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adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I always love Kate Quinn’s books, but I think her work really evolved with this one. The multiple POV (and including the house as a character?? Brilliant!) was engaging and I really enjoyed how she took us back in time to “the beginning” and showed us how things evolved from different perspectives. The murder mystery element stepped up the game and I felt engaged and intrigued by all the different characters and how Quinn worked to develop their unique voices and stories. It kept me on my toes until the very end and I thought that Quinn did a beautiful job examining the lives of a very diverse set of women living during the “red scare” in the United States.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Classism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Infertility, War
Minor: Body shaming
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Finished reading: July 11th 2024
"It's seen three wars, ten presidents, and countless tenants... but until tonight, never a murder. Now its walls smell of turkey, pumpkin pie, and blood, and the house is shocked down to its foundations."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
WARNING: it's another unscheduled stop of the unpopular opinion train!!
I'm honestly still baffled this actually happened. I tend to adore Kate Quinn's writing and she is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. I knew that I wanted to read The Briar Club even before reading the blurb, and I was even more intrigued once I did. I fully expected to have another new favorite on my hands, so imagine my surprise when I had a completely opposite reaction instead... The Briar Club is NOTHING like her previous books, and sadly for me not in a good way. This was without doubt a dud for me!
Things started out well enough and I can't deny that I loved the prologue written from the POV of the house and the murder. What a way to start the story with a bang! It made me even more excited to continue reading, but sadly things fizzled out very soon after that. Why? The Briar Club isn't like your usual historical fiction stories, but instead reads more like a collection of character studies focusing on the people living in the Briar house. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I signed up for and sadly it wasn't able to keep my attention. Especially since the murder itself mostly seemed like an afterthought instead.
I think part of the reason I struggled so much had a lot to do with the fact that this story is 100% character driven. There isn't much of a plot to speak of, and instead the story mainly consists of the stories of the different people living in the boardinghouse. There are so many characters, and it is very hard to keep them apart as I found most of them rather dull. I think the story couldn't have picked a worse character than Pete to start the story with, as having to spend time inside is head was both tedious and extremely boring. Nora's POV was slightly better, but still not able to keep my attention completely... Especially since by then I was wondering what was really the point of this book and why there was hardly any mention of the murder at all. Like I said before, it seemed more like a collection of short stories rather than a properly cohesive plot.
I was also extremely surprised by just how much I struggled with both the writing style itself and the tone. I usually love Kate Quinn's writing, so it made it kind of hard believe The Briar Club was written by the same author... I know this is mainly a personal reaction though and the majority of the readers do seem to love this story so far. Still, somehow The Briar Club wasn't for me at all, and I confess that I started skimreading long before the halfway mark. If I'm honest, I probably should have simply DNFed it instead... A true shock considering I have given two of her previous books the full 5 stars in the past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, Sexual harassment, War