Scan barcode
A review by sketchy_reader
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
4.0
Historical fiction always takes me longer to read than any other genre but I do really enjoy it. I've always had a hard time enjoying history for two reasons... 1. What we are taught in school is often straight up lies or only the truths that seem most appealing. And 2. I'm sorry but it can be really friggen boring to learn. I love fiction, everyone knows this. But books like this where the historical parts are actual facts and the fictional parts are fun or fantastical I really do love reading. The fiction makes the historical parts more bearable.
I do have to say that while I really enjoyed this book it was absolutely nothing like I was expecting. All the reviews I read talk of how much fun this book is and the humor of it but the majority of it for me was just very sad.
Spoilers ahead
A man that's been beat down by his father so badly he has become an alcoholic, on top of that he is bisexual and in love with his best friend who is not only of the same gender he is also of color. So of course in the 18th century it is illegal for them to be together. Now of course being a colored gay man is not enough he also has epilepsy and is being sent away to an asylum. And the main characters sister is a strong woman with a passion for science and medicine but is never going to be allowed to go to university. She reads to learn all she can but even that is highly frowned upon if you happen to be anything other than a white male of means. Her fate is finishing school. I do realize that all the things that made this book sad are all historically accurate... and that only makes it sadder.
The book did, however, have a happy ending and I really loved the final pages. It just felt like the only way it could have ended, not necessarily because of what lives they chose but the format in which we find out.
I do have to say that while I really enjoyed this book it was absolutely nothing like I was expecting. All the reviews I read talk of how much fun this book is and the humor of it but the majority of it for me was just very sad.
Spoilers ahead
A man that's been beat down by his father so badly he has become an alcoholic, on top of that he is bisexual and in love with his best friend who is not only of the same gender he is also of color. So of course in the 18th century it is illegal for them to be together. Now of course being a colored gay man is not enough he also has epilepsy and is being sent away to an asylum. And the main characters sister is a strong woman with a passion for science and medicine but is never going to be allowed to go to university. She reads to learn all she can but even that is highly frowned upon if you happen to be anything other than a white male of means. Her fate is finishing school. I do realize that all the things that made this book sad are all historically accurate... and that only makes it sadder.
The book did, however, have a happy ending and I really loved the final pages. It just felt like the only way it could have ended, not necessarily because of what lives they chose but the format in which we find out.