gleeb0278 's review for:

The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman

4.0

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This book was a fun and interesting read. I like anything set in NYC in the past and I love ice cream, so it was win-win. The premise of the book is that Malka, an immigrant from Russia, climbs her way to success and fame in the form of the first ice cream franchise. It's not an easy climb and things fall apart for her later in life, too. The only things keeping me from giving this 5 stars is that it took several chapters to grab me (though once it did, I was hooked throughout) and also Malka/Lillian was kind of annoying. She was very endearing when she was a kid, but the more she grew up the more abrasive and unlikeable she seemed. It was hard to feel bad for her later in the book.

I do want to check out the author's other books, which seem more like memoirs...I'm not a big memoir reader but they seem intriguing!