Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - The Phoenix Crown

A nicely engaging historical fiction novel about the 1906 SF earthquake! I’m so glad Quinn reached out to Chang to cowrite this piece. Bringing in the Chinese perspective was really enriching to the story, and it’s so important to remember the immigrant labor that built so much of the West Coast. My favorite character turned out to be a real person, so that was a fun discovery! (Google Alice Eastwood, so cool.) I saw most of the “plot twists” a mile away, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment. This definitely made me look up current earthquake response recommendations, and a few things have changed since we were doing earthquake drills under our school desks! (Now I feel old.)

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larissakoch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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lucyatoz's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang is a book of historical fiction based around the time of the earthquake of San Francisco, which occurred on 18 April 1906. Four women, Alice, a world class botanist, Gemma, a Opera soprano who is part of the chorus of a tour company performing in the city, Nellie, a brilliant artist, and Suling, a talented seamstress, living with her third Uncle in Chinatown.

We read about how their lives come together and are then pulled apart again with the story centred around the Octagon House of Henry Thornton, millionaire philanthropist of the arts, who appreciates unique plants and the finer things in life, including having a Phoenix Crown, the prize in his collection.

I appreciated how Kate and Janie collaborated together on this book and really liked how they brought the story to a close in their authors' note.

I owned a copy of this book and listened to it on Audible. I read this for the April 2024 Readalong for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.

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linda48's review

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adventurous emotional informative tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sarahbsews's review

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mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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sparklingpynk's review against another edition

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Kate Quinn is one of my top fave authors and I really enjoy her writing style in the way she can weave together a story full of bad ass women in some point in time in history, romance, and a bit of action. This one had all that I typically enjoy from Kate Quinn but I did not fully love it like I do her other books. Janie Chang is a new author for me and I would like to read some of her other books to see what her writing style is like.

Overall I enjoyed the descriptions of the art and music in this one. I enjoyed getting to know each of the unique women and their stories intertwining.

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sersi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative fast-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

3.25

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kefink's review

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

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