amyreadsgoodbooks 's review for:

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

5.0

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Apparently, I have deeper gratitude towards my reading choices this year because although I was lost for a good portion of Shrines of Gaiety, I am still enamored enough to hand out another 5-star rating. Kate Atkinson develops characters who could occupy our own heads with some of our own thoughts, twists them into the story, and the result either makes you smirk, squirm or laugh. Her magical rendition of the queen of 1920's SOHO in London, Kate Meyrick as the fictional Nellie Coker and the Coker family is intelligent, witty, and in the end magically normal. Full of research about how the Great War influenced the need for fun and distraction while hauling in the gangster life, trying to pull people out of poverty and into the glitz of hope.  Unfortunately, the byproduct of all this fun was dead bodies in the Thames and some nasty addiction issues that carried into the next era. The characters were fun, the suspense was appealing and the end was open. Most notably, life continued on at the end. With a small dose of patience, it all came together beautifully (in my head) and I was no longer lost. This will be my favorite Kate Atkinson novel to date.