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A review by kayse88
Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann
2.0
Ugh. Where to begin with this one? I was actually really looking forward to reading Astor Place Vintage. I thought the idea of a woman being connected to history through the merchandise in her vintage clothing store seemed pretty cool and unique. This was one I just couldn’t wait till Christmas to ask for, so I bit the bullet and ordered it in August. All the banners and ads for it on Goodreads probably added to my sense of excitement and urgency.
The problem is, this book was, despite all my enthusiasm, hard to dredge through. It was seriously painful at times. Here’s my list of Pros and Cons for this book:
Pros:
1.) I finished it. More than I can say for the Last Summer, by Judith Kinghorn
2.) Some of the historical details were interesting. Stephanie Lehmann obviously did extensive research.
3.) The ending came together neatly and tied up loose ends with both storylines.
Cons:
1.) I didn’t like any of the characters. Seriously. I had no pity for stupid Amanda, who was bitching and moaning about how she has “wasted her thirties” on a married man. He is MARRIED. You are the OTHER WOMAN. He will NEVER LEAVE HIS WIFE FOR YOU. And the fact that she allowed for him to pay for her expenses and jewelry and such came across as very “kept woman” and hookerish. And Olive I had trouble connecting with as well. She was the now-stereotypical historical book character who is only interested in a Career, Not Marriage. She was very awkward with her beliefs. The worst part is, even none of the secondary characters did anything for me.
2.) Insert Wacky Best Friend Who Is Into Unconventional Sciences/Spirituality Here. So sick of that cliché, too.
3.) I HATE pseudo-fantasy elements in works of otherwise realistic fiction! When Amanda first finds the journal, she starts seeing flashes of colors behind her and feels another presence. I assume the author wanted us to think it was Olive’s ghost? And then the author went over the top and had Amanda suffer from over-the-top, fantastical dreams that were “so real,” which predictably all included Olive. Yawn. (And why was Amanda naked in all of them? That was weird.)
4.) There was information overload in the first half of the book. Above, I did praise the author for doing her research, but I feel like she included TOO MANY DETAILS for the 1906/1907 bits. There was too much frivolous minutiae about the early twentieth century that I felt was inserted by Lehmann saying, “HEY GUYS! GUYS! I DON’T KNOW IF YOU KNOW THIS, BUT THIS PART OF THE STORY TAKES PLACE IN THE PAST! LOOK AT ALL THIS RESEARCH I DID! I FOUND FACTS, GUYS!” And I love historical fiction, but even I felt overwhelmed by all the details. Lehmann really needed to do some serious detail-pruning for Olive’s side of the story.
5.) There was too much about sex. Not even sexy-sex, which might have been fine. There was just way too much about Olive naively wondering about sex, menstruation, conception, “rubber bags,” childbirth, whatever, that it got to be repetitive and boring. I guess the point was to illustrate the how Victorian morals inhibited turn-of-the-century girls like Olive to learn/feel comfortable about their sexuality, but still, this was way too much. It stopped being interesting way early on in the story, but kept getting dragged out throughout the whole thing.
6.) I hate how the author used bipolar disorder as just a catchall "crazy" state of mind that somehow excused Jeff from having an affair, and explained away his wife's irrational behavior without really delving into it properly. It just seemed as if the author tacked on this particular disorder because it's taboo "bad enough" that it totally made everything okay without much explanation. And I found that incredibly tacky.
7.) Meh. I don’t even feel like thinking about this book anymore. I felt a great sense of relief when I finished it, which just isn’t the right emotion. This short list will have to do.
The problem is, this book was, despite all my enthusiasm, hard to dredge through. It was seriously painful at times. Here’s my list of Pros and Cons for this book:
Pros:
1.) I finished it. More than I can say for the Last Summer, by Judith Kinghorn
2.) Some of the historical details were interesting. Stephanie Lehmann obviously did extensive research.
3.) The ending came together neatly and tied up loose ends with both storylines.
Cons:
1.) I didn’t like any of the characters. Seriously. I had no pity for stupid Amanda, who was bitching and moaning about how she has “wasted her thirties” on a married man. He is MARRIED. You are the OTHER WOMAN. He will NEVER LEAVE HIS WIFE FOR YOU. And the fact that she allowed for him to pay for her expenses and jewelry and such came across as very “kept woman” and hookerish. And Olive I had trouble connecting with as well. She was the now-stereotypical historical book character who is only interested in a Career, Not Marriage. She was very awkward with her beliefs. The worst part is, even none of the secondary characters did anything for me.
2.) Insert Wacky Best Friend Who Is Into Unconventional Sciences/Spirituality Here. So sick of that cliché, too.
3.) I HATE pseudo-fantasy elements in works of otherwise realistic fiction! When Amanda first finds the journal, she starts seeing flashes of colors behind her and feels another presence. I assume the author wanted us to think it was Olive’s ghost? And then the author went over the top and had Amanda suffer from over-the-top, fantastical dreams that were “so real,” which predictably all included Olive. Yawn. (And why was Amanda naked in all of them? That was weird.)
4.) There was information overload in the first half of the book. Above, I did praise the author for doing her research, but I feel like she included TOO MANY DETAILS for the 1906/1907 bits. There was too much frivolous minutiae about the early twentieth century that I felt was inserted by Lehmann saying, “HEY GUYS! GUYS! I DON’T KNOW IF YOU KNOW THIS, BUT THIS PART OF THE STORY TAKES PLACE IN THE PAST! LOOK AT ALL THIS RESEARCH I DID! I FOUND FACTS, GUYS!” And I love historical fiction, but even I felt overwhelmed by all the details. Lehmann really needed to do some serious detail-pruning for Olive’s side of the story.
5.) There was too much about sex. Not even sexy-sex, which might have been fine. There was just way too much about Olive naively wondering about sex, menstruation, conception, “rubber bags,” childbirth, whatever, that it got to be repetitive and boring. I guess the point was to illustrate the how Victorian morals inhibited turn-of-the-century girls like Olive to learn/feel comfortable about their sexuality, but still, this was way too much. It stopped being interesting way early on in the story, but kept getting dragged out throughout the whole thing.
6.) I hate how the author used bipolar disorder as just a catchall "crazy" state of mind that somehow excused Jeff from having an affair, and explained away his wife's irrational behavior without really delving into it properly. It just seemed as if the author tacked on this particular disorder because it's taboo "bad enough" that it totally made everything okay without much explanation. And I found that incredibly tacky.
7.) Meh. I don’t even feel like thinking about this book anymore. I felt a great sense of relief when I finished it, which just isn’t the right emotion. This short list will have to do.