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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Take the serial killer stalking the World's Fair in Chicago in the 20s, add some Jewish mysticism, and two young gay boys trying to make it in the city, and you've got a hell of an interesting YA. It got a bit long in the teeth towards the end of the book, but this is a first book, I can forgive Mr. Polydoros for that. Definitely interested to see more of his work in the future.
A murder mystery, set during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, written in beautifully vivid detail, with a touch of fantasy mixed in, highlighting so much Jewish culture and mythology, as well as the stings of antisemitism and homophobia prevalent in that time period. I love atmospheric writing, and it was so well done in this one, without being too heavy-handed. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
ATY Prompt: A book with fewer than 5000 ratings on Goodreads
ATY Prompt: A book with fewer than 5000 ratings on Goodreads
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
i just didn’t care for any of the characters, the plot “twists” felt forced (and were predictable), and the romance was LACKING
this is more of a 2.5 stars
this is more of a 2.5 stars
an aching fire of a debut, the city beautiful by aden polydoros is a haunting, jewish murder mystery set against the backdrop of chicago's world's fair. alter rosen, frankie portnoy, and raizel ackermann's journey to discover who's been murdering their friends is a dark and fast-paced one, featuring dybbuk possession, dangerous criminals, and a queer love story that blossoms in beautiful contrast with the oppression, antisemitism, and trauma that the characters experience as they fight for their place in their city. this book was gorgeous through and through and it was incredibly refreshing to read a jewish-centered historical novel that doesn't take place during world war II. polydoros is certainly a writer to watch and i can't wait to see where he takes us with his other novels. (if you're into audiobooks, maxwell glick does an incredible job narrating this one!)
3.5 stars.
CW-
CW-
Spoiler
antisemitism, genocide, child abuse (including sexual abuse), trauma and PTSD, death of a parent
It took me over a year to read this since I originally DNF’d it, and now it is done. Overall, this book was pretty good and it kept my attention. It started to lag in the last 30% or so, but it probably started earlier than that if I’m being honest. The representation was nice and I enjoyed that. I wish we had translations for the Russian that was spoken since a good chunk of the time we didn’t, but the dictionary in the back was helpful for other words.
I say it felt slow because of the descriptions (multiple) that took place whenever Alter was having visions from Yakov. There were quite a lot that happened and I felt like we could have benefitted from less. They tended to repeat and I found myself getting bored from it. I did skim the last 40 pages or so, so that didn’t help me.
I say it felt slow because of the descriptions (multiple) that took place whenever Alter was having visions from Yakov. There were quite a lot that happened and I felt like we could have benefitted from less. They tended to repeat and I found myself getting bored from it. I did skim the last 40 pages or so, so that didn’t help me.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book really had it all, murder, mystery, historically rich, and a cute slow burn romance. I really enjoyed reading it.