Scan barcode
A review by fourlittlebees
The Tumbling Turner Sisters by Juliette Fay
3.0
Give me a book about a circus, burlesque, or vaudeville and you've lost me for at least a few days.
I was thrilled to get a chance to read ()and review) an ARC of Juliette Fay's upcoming The Tumbling Turner Sisters, about a family of four sisters who, at their mother's behest, take to vaudeville with their tumbling routines to earn money when their father is injured and unable to work.
::: The Good Stuff::
Fay has very much done her homework. She references actual vaudeville houses of the late 1910s and early 1920s while weaving in the impact of historical events on the characters without slowing the narrative. Issues like women's suffrage, Prohibition, and racism are part of the sisters' lives, but not placed at the forefront of the story, giving a rich and nuanced realism to the novel. Adding to that realism are small moments of importance presented in a historically plausible manner and an unflinching look at the bigotry of the era.
The very best thing is how Fay manages to create characters who avoid the too-perfect and anachronistic revulsion at era-typical prejudices while giving them an open-mindedness that keeps them likable: a young man incensed at a woman's desire for the vote confronted with the idea that an intelligent woman could be more than a housewife and mother; a white woman surprised by the fact that offering a hand to a black man was the same as any other person, acknowledging both internalized and societal racism.
Bits of humor and historical believability make this a great read.
:: The Not-So-Good Stuff ::
The most frustrating thing about reading this book is that, but for two overarching issues, it would have been stellar. The first is that the character of Ethel Turner -- the mother of the sister act -- veers so far into Mama Rose territory that I couldn't picture her as anyone but Ethel Merman. They share the name. Ethel (the character) orders her girls to do whatever it takes. Controls their careers and their money. Tries to move them up in the vaudeville circuit. Has a henpecked man (her husband, the girls' father) who does whatever she tells him to. Even writing this review, I still have "Everything's Coming Up Roses" in my head.
The second issue is the dual POV (point of view) narration. I'm normally a huge fan of getting into more than one character's head, and am partial to this style of storytelling. The issue here, however, is that the two POVs are two of the sisters, and this style usually lends itself to characters on opposite sides: of an issue, of a relationship, of the story. There often wasn't enough of a distinction between the sisters (one bold and driven, the other bookish and a "good" girl) to keep them straight. There were several times when I found myself flipping back to the beginning of a chapter or looking for a dialogue tag to remind myself which sister's POV I was reading, especially when they were in a group scene, and I wish there'd been a larger distinction between their voices.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it to anyone as obsessed with the live entertainment era.
I was thrilled to get a chance to read ()and review) an ARC of Juliette Fay's upcoming The Tumbling Turner Sisters, about a family of four sisters who, at their mother's behest, take to vaudeville with their tumbling routines to earn money when their father is injured and unable to work.
::: The Good Stuff::
Fay has very much done her homework. She references actual vaudeville houses of the late 1910s and early 1920s while weaving in the impact of historical events on the characters without slowing the narrative. Issues like women's suffrage, Prohibition, and racism are part of the sisters' lives, but not placed at the forefront of the story, giving a rich and nuanced realism to the novel. Adding to that realism are small moments of importance presented in a historically plausible manner and an unflinching look at the bigotry of the era.
The very best thing is how Fay manages to create characters who avoid the too-perfect and anachronistic revulsion at era-typical prejudices while giving them an open-mindedness that keeps them likable: a young man incensed at a woman's desire for the vote confronted with the idea that an intelligent woman could be more than a housewife and mother; a white woman surprised by the fact that offering a hand to a black man was the same as any other person, acknowledging both internalized and societal racism.
Bits of humor and historical believability make this a great read.
:: The Not-So-Good Stuff ::
The most frustrating thing about reading this book is that, but for two overarching issues, it would have been stellar. The first is that the character of Ethel Turner -- the mother of the sister act -- veers so far into Mama Rose territory that I couldn't picture her as anyone but Ethel Merman. They share the name. Ethel (the character) orders her girls to do whatever it takes. Controls their careers and their money. Tries to move them up in the vaudeville circuit. Has a henpecked man (her husband, the girls' father) who does whatever she tells him to. Even writing this review, I still have "Everything's Coming Up Roses" in my head.
The second issue is the dual POV (point of view) narration. I'm normally a huge fan of getting into more than one character's head, and am partial to this style of storytelling. The issue here, however, is that the two POVs are two of the sisters, and this style usually lends itself to characters on opposite sides: of an issue, of a relationship, of the story. There often wasn't enough of a distinction between the sisters (one bold and driven, the other bookish and a "good" girl) to keep them straight. There were several times when I found myself flipping back to the beginning of a chapter or looking for a dialogue tag to remind myself which sister's POV I was reading, especially when they were in a group scene, and I wish there'd been a larger distinction between their voices.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it to anyone as obsessed with the live entertainment era.