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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Barbizon hotel, 1952, Ohio girl, secretarial school, falling to death off balcony
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I cannot exactly put into words why, I did not care for this book. I only finished it because I was listening in the car, while driving. The book did not probably have my full attention, but if I had been reading the print book, I doubt that I would have finished.
The story was pretty predictable, and I did not care for the main character, Rose. She seemed like a caricature to me. Rose is a thirty-ish journalist, living with her politically-rising boyfriend in his Barbizon condo. After a scandal at her TV job, she is now working for a start-up, online publication, giving it credibility. Rose is also caring for her elderly father who is in assisted living with dementia. A chance meeting in the Barbizon elevator with one of the Barbizon legacy tenants from the 1950's lead Rose to investigate the past, uncovering long-held secrets. In the span of just a few weeks, Rose experiences many life changes.
In alternate chapters, the 1950s part of the story is told mostly through the eyes of Darby, a young woman from Ohio who comes to New York to attend Katherine Gibbs secretarial school.
The premise seemed interesting, but for some reason, the execution of this story did not work for me.
The story was pretty predictable, and I did not care for the main character, Rose. She seemed like a caricature to me. Rose is a thirty-ish journalist, living with her politically-rising boyfriend in his Barbizon condo. After a scandal at her TV job, she is now working for a start-up, online publication, giving it credibility. Rose is also caring for her elderly father who is in assisted living with dementia. A chance meeting in the Barbizon elevator with one of the Barbizon legacy tenants from the 1950's lead Rose to investigate the past, uncovering long-held secrets. In the span of just a few weeks, Rose experiences many life changes.
In alternate chapters, the 1950s part of the story is told mostly through the eyes of Darby, a young woman from Ohio who comes to New York to attend Katherine Gibbs secretarial school.
The premise seemed interesting, but for some reason, the execution of this story did not work for me.
I don't usually include spoilers and hide reviews because usually I assume the only people that care about reviews are people who haven't read the book and want to know if and why they should. But I have been thinking about this one a lot and want to post more of a discussion than a review incase some of my friends care or want to discuss. So...
For people who have not read it:
It's engaging. I read it quickly because I was so interested in both storylines (storylines are going on in two eras in the same place, the early 1950s, and then in like 2017 ish). There was great period setting, good historical research went into it, and the mystery was ... twisty and turny and not overly predictable.
And the theme of how women experienced the world then and now, and how we are all connected, that came through. That said... if you care.. it was very white women centric and used characters who were women of color as motivators of/teachers to/catalysts for the actions of the two white protagonists. It failed to explore the intersectionality of race and gender issues, and where it touched on the reality of racism at all, it was not an exploration of how that racism affects the women of color who experienced it, but more... it covered the experience of white women who witnessed women of color experiencing racism. And the white characters never really reflected on their culpability for it, or how they benefited from opportunities unavailable to the characters of color.
I can't really say much more about that without hinting at where plot lines and twists go. But - while this is not a new problem in white centric lit, and I wouldn't argue this book is MORE guilty of it, than any other, I felt like the author was trying to acknowledge the realities of racially oppressive times and structures, which made how it was all ultimately handled in the plot, themes, and the perception of characters we were supposed to root for... pretty disappointing.
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Discussion for people who have read it, with mega spoilers:
I summarized the general problem I had with the book above, but I feel like it's kinda a big claim to make without citing specific examples to back it up. But to do so, I have to talk about elements or story or character that don't get revealed till much later, and if they were known, would make the plot too guessable. So... spoilers ahoy...
#1: Sam and Darby are the innocent (white) victims of Esme's (brown) chaos:
The things that stands out to me as most problematic, is that the racism depicted in it was not as much a critique on racist history and structures as it was a plot vehicle to serve vaguely as a motivation for a character of color to do what she does. But the story is mostly just about the effect she and her choices have on the white characters.
It's pretty clear we are supposed to view the relationship between Darby & Sam as the ideal of healthy happy true love, and the loss of the life they could have had together as one of the great tragedies of the story AND it's said more than once by more than one character that Esme's choices brought about that tragedy.
