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A review by tracimreed
Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford
5.0
I picked up this book not knowing anything about the content, author or the era in which it was set and from that moment on it was an utter surprise in every way. It follows the life of a boy from 1908 China whose mother sold him to get him out of the country and to the US. He lands on the shores of Seattle, WA and from there he is raffled off to the highest bidder at the World's Fair. The highest bidder happens to be the madame of the most respectable brothel in Seattle.
This isn't a tawdry book however, it is about survival and finding love in an era when nearly everyone was uneducated and destitute and the lucky women who were beautiful could end up selling the only currency they had in a brothel where the madame encouraged their further education and independence, and be far wealthier than their contemporaries in workhouses.
I truly loved Ernest's quiet strength and the two girls whom he loved who were night and day. I loved guessing which girl he ended up with in the end (and my mind changed many times between the two throughout the book) and I love, love, loved the closure in the end. A beautifully and perfectly written book with such attention to detail that I often googled things that surprised me such as "he FOLDED DOWN the front car window". Folded? I never knew that car windows used to fold!
This isn't a tawdry book however, it is about survival and finding love in an era when nearly everyone was uneducated and destitute and the lucky women who were beautiful could end up selling the only currency they had in a brothel where the madame encouraged their further education and independence, and be far wealthier than their contemporaries in workhouses.
I truly loved Ernest's quiet strength and the two girls whom he loved who were night and day. I loved guessing which girl he ended up with in the end (and my mind changed many times between the two throughout the book) and I love, love, loved the closure in the end. A beautifully and perfectly written book with such attention to detail that I often googled things that surprised me such as "he FOLDED DOWN the front car window". Folded? I never knew that car windows used to fold!