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A review by nevclue
The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye
4.0
Fascinating historical fiction/mystery set in the early 1900s. Dual timelines: part gangster/mafia story (the flashbacks) and part rise of the KKK in Portland, Oregon (the present). Alice "Nobody" James is on the run from the NYC mafia after being shot. She arrives by train in Portland, near death, and is rescued by a black porter named Max who brings her to the Paragon Hotel, the only all-black hotel in Portland.
Diverse characters, a critical look at race relations in Oregon (not just on a personal level, but on a structural level, such as Oregon's origin as an all-white utopia in the 1840s and its clause in the state constitution that it was "white only"), LGBT rep.
I found Alice a really interesting main character. She unapologetically wants to belong. She wants to fight on someone's behalf. She lies and cheats and is comfortable with a certain degree of violence, but unlike many female characters with those traits, she is upfront about craving connections (family, friends, etc). And I adored her friendship with Blossom Fontaine.
Diverse characters, a critical look at race relations in Oregon (not just on a personal level, but on a structural level, such as Oregon's origin as an all-white utopia in the 1840s and its clause in the state constitution that it was "white only"), LGBT rep.
I found Alice a really interesting main character. She unapologetically wants to belong. She wants to fight on someone's behalf. She lies and cheats and is comfortable with a certain degree of violence, but unlike many female characters with those traits, she is upfront about craving connections (family, friends, etc). And I adored her friendship with Blossom Fontaine.