Darby and Sam both are part of the jazz world, they appreciate it, love it, embrace it, but are also portrayed as "other" to it. They get to experience the parts of it they like, while they get to also have clean hands, or so to speak. Where Esme is in it, part of it. Their doorway into it, and she is the one selling the drugs while "Sam stays out of that part of it" and Darby is oblivious to it. So when it all come crashing down over Esme's actions, we see they feel sorry for her that she had it hard being an immigrant, but also they had it hard to in their own ways too, and she is portrayed as the catalyst that brings their worlds down they were each working so hard to build. Sam even says how if she had just come to him he would have helped her.
The emotion of the story is written around the idea that they are victims caught in Esme's crosshairs. Yet nowhere in the book does Sam, Darby, or even Rose step back and look at the white characters' culpability in this at all. It's all white victimhood of the Puerto Rican girl trying to live beyond her stations .. "deluding herself" it's said at one point.
But, here't the thing the book kind skims: Sam's family owns a business that is thriving because of the drug trade Esme is involved in. As their employee she's taking risks and it's made clear that that is part of her job expectation. Sam might "stay out of all that" but he and his family have what they have because in part of what she does. They get to keep their hands clean of it, directly, but.. Sam is benefiting and, even if it's just about spices for him, he's the one with a close relationship with a drug king pen. He just turns his head when it comes to the seedier stuff. But, He/his family are the power over the situation Esme is in to begin with. So when he shakes his head and talks about how she didn't have to go be an informant because he would have helped her, it seems like we are suppose to see him as the good one, and empathize with is frustration.
But, it reads to me a lot like Sam's real problem is the immigrant girl, who should have stayed dependent on his family, made a move on her own that didn't serve him.
It was reckless, it endangered them both, but it's hard to see him as her victim in that light. But he seems to live out the rest of his life thinking he was.
Darby may have been oblivious the drugs. Fine. And it was 1952 so I guess it's not totally realism to think that she or any other character would do any real reflection on that fact that while she was poor, and life was hard, ultimately Darby had housing, schooling, and career opportunities anyway that would never ever ever be afforded to Esme. Darby observes that there is racism, sure, and kinda thinks what a shame it is, but she still chooses to live this kinda double life where she can dip her toes into Esme's world but also back out and be a respectable, employed, housed white lady who doesn't HAVE to get involved with the underground to survive and have a chance of any kind of mobility. She feels guilt, she mourns Esme, she even sponsors her niece. But Esme's character gets put in the proverbial refrigerator. In other words, her character exists and dies in the story to motivate and shape the life of another more important character. We won't experience the injustice of Esme's life through Esme's perception. The book gives a lot of words and thought to the plight of women in the 1950s who find a way to forge their own way despite patriarchal limitations and obstacles, but in the end, Esme's experience doesn't get to be part of that. Her niece's sorta does - but only through the grace of a white woman.
Pitiable, and sad though she is, Esme's story is one told with focus on how the actions of queer people, and people of color, react to oppression in ways that hurt straight white people. But it mostly ignores any focus on the nature of that oppression or white people's culpability.
#2 - The death of the white girl is treated as inherently more tragic than the death of the brown one.
Rose, the 2017 journalist, whose kinda a stand in a proxy for the reader, is, along with us, watching Darby's, Sam's, and Esme's stories unfold with us and reacting to it. She's pulling themes from their stories into 2017 for herself, her life (and for us). She doesn't know any of them but she begins to feel an affinity toward Darby because she's relating to the loneliness, manlessness or whatever. And thinks she's met her. Then she begins to suspect it's Esme not Darby she met and is going through the things of and ... when she finds out it's actually Esme that is dead, and not Darby, she's relieved.
She actually says this in the text. She is relieved to be wrong and to discover Esme was the one killed, not Darby.
WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF?
