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A review by emmazucati
The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Adrienne and Gilbert were definitely my favorite. I just loved Adrienne so much. The humanity and life Lin-Manuel Miranda brought to Hamilton came through here too. There's something about the 1700s that requires a special touch to invigorate the story, and Day definitely got it right. Adrienne had to be so self aware without being unfeeling and her strength was raw and full of emotion.
I was not a big fan of Beatrice, for whatever reason her voice just didn't come through for me. Her superiority got to me and I felt like her story was the least supported. Her good work was only mentioned in terms of numbers so I never felt the actual impact of her work. Logically, I know she helped war efforts, but her relationship issues far overshadowed her progress in a way the other two women were able to avoid. Especially with her superiority complex and need to prove she rose above. When her actions turned selfish at times, I cared less about how much they helped the soldiers.
Marthe's story I found to be the most exciting and developed. She had such a journey and I was happy to ride it out with her. I also want to bring attention to this being a story about a Frenchwoman in WWII. There's a WWII genre subset of American and English female spies, even going so far as to have British/American women that grew up with a French grandmother so they have the accent. Not so much actual Frenchwomen getting the starring role in the novel. I loved this perspective and hope to find more of it, now that I know to look. My biggest gripe is her origin story, and the inevitable connection to Beatrice (this was my main sticking point with Beatrice's story too). It was weak and then only mentioned when convenient such that it was a disservice to Marthe's character.
I also loved the variety of men in these stories. They complimented the individual women well and held their own, all in admirable ways. Shout out to my main man Yves.
Unfortunately, the novel was a bit dull. The arcs were interesting and the character development was thoughtful, but there were entire chapters of frivolous conversation. I enjoyed Beatrice's friendship and Adrienne's interactions with royalty, but I don't think we needed quite as much as was there for the story. It brought the characters down a bit and made them feel more flippant than I felt warranted. It provided a good arc to the intricacies of the lives the women led, there just might be shorter ways to show it as opposed to telling it.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was 3 stars during most of it, solely because it really slowed down in the middle, but the endings wrapped up well and that got me to 3.5. What pushed it to a 4 for me was the short bit at the end where Dray talked about where fact met fiction. It showed such a depth and attention to detail that I appreciated the whole book so much more for it. I would definitely recommend it with a disclaimer that it might take a bit to get through, but these women are definitely worth it in the end.
I was not a big fan of Beatrice, for whatever reason her voice just didn't come through for me. Her superiority got to me and I felt like her story was the least supported. Her good work was only mentioned in terms of numbers so I never felt the actual impact of her work. Logically, I know she helped war efforts, but her relationship issues far overshadowed her progress in a way the other two women were able to avoid. Especially with her superiority complex and need to prove she rose above. When her actions turned selfish at times, I cared less about how much they helped the soldiers.
Marthe's story I found to be the most exciting and developed. She had such a journey and I was happy to ride it out with her. I also want to bring attention to this being a story about a Frenchwoman in WWII. There's a WWII genre subset of American and English female spies, even going so far as to have British/American women that grew up with a French grandmother so they have the accent. Not so much actual Frenchwomen getting the starring role in the novel. I loved this perspective and hope to find more of it, now that I know to look. My biggest gripe is her origin story, and the inevitable connection to Beatrice (this was my main sticking point with Beatrice's story too). It was weak and then only mentioned when convenient such that it was a disservice to Marthe's character.
I also loved the variety of men in these stories. They complimented the individual women well and held their own, all in admirable ways. Shout out to my main man Yves.
Unfortunately, the novel was a bit dull. The arcs were interesting and the character development was thoughtful, but there were entire chapters of frivolous conversation. I enjoyed Beatrice's friendship and Adrienne's interactions with royalty, but I don't think we needed quite as much as was there for the story. It brought the characters down a bit and made them feel more flippant than I felt warranted. It provided a good arc to the intricacies of the lives the women led, there just might be shorter ways to show it as opposed to telling it.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was 3 stars during most of it, solely because it really slowed down in the middle, but the endings wrapped up well and that got me to 3.5. What pushed it to a 4 for me was the short bit at the end where Dray talked about where fact met fiction. It showed such a depth and attention to detail that I appreciated the whole book so much more for it. I would definitely recommend it with a disclaimer that it might take a bit to get through, but these women are definitely worth it in the end.