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A review by jasmineslibraryy
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
i'm a little late to the party, but here i am anyways!
i originally picked up this book due to similar vibes to the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid (one of my all time favorite books). it didn't end up being too similar beyond the initial premise and dual timelines, but i have no issue with that since the story ended up being vastly different then i expected.
it's a dual timeline between elise st. john, a black actress in the middle of two controversies, and the story of kitty karr, a white actress who left her estate and money to elise and her two sisters. kitty's backstory starts in the jim crow south and connects out to the st. john's lives in present time.
i enjoyed reading about kitty, and she was definitely the shining star of the book. she was also the character with the most logical reasoning skills, which made her greater than the others but everyone else more intolerable. however, given the lives of these people, it's very understandable.
my biggest issue with this book is that it feels both too long with the over descriptions and slow pacing in kitty's rise to fame yet also too short because the ending was very rushed. there was also little focus on the st. john family and they all fell flat compared to the development of kitty. while kitty is of course the main character, i just expected more because the description implies they have a bigger role. it's very similar to the way monique falls flat compared to evelyn hugo in the seven husbands of evelyn hugo. furthermore, a lot of the plot twists were pretty predictable once the book split into multiple POVs.
all in all, i enjoyed this book, but it wasn't super life changing.
thank you henry holt and goodreads for the ARC (even though the book came out earlier this month).
i originally picked up this book due to similar vibes to the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid (one of my all time favorite books). it didn't end up being too similar beyond the initial premise and dual timelines, but i have no issue with that since the story ended up being vastly different then i expected.
it's a dual timeline between elise st. john, a black actress in the middle of two controversies, and the story of kitty karr, a white actress who left her estate and money to elise and her two sisters. kitty's backstory starts in the jim crow south and connects out to the st. john's lives in present time.
i enjoyed reading about kitty, and she was definitely the shining star of the book. she was also the character with the most logical reasoning skills, which made her greater than the others but everyone else more intolerable. however, given the lives of these people, it's very understandable.
my biggest issue with this book is that it feels both too long with the over descriptions and slow pacing in kitty's rise to fame yet also too short because the ending was very rushed. there was also little focus on the st. john family and they all fell flat compared to the development of kitty. while kitty is of course the main character, i just expected more because the description implies they have a bigger role. it's very similar to the way monique falls flat compared to evelyn hugo in the seven husbands of evelyn hugo. furthermore, a lot of the plot twists were pretty predictable once the book split into multiple POVs.
all in all, i enjoyed this book, but it wasn't super life changing.
thank you henry holt and goodreads for the ARC (even though the book came out earlier this month).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism