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A review by alisonburnis
Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird
adventurous
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
2.25
A wild romp through nursing school and vaudeville during the Depression, Last Dance on the Starlight Pier was unfortunately uneven. Following Evie Grace, a plucky young woman who dubbed her way into nursing school and out of her desperate life with her abusive mother, she ensures the bullying of the director of nursing for three years only to be denied her pin. Devastated, Evie ends up back in the world of vaudeville, working as a nurse for a travelling dance marathon show. Sucked into the world of the show, Evie begins a close friendship with Zave, one of the stars. A riotous, heartbreaking story is their plans for the future, and their quest to get Evie her pin.
The parts about nursing school felt focused but after that, the story grew chaotic and kind of nonsensical, as well as deeply homophobic. While Bird was representing the general feelings about same sex relationships during the time period, it doesn’t come across as well-executed. Evie wants to change Zave, who isn’t keen on changing who he is to be more palatable. Evie does eventually realize the medicine at the time was to recommend lobotomies, and thankfully, is horrified, but it was mostly very clunky as part of the plot and the finesse to illustrate queer love in a time where it was 100% not accepted was lacking.
I received this digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my thoughts.
The parts about nursing school felt focused but after that, the story grew chaotic and kind of nonsensical, as well as deeply homophobic. While Bird was representing the general feelings about same sex relationships during the time period, it doesn’t come across as well-executed. Evie wants to change Zave, who isn’t keen on changing who he is to be more palatable. Evie does eventually realize the medicine at the time was to recommend lobotomies, and thankfully, is horrified, but it was mostly very clunky as part of the plot and the finesse to illustrate queer love in a time where it was 100% not accepted was lacking.
I received this digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my thoughts.