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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
About a woman in a sideshow in turn of the century NYC.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Incredible story woven with history. The narratives are strong and moving. I fell in love with the characters. My heart ached with them and the horrific events of those times. To try to sugarcoat history and make everything a happily-ever-after is not the kind of writer/storyteller Hoffman is at all. This is part of her storytelling, to make your heart ache, to make it sing, to leave you affected, not able to view the world the same. These are the kind of books that change people, these are the best kind of books.
In my opinion, Alice Hoffman is a genius writer and storyteller.
In my opinion, Alice Hoffman is a genius writer and storyteller.
A book of semi-historial fiction, of the time of the Triangle shirt-waist fire and labor rights movement in New York City, this book does an admirable job at describing drama, but has a chronologically-convoluted narrative that is a bit distracting.
It has an innovative style where the narrating alternates around in 4 different ways, but overall, I would rate this novel as "regular good".
It has an innovative style where the narrating alternates around in 4 different ways, but overall, I would rate this novel as "regular good".
This book has great atmosphere; mystical, spooky, while at the same time gritty and historical, expressed in the dichotomy of the two main characters. Both are well developed in their own histories, motivations, goals, and personalities and they are largely independent of each other throughout most of the book. Their romance is nearly unnecessary, but a nice culmination of an intricate and unusual plot.
This is not the Alice I remember. I loved all her early stories and then I let her go for many. This is a very mature story of a very interesting time in NY history.
Beautifully told. I think I liked this one better than Story Sisters. It had less "magic" in it, and I liked the characters much better. I found certain plot elements to be too fantastic, I was often confused about the timeline, and I didn't love Judith Light's narrations, but overall those are minor quibbles. I looked forward to my commute each day so I could continue the story!
(1.5 stars since it's just about readable)
I did not get on well with this book AT ALL. I found that surprising considering it’s set in an interesting period of history (early 20th Century) in a fascinating place (New York), is based around a freak show, a tragic factory fire and the mystery surrounding a missing girl. It’s also set in Brooklyn (where I’m currently living). With all that in mind, it’s amazing that it was SO FLIPPING DULL.
A breakdown of my peeves:
1) Annoying faux Olde Worlde language
The word ‘for’ is massively overused in this book - ‘For she knew’, ‘For he thought’. In almost all cases it’s a completely redundant word. Even more infuriatingly, nothing in the book is ever seen, looked at or found, it’s always bloody SPIED ('He spied her', 'She was worried she might be spied…'). Once I noticed these tendencies I found them intensely aggravating. It felt like the author was trying to make the book feel more authentic by using “old fashioned” language, but it was alienating more than anything, probably because it was done in such a half-assed way, incorporating only certain elements of ‘old fashioned’ writing and speech.
2) The worst case of instalove I’ve ever encountered
Seriously, it was ridiculous. The main character literally drags herself out of a polluted metropolitan waterway, ‘spies’ a man with a pitbull in the woods and falls in love with him. He doesn’t even look at her, let alone talk to her. But of course, after that she just can’t stop thinking of him. Pfft. To make matters even worse
3) I read historical fiction to learn about human experience in the past, not to learn random historical facts
(although learning about the period in question is always a cheeky bonus). The author had obviously done her research but the way that historical facts were interspersed into the story was at times beyond clunky. E.g. “She was not far from the last wild land to the north, but she had no idea of where north was, as she had no idea that the Bronx itself was being remade after the building of the Grand Concourse, modeled on Paris’s Champs-Elysees". If the character through whose perspective the story is being told doesn’t know something why is that fact included in the story? . It’s just amateurish.
4) Nothing happens!
There’s just no suspense,. Also, Eddie doesn’t do any actual detective work, .
5) Garbled, rushed plotting
It felt like the author was in a hurry to write this and because of that none of the plotlines really work. The ending was completely mangled, I couldn’t work out where each character was in the climactic scene -
This was a slog to get through but mercifully not too long. First book fail of 2016. Oh well, it was a good run.
I did not get on well with this book AT ALL. I found that surprising considering it’s set in an interesting period of history (early 20th Century) in a fascinating place (New York), is based around a freak show, a tragic factory fire and the mystery surrounding a missing girl. It’s also set in Brooklyn (where I’m currently living). With all that in mind, it’s amazing that it was SO FLIPPING DULL.
A breakdown of my peeves:
1) Annoying faux Olde Worlde language
The word ‘for’ is massively overused in this book - ‘For she knew’, ‘For he thought’. In almost all cases it’s a completely redundant word. Even more infuriatingly, nothing in the book is ever seen, looked at or found, it’s always bloody SPIED ('He spied her', 'She was worried she might be spied…'). Once I noticed these tendencies I found them intensely aggravating. It felt like the author was trying to make the book feel more authentic by using “old fashioned” language, but it was alienating more than anything, probably because it was done in such a half-assed way, incorporating only certain elements of ‘old fashioned’ writing and speech.
2) The worst case of instalove I’ve ever encountered
Seriously, it was ridiculous. The main character literally drags herself out of a polluted metropolitan waterway, ‘spies’ a man with a pitbull in the woods and falls in love with him. He doesn’t even look at her, let alone talk to her. But of course, after that she just can’t stop thinking of him. Pfft. To make matters even worse
Spoiler
as soon as he sets eyes on her he falls in love with her? It’s fckin stupid!3) I read historical fiction to learn about human experience in the past, not to learn random historical facts
(although learning about the period in question is always a cheeky bonus). The author had obviously done her research but the way that historical facts were interspersed into the story was at times beyond clunky. E.g. “She was not far from the last wild land to the north, but she had no idea of where north was, as she had no idea that the Bronx itself was being remade after the building of the Grand Concourse, modeled on Paris’s Champs-Elysees". If the character through whose perspective the story is being told doesn’t know something why is that fact included in the story? . It’s just amateurish.
4) Nothing happens!
There’s just no suspense,
Spoiler
Eddie gets asked to find Hannah Weiss, in the next chapter we find out where Hannah Weiss is and where she’s going. In the next chapter Eddie finds out where Hannah Weiss is. He instantly falls in love with Coralie (for no reason). As soon as Mr Weiss commissions Eddie to help he goes to his father’s house and gives him a wad of cash. It was just so boring. All of the problems and mysteries were instantly resolvedSpoiler
he tries to track Hannah down but doesn’t get anywhere, then he goes fishing and bumps into a guy who tells him all the information he needs to know. Then after he retrieves her body and attends the funeral he is followed home by a guy who tells him unprompted where the murder happened and why. I mean, wtf?5) Garbled, rushed plotting
It felt like the author was in a hurry to write this and because of that none of the plotlines really work. The ending was completely mangled, I couldn’t work out where each character was in the climactic scene -
Spoiler
I didn’t even realise the Professor was on the roof! Also, I’m assuming he died although it wasn’t very clear?This was a slog to get through but mercifully not too long. First book fail of 2016. Oh well, it was a good run.
Don't listen to the audiobook, the main narration is terrible. The story was interesting, though slow in some parts. Fairly predictable.