She doesn't know either woman. From a personality and life circumstance, she has arguably as much or more in common with young Esme than with young Darby. And which ever woman she met, is the one she met. Regardless of which one they were, with either the connection she claims to feel is the growing old, and lonely and unmarried. That's true regardless of which woman is the one whose apartment she's in. So... her relief that the the Puerto Rican girl was dead and not the white one was alive... It was pretty stunning to me to read that.
#3 - Queer Love is depicted as irrational, delusional, and dangerous
There is the moment Darby finds out her dad was gay. And, actually, I think it was handled well. It was 1940 something when that happened, so of course the people who knew were terrible. Of course it made Darby a pariah and her mother ashamed. And then... of course Darby didn't automatically embrace it. She has this moment of reflection where she just knows she knew her dad's soul and has this glimmer that maybe people are wrong. Ok. Fine. Fine exploration.
But then a few scenes later, Esme is.. .well she's shown as having done this reckless dumb dangerous thing out of love for Darby. Narration in this scene calls her frame of mind "self delusional" simultaneous to revealing her love for Darby, she's insisting she can still be allowed to live her dream. Her behavior during this is suddenly frantic, possessive, selfish, and maniacal and it ends in the destruction of both of them. It all is shown as blended together. And, the scene is juxtaposed against Darby's desire to escape to a normal happy life with Sam. Esme's love (irrational danger love) is shown as the spoil to that escape, it's the foil to Darby's normal, safe, loved life. Esme's lesbian desire is depicted as her motivation for what she did, and also what ultimately led to her death.
It's not the oppression of her as a woman of color, and it's not the homophobic era she lives in that kills her in the end. The book seems to enforce the idea that it's Esme's "delusion" that she could be more, be loved, and escape being who the world around her sees her as. When she takes agency over her choices (rather than go to sam for help) that's when she ruins everything for everyone. Her actions, motivated through her expectations to be more, turn her into the book's villain.
#4 Tanya.
She's literally a black character that is introduced as a piece of trash addict. She's the ONLY other woman of color in the book and... she's there so eff up so Darby can step in. Then, she's gone. It's alluded that if she didn't go out on her own she would have been tossed in the gutter. No one even flinches. That's it. That's her story.
For people who have not read it:
It's engaging. I read it quickly because I was so interested in both storylines (storylines are going on in two eras in the same place, the early 1950s, and then in like 2017 ish). There was great period setting, good historical research went into it, and the mystery was ... twisty and turny and not overly predictable.
And the theme of how women experienced the world then and now, and how we are all connected, that came through. That said... if you care.. it was very white women centric and used characters who were women of color as motivators of/teachers to/catalysts for the actions of the two white protagonists. It failed to explore the intersectionality of race and gender issues, and where it touched on the reality of racism at all, it was not an exploration of how that racism affects the women of color who experienced it, but more... it covered the experience of white women who witnessed women of color experiencing racism. And the white characters never really reflected on their culpability for it, or how they benefited from opportunities unavailable to the characters of color.
I can't really say much more about that without hinting at where plot lines and twists go. But - while this is not a new problem in white centric lit, and I wouldn't argue this book is MORE guilty of it, than any other, I felt like the author was trying to acknowledge the realities of racially oppressive times and structures, which made how it was all ultimately handled in the plot, themes, and the perception of characters we were supposed to root for... pretty disappointing.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Discussion for people who have read it, with mega spoilers:
I summarized the general problem I had with the book above, but I feel like it's kinda a big claim to make without citing specific examples to back it up. But to do so, I have to talk about elements or story or character that don't get revealed till much later, and if they were known, would make the plot too guessable. So... spoilers ahoy...
#1: Sam and Darby are the innocent (white) victims of Esme's (brown) chaos:
The things that stands out to me as most problematic, is that the racism depicted in it was not as much a critique on racist history and structures as it was a plot vehicle to serve vaguely as a motivation for a character of color to do what she does. But the story is mostly just about the effect she and her choices have on the white characters.
