with some big surprises. I remembered one of them before I started rereading it, and was pretty sure of another once I'd started, but there were yet others that I hadn't remembered.
elby3gc's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Loved it. It was a little bit slow for me and very difficult to listen to as an audiobook because of the very frequent use of offensive racial epithets. But it was a great book. I’m giving it a 4.25 because I will definitely remember this book and hold on to much of the reflection and insight I developed while reading it. And I will happily recommend it to others with the great caveat that one should be prepared for a clear and unflinching look at racism and racist people. I’m not sure how it holds up in terms of its story development of the white savior (because it seems that the white savior features heavily as does the white voice and narrative). Even still I really enjoyed reading it and am very happy to have found it.
coleycole's review against another edition
1.0
Soooo... don't use trans people as an afterthought plot point, and a violent one at that...??? Disliked that a lot. Also, definitely significant white savior narrative happening here. I think the author tried to avoid this, but it still is there.
A lot of the reviews complained about the dialogue - very flapper/gun moll, and I am ok with books that play with dialogue in a way that isn't necessarily fully realistic. I enjoyed the "then" sections in NY the most, where the story wasn't fraught with perspective issues...
The concept has a lot of interesting threads but I wasn't happy with where they all went...
A lot of the reviews complained about the dialogue - very flapper/gun moll, and I am ok with books that play with dialogue in a way that isn't necessarily fully realistic. I enjoyed the "then" sections in NY the most, where the story wasn't fraught with perspective issues...
The concept has a lot of interesting threads but I wasn't happy with where they all went...
tiffschwartz's review against another edition
5.0
There were times where this book was dry, but the historical information and the twist at the end had me hooked! If it wasn't for this book I never would have known the racist history of Oregon or looked into it. It is eye opening and very shameful.
katel1970's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. Rounded up from 2.5 stars. Started okay, but got a bit too over the top for my tastes.
karleigh25's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
amym84's review against another edition
4.0
Carrying a bullet wound and fleeing from those who want her dead, Alice "Nobody" James is on a train heading from New York cross-country when she meets, and befriends, Max, a black porter on the train who recognizes Alice is in need of help. He takes her to The Paragon Hotel, the only all-black hotel in Portland, Oregon in this 1921 America.
While there, Alice meets the men and women who live and work in the hotel, and while at first they're a bit reticent about welcoming a white woman into their midst, soon Alice befriends the lively and boisterous Blossom, a nightclub singer.
When one of their residents goes missing, Alice takes up the investigation. But when she begins looking into the disappearance, the mysteriousness of those who live in The Paragon Hotel comes to the surface, especially where Blossom is concerned. All the while Alice's own mysterious escape plays out to a thrilling conclusion.
It took me a bit to get into this story, but once I hit a certain point, where I was familiar with the setting and characters and I could anticipate the flow of the story, specifically when it comes to the dialogue and descriptions - which were beautiful - it was difficult to put down.
The story was broken up between the present - at The Paragon Hotel - and the past - Alice's life growing up in New York, and builds slowly toward the moment at the beginning of the book which finds Alice fleeing for her life.
In New York, Alice, an Italian-American, is entangled with the mafia Family that dominates the streets of Harlem and demands compensation from those they purport to "protect". When Alice's boss looks to usurp the status quo, there are dire circumstances.
In Oregon, Alice comes face to face with racism and the threat of the KKK which is looming on the horizon. While she comes to care for the people of The Paragon Hotel, she's also seen as an outsider. Using her ability - gained from spying - to disappear into different guises, Alice looks to solve the mystery of the missing hotel resident while also uncovering what others only utter in whispers.
After all is said and done, I really felt like The Paragon Hotel was about identity. Who we are, who we want to be, who we want others to see us as, and how we are actually viewed by people. Sometimes this can be the color of someone's skin, sometimes their religious beliefs, sometimes their sex. I thought that Lyndsay Faye pulled off all these different elements really well. Even though I wasn't really surprised by the "big reveal" towards the end, I definitely felt for these characters, and their story - despite taking place in 1921 - felt so extremely relevant to today's world, it made me a little sad too.
I still felt like there were some instances where we didn't get enough closure. I'm not sure if this was done because maybe Lyndsay Faye still has more to tell with these characters, especially Alice, or because of the fact that the struggle is never-ending.
Regardless, I enjoyed The Paragon Hotel. It's an engrossing read that shines light on a time and place in history that I didn't know much about, but also brought to light all the differences and similarities we still face today.
*Copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.
While there, Alice meets the men and women who live and work in the hotel, and while at first they're a bit reticent about welcoming a white woman into their midst, soon Alice befriends the lively and boisterous Blossom, a nightclub singer.
When one of their residents goes missing, Alice takes up the investigation. But when she begins looking into the disappearance, the mysteriousness of those who live in The Paragon Hotel comes to the surface, especially where Blossom is concerned. All the while Alice's own mysterious escape plays out to a thrilling conclusion.
It took me a bit to get into this story, but once I hit a certain point, where I was familiar with the setting and characters and I could anticipate the flow of the story, specifically when it comes to the dialogue and descriptions - which were beautiful - it was difficult to put down.
The story was broken up between the present - at The Paragon Hotel - and the past - Alice's life growing up in New York, and builds slowly toward the moment at the beginning of the book which finds Alice fleeing for her life.
In New York, Alice, an Italian-American, is entangled with the mafia Family that dominates the streets of Harlem and demands compensation from those they purport to "protect". When Alice's boss looks to usurp the status quo, there are dire circumstances.
In Oregon, Alice comes face to face with racism and the threat of the KKK which is looming on the horizon. While she comes to care for the people of The Paragon Hotel, she's also seen as an outsider. Using her ability - gained from spying - to disappear into different guises, Alice looks to solve the mystery of the missing hotel resident while also uncovering what others only utter in whispers.
After all is said and done, I really felt like The Paragon Hotel was about identity. Who we are, who we want to be, who we want others to see us as, and how we are actually viewed by people. Sometimes this can be the color of someone's skin, sometimes their religious beliefs, sometimes their sex. I thought that Lyndsay Faye pulled off all these different elements really well. Even though I wasn't really surprised by the "big reveal" towards the end, I definitely felt for these characters, and their story - despite taking place in 1921 - felt so extremely relevant to today's world, it made me a little sad too.
I still felt like there were some instances where we didn't get enough closure. I'm not sure if this was done because maybe Lyndsay Faye still has more to tell with these characters, especially Alice, or because of the fact that the struggle is never-ending.
Regardless, I enjoyed The Paragon Hotel. It's an engrossing read that shines light on a time and place in history that I didn't know much about, but also brought to light all the differences and similarities we still face today.
*Copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.