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mbenzz's review
5.0
I had never heard of The Everleigh Club before picking up this book, but it was quite the place back in the day! The most famous 'House of Pleasure' in the country, and the two sisters who ran it...Minna and Ada Everleigh...were just as famous as their high-class whorehouse.
Ms. Abbott has done an exceptional job with her research, and I feel I got the most accurate account of this story as I could have. In business from 1900-1911, 'Sin in the Second City' reads much like a fiction novel.
Overall, if your interested in Chicago history, or that of famous brothels, I definitely recommend this book. Ms. Abbott paints a very clear and vivid picture of what the Everleigh sisters had to contend with to keep afloat the most famous, and luxurious cat house in the country, and I look forward to what comes next from this author.
Ms. Abbott has done an exceptional job with her research, and I feel I got the most accurate account of this story as I could have. In business from 1900-1911, 'Sin in the Second City' reads much like a fiction novel.
Overall, if your interested in Chicago history, or that of famous brothels, I definitely recommend this book. Ms. Abbott paints a very clear and vivid picture of what the Everleigh sisters had to contend with to keep afloat the most famous, and luxurious cat house in the country, and I look forward to what comes next from this author.
goodem9199's review
1.0
OK, so maybe I picked this one up too soon after finishing Devil in the White City...but I'm really all tuckered out of turn-of-the-century tales of dirty Chicago.
badseedgirl's review
3.0
When I told my co-worker that I was reading a non-fictional account of the most famous brothel in American history, he immediately said "Oh your reading about the 'Bunny Ranch!" This statement made me a little sad because after reading this book I know that the "Bunny Ranch" is the antithesis of everything the Everleigh Club in Chicago represented in the sex trade industry.
It turns out that this is actually the second Karen Abbott biography I have read. I also read her amazing novel [b:American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee|8201605|American Rose A Nation Laid Bare The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee|Karen Abbott|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320408989s/8201605.jpg|13048573] Somehow she is able to take a highly sexualized industry and remove all the sex, without damaging the story. An interesting read.
By the way I learned that the phrase "getting laid" was popularized because of the Everleigh club. Well healed gentlemen would say the were going to get "Everleighed" that night, eventually it was shortened. Also the act of drinking champagne from a ladies shoe also owes its popularity in the US to the Everleigh club.
It turns out that this is actually the second Karen Abbott biography I have read. I also read her amazing novel [b:American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee|8201605|American Rose A Nation Laid Bare The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee|Karen Abbott|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320408989s/8201605.jpg|13048573] Somehow she is able to take a highly sexualized industry and remove all the sex, without damaging the story. An interesting read.
By the way I learned that the phrase "getting laid" was popularized because of the Everleigh club. Well healed gentlemen would say the were going to get "Everleighed" that night, eventually it was shortened. Also the act of drinking champagne from a ladies shoe also owes its popularity in the US to the Everleigh club.
nderiley's review
4.0
To quote the NY Times book review, this book WAS a love letter to the underworld! A very interesting story, following a high class brothel in Chicago - I found myself cheering for the madams of the neighborhood rather than the reformers.
I loved the scattering of pictures of the club and the characters in the story, it made me feel more connected to the picture being painted.
I loved the scattering of pictures of the club and the characters in the story, it made me feel more connected to the picture being painted.
melissa_who_reads's review
4.0
Enjoyed listening to this. Very interesting history both of Chicago at that time and that portion of the history of prostitution and "white slavery." As a Chicagoan, found one story unbelievable just because time and space don't work that way (Minna rushing to defend a former sex worker from a beating defied all logic: perhaps someone called her on the phone while the beating was going on, but she still had to get from the west side to the near south side while the beating was still going on ... and that seemed extraordinary to me). Some language seemed very dated to me (the frequent use of the word "harlot" for example).
But it was an interesting story filled with interesting characters, from the underworld side of the Levee, to the various stripes of politicians, to the crooked policemen, and finally to the reformers, who ranged from Christian zealots to lawyers who wanted to clean up corruption. The book centers on the two sisters who ran the Everleigh Club, a famous upscale brothel that hosted men from the wealthy upper tiers of society - and since they constructed layer upon layer of lies and obfuscations about their own lives (and kept confidences about "their boys" who patronized their club), their story is a bit of a maze of finding the most likely truths among the lies.
But it was an interesting story filled with interesting characters, from the underworld side of the Levee, to the various stripes of politicians, to the crooked policemen, and finally to the reformers, who ranged from Christian zealots to lawyers who wanted to clean up corruption. The book centers on the two sisters who ran the Everleigh Club, a famous upscale brothel that hosted men from the wealthy upper tiers of society - and since they constructed layer upon layer of lies and obfuscations about their own lives (and kept confidences about "their boys" who patronized their club), their story is a bit of a maze of finding the most likely truths among the lies.
aliena_jackson's review
2.0
This should not have taken me over a month to complete. The material is INTERESTING. Come ON! How do you make 20th century Chicago’s red light district boring? Pass.
jilligin's review
2.0
It doesn’t usually take me over a month to read a book. It just was too dry considering the super interesting subject matter. It was a struggle to stay interested and finish.