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dolores_ferrero 's review for:
Shrines of Gaiety
by Kate Atkinson
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Genre: Historical Fiction
Where: London, England
When: 1926
Thoughts/Reflections: This one was tough. It starts off really slowly, and I had a hard time connecting with the characters (and probably because of that, a hard time keeping track of them). But I kept going, because I really enjoyed the author’s writing style. It took me a month to get through 500 pages, but I’m glad I did. While I suspect this isn’t going to be my favorite of her stories, when she gets to it this author is an amazing storyteller. I will definitely keep an eye out for her other novels.
My favorite words:
“Crime paid, fighting it didn't.”
“He caught a high keening from the women's cells up on the floor above - grief or madness, it was hard to say. A fine line divided them.”
“The war was history, and history didn't interest Freda, she'd had no part in it. She was vibrant with the present and hungry for the future.”
“Many things were lost - wars and keys and hearts and boys at sea - but family fortunes, even modest ones, were stolen.”
“A man in an office saw nothing, a man on the street saw much, especially a suspicious man.”
“Nothing was free in Nellie's world, not even love. Perhaps especially not love.”
“Lying came easily to Niven, he thought of it as a means of protecting the truth.”
“Life was for absorbing, not recording. And in the end, it was all just paper that someone would have to dispose of after you were gone. Perhaps, after all, one's purpose in this world was to be forgotten, not remembered.”
“The law exists to be broken, you of all people must know that.”
“What you don't know can't hurt you,' she said to Maddox. She did not believe that. What you didn't know was almost always bound to hurt you.:
“He had saved her, and in doing so he had lost himself.”
“You cannot profit from your own vices, only those of others.”
“He was not good at theatrics. Honest men rarely are.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Alcohol
Minor: War