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A review by amym84
The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye
4.0
Carrying a bullet wound and fleeing from those who want her dead, Alice "Nobody" James is on a train heading from New York cross-country when she meets, and befriends, Max, a black porter on the train who recognizes Alice is in need of help. He takes her to The Paragon Hotel, the only all-black hotel in Portland, Oregon in this 1921 America.
While there, Alice meets the men and women who live and work in the hotel, and while at first they're a bit reticent about welcoming a white woman into their midst, soon Alice befriends the lively and boisterous Blossom, a nightclub singer.
When one of their residents goes missing, Alice takes up the investigation. But when she begins looking into the disappearance, the mysteriousness of those who live in The Paragon Hotel comes to the surface, especially where Blossom is concerned. All the while Alice's own mysterious escape plays out to a thrilling conclusion.
It took me a bit to get into this story, but once I hit a certain point, where I was familiar with the setting and characters and I could anticipate the flow of the story, specifically when it comes to the dialogue and descriptions - which were beautiful - it was difficult to put down.
The story was broken up between the present - at The Paragon Hotel - and the past - Alice's life growing up in New York, and builds slowly toward the moment at the beginning of the book which finds Alice fleeing for her life.
In New York, Alice, an Italian-American, is entangled with the mafia Family that dominates the streets of Harlem and demands compensation from those they purport to "protect". When Alice's boss looks to usurp the status quo, there are dire circumstances.
In Oregon, Alice comes face to face with racism and the threat of the KKK which is looming on the horizon. While she comes to care for the people of The Paragon Hotel, she's also seen as an outsider. Using her ability - gained from spying - to disappear into different guises, Alice looks to solve the mystery of the missing hotel resident while also uncovering what others only utter in whispers.
After all is said and done, I really felt like The Paragon Hotel was about identity. Who we are, who we want to be, who we want others to see us as, and how we are actually viewed by people. Sometimes this can be the color of someone's skin, sometimes their religious beliefs, sometimes their sex. I thought that Lyndsay Faye pulled off all these different elements really well. Even though I wasn't really surprised by the "big reveal" towards the end, I definitely felt for these characters, and their story - despite taking place in 1921 - felt so extremely relevant to today's world, it made me a little sad too.
I still felt like there were some instances where we didn't get enough closure. I'm not sure if this was done because maybe Lyndsay Faye still has more to tell with these characters, especially Alice, or because of the fact that the struggle is never-ending.
Regardless, I enjoyed The Paragon Hotel. It's an engrossing read that shines light on a time and place in history that I didn't know much about, but also brought to light all the differences and similarities we still face today.
*Copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.
While there, Alice meets the men and women who live and work in the hotel, and while at first they're a bit reticent about welcoming a white woman into their midst, soon Alice befriends the lively and boisterous Blossom, a nightclub singer.
When one of their residents goes missing, Alice takes up the investigation. But when she begins looking into the disappearance, the mysteriousness of those who live in The Paragon Hotel comes to the surface, especially where Blossom is concerned. All the while Alice's own mysterious escape plays out to a thrilling conclusion.
It took me a bit to get into this story, but once I hit a certain point, where I was familiar with the setting and characters and I could anticipate the flow of the story, specifically when it comes to the dialogue and descriptions - which were beautiful - it was difficult to put down.
The story was broken up between the present - at The Paragon Hotel - and the past - Alice's life growing up in New York, and builds slowly toward the moment at the beginning of the book which finds Alice fleeing for her life.
In New York, Alice, an Italian-American, is entangled with the mafia Family that dominates the streets of Harlem and demands compensation from those they purport to "protect". When Alice's boss looks to usurp the status quo, there are dire circumstances.
In Oregon, Alice comes face to face with racism and the threat of the KKK which is looming on the horizon. While she comes to care for the people of The Paragon Hotel, she's also seen as an outsider. Using her ability - gained from spying - to disappear into different guises, Alice looks to solve the mystery of the missing hotel resident while also uncovering what others only utter in whispers.
After all is said and done, I really felt like The Paragon Hotel was about identity. Who we are, who we want to be, who we want others to see us as, and how we are actually viewed by people. Sometimes this can be the color of someone's skin, sometimes their religious beliefs, sometimes their sex. I thought that Lyndsay Faye pulled off all these different elements really well. Even though I wasn't really surprised by the "big reveal" towards the end, I definitely felt for these characters, and their story - despite taking place in 1921 - felt so extremely relevant to today's world, it made me a little sad too.
I still felt like there were some instances where we didn't get enough closure. I'm not sure if this was done because maybe Lyndsay Faye still has more to tell with these characters, especially Alice, or because of the fact that the struggle is never-ending.
Regardless, I enjoyed The Paragon Hotel. It's an engrossing read that shines light on a time and place in history that I didn't know much about, but also brought to light all the differences and similarities we still face today.
*Copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.