Scan barcode
A review by mackenzierm
Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird
3.0
3.5/5 stars!
This is a first Sarah Bird novel for me. I was waiting to be in the right mindset to enjoy and appreciate this novel, but given that the publishing (and archive) date of this digital ARC were cutting close I had no choice but to jump right in!
The story is told via the perspective of Evie Grace Devlin, an aspiring nurse, during the Depression. Evie has experienced much hardship up to this point in her life, which we learn about in the early stages of this book. Following her nurse training, where she is cruelly rejected from obtaining her RN pin, she is thrust back into the world of dancing and dance marathons. I haven’t had much reading exposure to books set in this time period, but the ones I have read have mostly been focused on farm life and the Dust Bowl during this time period; thus it was refreshing and eye-opening to have this perspective shown.
I did enjoy reading this novel, as it provides another perspective to the hardships experienced by those during the Depression and sheds light on dance marathons as a form of entertainment. I must admit that I found the story a bit monotonous and grim, with multiple characters that seem to come and go. I don’t feel like many of the characters that were introduced had much bearing to the story, and when they would ‘reappear’ or be mentioned at a later point I had trouble recalling who they were and in what context we knew them. There are also some subplots and literary devices that were injected into the story, with seemingly little purpose.
All in all, an eye-opening story about the hardships experienced during the Depression.
I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are my own. Upon publishing of this novel, I will also be posting my review to Amazon Canada.
This is a first Sarah Bird novel for me. I was waiting to be in the right mindset to enjoy and appreciate this novel, but given that the publishing (and archive) date of this digital ARC were cutting close I had no choice but to jump right in!
The story is told via the perspective of Evie Grace Devlin, an aspiring nurse, during the Depression. Evie has experienced much hardship up to this point in her life, which we learn about in the early stages of this book. Following her nurse training, where she is cruelly rejected from obtaining her RN pin, she is thrust back into the world of dancing and dance marathons. I haven’t had much reading exposure to books set in this time period, but the ones I have read have mostly been focused on farm life and the Dust Bowl during this time period; thus it was refreshing and eye-opening to have this perspective shown.
I did enjoy reading this novel, as it provides another perspective to the hardships experienced by those during the Depression and sheds light on dance marathons as a form of entertainment. I must admit that I found the story a bit monotonous and grim, with multiple characters that seem to come and go. I don’t feel like many of the characters that were introduced had much bearing to the story, and when they would ‘reappear’ or be mentioned at a later point I had trouble recalling who they were and in what context we knew them. There are also some subplots and literary devices that were injected into the story, with seemingly little purpose.
All in all, an eye-opening story about the hardships experienced during the Depression.
I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are my own. Upon publishing of this novel, I will also be posting my review to Amazon Canada.