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kelli_with_an_i 's review for:
The Lions of Fifth Avenue
by Fiona Davis
I bought this book after I got home from a trip to NYC which included two trips to the NYPL. I purchased a signed copy from the NYPL online since the bookstore was closed on my second stop to the library. While there I brought a friend who hadn’t been to the library before. I was excited to show her the original Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Kanga, and Eeyore stuffed animals loved by the actual little boy and son of A. A. Milne, Christopher Robin. The last time I was at the library was January 2020, pre-COVID, and these loved animals were on display in the actual children’s book section of the library. How cool to be a little kid and this be a part of your “going to the library” experience.
Well, now Pooh was on display in an exhibit called Treasures of the New York Public Library, among MANY, MANY, more interesting writings, books, artifacts, and pieces of interest. Dickens’ cat paw letter opener struck me funny at the exhibit, and it’s mention in the book I found hilarious having just seen this.
The book gave me such high hopes for a good story. The basis being a family living in the NYPL. I mean what book lover hasn’t fantasized that for themselves?! So the story drew me in. Then the dual timelines made me want to finish reading one or the other, but not read them simultaneously. I felt like the plot from the 1913ish era was written with too modern of a voice, trying to incorporate feminist feelings of the era, but if felt forced. I felt like there were many things not delved into with enough detail. I felt like the modern plot was weak, and didn’t choose the book for a lame love story. Quit making librarians weak, boring, lonely, self-loathing “spinsters”.
It eventually became a predictable, “Can we just wrap this up?” kind of read. I didn’t hate it. I just felt like many topics were forced. The stories were all resolved, but maybe not in the depth I would have liked.
Well, now Pooh was on display in an exhibit called Treasures of the New York Public Library, among MANY, MANY, more interesting writings, books, artifacts, and pieces of interest. Dickens’ cat paw letter opener struck me funny at the exhibit, and it’s mention in the book I found hilarious having just seen this.
The book gave me such high hopes for a good story. The basis being a family living in the NYPL. I mean what book lover hasn’t fantasized that for themselves?! So the story drew me in. Then the dual timelines made me want to finish reading one or the other, but not read them simultaneously. I felt like the plot from the 1913ish era was written with too modern of a voice, trying to incorporate feminist feelings of the era, but if felt forced. I felt like there were many things not delved into with enough detail. I felt like the modern plot was weak, and didn’t choose the book for a lame love story. Quit making librarians weak, boring, lonely, self-loathing “spinsters”.
It eventually became a predictable, “Can we just wrap this up?” kind of read. I didn’t hate it. I just felt like many topics were forced. The stories were all resolved, but maybe not in the depth I would have liked.