It's pretty clear we are supposed to view the relationship between Darby & Sam as the ideal of healthy happy true love, and the loss of the life they could have had together as one of the great tragedies of the story AND it's said more than once by more than one character that Esme's choices brought about that tragedy.
Darby and Sam both are part of the jazz world, they appreciate it, love it, embrace it, but are also portrayed as "other" to it. They get to experience the parts of it they like, while they get to also have clean hands, or so to speak. Where Esme is in it, part of it. Their doorway into it, and she is the one selling the drugs while "Sam stays out of that part of it" and Darby is oblivious to it. So when it all come crashing down over Esme's actions, we see they feel sorry for her that she had it hard being an immigrant, but also they had it hard to in their own ways too, and she is portrayed as the catalyst that brings their worlds down they were each working so hard to build. Sam even says how if she had just come to him he would have helped her.
The emotion of the story is written around the idea that they are victims caught in Esme's crosshairs. Yet nowhere in the book does Sam, Darby, or even Rose step back and look at the white characters' culpability in this at all. It's all white victimhood of the Puerto Rican girl trying to live beyond her stations .. "deluding herself" it's said at one point.
But, here't the thing the book kind skims: Sam's family owns a business that is thriving because of the drug trade Esme is involved in. As their employee she's taking risks and it's made clear that that is part of her job expectation. Sam might "stay out of all that" but he and his family have what they have because in part of what she does. They get to keep their hands clean of it, directly, but.. Sam is benefiting and, even if it's just about spices for him, he's the one with a close relationship with a drug king pen. He just turns his head when it comes to the seedier stuff. But, He/his family are the power over the situation Esme is in to begin with. So when he shakes his head and talks about how she didn't have to go be an informant because he would have helped her, it seems like we are suppose to see him as the good one, and empathize with is frustration.
But, it reads to me a lot like Sam's real problem is the immigrant girl, who should have stayed dependent on his family, made a move on her own that didn't serve him.
It was reckless, it endangered them both, but it's hard to see him as her victim in that light. But he seems to live out the rest of his life thinking he was.
Darby may have been oblivious the drugs. Fine. And it was 1952 so I guess it's not totally realism to think that she or any other character would do any real reflection on that fact that while she was poor, and life was hard, ultimately Darby had housing, schooling, and career opportunities anyway that would never ever ever be afforded to Esme. Darby observes that there is racism, sure, and kinda thinks what a shame it is, but she still chooses to live this kinda double life where she can dip her toes into Esme's world but also back out and be a respectable, employed, housed white lady who doesn't HAVE to get involved with the underground to survive and have a chance of any kind of mobility. She feels guilt, she mourns Esme, she even sponsors her niece. But Esme's character gets put in the proverbial refrigerator. In other words, her character exists and dies in the story to motivate and shape the life of another more important character. We won't experience the injustice of Esme's life through Esme's perception. The book gives a lot of words and thought to the plight of women in the 1950s who find a way to forge their own way despite patriarchal limitations and obstacles, but in the end, Esme's experience doesn't get to be part of that. Her niece's sorta does - but only through the grace of a white woman.
Pitiable, and sad though she is, Esme's story is one told with focus on how the actions of queer people, and people of color, react to oppression in ways that hurt straight white people. But it mostly ignores any focus on the nature of that oppression or white people's culpability.
#2 - The death of the white girl is treated as inherently more tragic than the death of the brown one.
Rose, the 2017 journalist, whose kinda a stand in a proxy for the reader, is, along with us, watching Darby's, Sam's, and Esme's stories unfold with us and reacting to it. She's pulling themes from their stories into 2017 for herself, her life (and for us). She doesn't know any of them but she begins to feel an affinity toward Darby because she's relating to the loneliness, manlessness or whatever. And thinks she's met her. Then she begins to suspect it's Esme not Darby she met and is going through the things of and ... when she finds out it's actually Esme that is dead, and not Darby, she's relieved.
She actually says this in the text. She is relieved to be wrong and to discover Esme was the one killed, not Darby.
WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF?
She doesn't know either woman. From a personality and life circumstance, she has arguably as much or more in common with young Esme than with young Darby. And which ever woman she met, is the one she met. Regardless of which one they were, with either the connection she claims to feel is the growing old, and lonely and unmarried. That's true regardless of which woman is the one whose apartment she's in. So... her relief that the the Puerto Rican girl was dead and not the white one was alive... It was pretty stunning to me to read that.
#3 - Queer Love is depicted as irrational, delusional, and dangerous
There is the moment Darby finds out her dad was gay. And, actually, I think it was handled well. It was 1940 something when that happened, so of course the people who knew were terrible. Of course it made Darby a pariah and her mother ashamed. And then... of course Darby didn't automatically embrace it. She has this moment of reflection where she just knows she knew her dad's soul and has this glimmer that maybe people are wrong. Ok. Fine. Fine exploration.
But then a few scenes later, Esme is.. .well she's shown as having done this reckless dumb dangerous thing out of love for Darby. Narration in this scene calls her frame of mind "self delusional" simultaneous to revealing her love for Darby, she's insisting she can still be allowed to live her dream. Her behavior during this is suddenly frantic, possessive, selfish, and maniacal and it ends in the destruction of both of them. It all is shown as blended together. And, the scene is juxtaposed against Darby's desire to escape to a normal happy life with Sam. Esme's love (irrational danger love) is shown as the spoil to that escape, it's the foil to Darby's normal, safe, loved life. Esme's lesbian desire is depicted as her motivation for what she did, and also what ultimately led to her death.
It's not the oppression of her as a woman of color, and it's not the homophobic era she lives in that kills her in the end. The book seems to enforce the idea that it's Esme's "delusion" that she could be more, be loved, and escape being who the world around her sees her as. When she takes agency over her choices (rather than go to sam for help) that's when she ruins everything for everyone. Her actions, motivated through her expectations to be more, turn her into the book's villain.
#4 Tanya.
She's literally a black character that is introduced as a piece of trash addict. She's the ONLY other woman of color in the book and... she's there so eff up so Darby can step in. Then, she's gone. It's alluded that if she didn't go out on her own she would have been tossed in the gutter. No one even flinches. That's it. That's her story.
Such a great read! It was easy to follow and get to know the characters! So easy to fall in love with all of them. I highly recommend this book!
I just couldn't do it. I tried, I really did. But even listening to this as an audiobook, I still couldn't get through it. Darby's story was much more interesting than its present-day counterpart (which was just horrible and difficult to slog through). I thought I was making some progress, but when I looked at the index and realized I was only about a third of the way through the book, I had to give up. There's no way I would have made it all the way through without tearing my hair out. Even the mystery of Darby's scar and Esme's death wasn't enough to keep my interest, and I actually liked both of those characters!
Rose, a journalist facing career and personal challenges, lives in the former Barbizon Hotel for Women, known in the 1950's as the Dollhouse, a residence for women in New York City. Rose stumbles upon a story about the women who lived in the hotel in the '50s, and the story begins to alternate between 2016 and the 1950's, a time painted vividly by the author. Some of the women were moved to a lower floor after the hotel was converted to apartments, and their story is the basis of this novel. Recommended.
This was an enjoyable, engaging read. Great flow and pacing and I tore through it. Loved the setting and the look at this intriguing time and place.
It was a little rough around the edges, a little muddled at times, and I thought the ending was rather anti-climatic.
Still, if I was passing someone in a bookstore who was holding this book I would say, "Yeah, get it. It was pretty good. Won't knock your socks off, but a solid, entertaining read."
It was a little rough around the edges, a little muddled at times, and I thought the ending was rather anti-climatic.
Still, if I was passing someone in a bookstore who was holding this book I would say, "Yeah, get it. It was pretty good. Won't knock your socks off, but a solid, entertaining read."
Apparently I have a knack for back and forth books right now. What a beautiful book. Seems there may be similarities between 1950s women and 2016 women. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will recommend often!
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes