I borrowed this book because the author of it was on a podcast discussing the research she did for it and that was interesting enough to me to want to read the novel. Her research was about how single women in the mid 20th century had sex and held jobs and in general led lives that are not at all what we think of when we imagine American women during and after WWII. The main character isn't a show girl, but Vivian's a Vassar drop out who doesn't want the life her WASP parents want for her, and so when she gets the chance to move to New York with her aunt who runs a not very impressive theatre in Hell's Kitchen, she takes it. Her skills as a seamstress serve her well, as do her good looks and willingness to do just about anything, and even when she pushes that envelope too far and almost has her reputation ruined by the tabloids, she bounces back.
The frame of the story is essentially How I Met Your Father -- Vivian is now in her 80's and is explaining to a woman named Angela "who your father was to me." So there's that mystery leading you through the narrative, the desire to find out who he is, while also wondering how a woman who moves to New York City in the fall of 1940 will make it through such world-shattering times. It took long enough for that reveal to happen that I began to wonder if the book would land for me as anything other than a very readable and light exploration of the theatre world and life in New York in general. But when it does land, it's quite a shift, and it gave the book some emotional weight it hadn't had for much of it. So much of it was deliberately light and insubstantial, and to suddenly have a real foundation made the lightness matter more.
Grade: A
The frame of the story is essentially How I Met Your Father -- Vivian is now in her 80's and is explaining to a woman named Angela "who your father was to me." So there's that mystery leading you through the narrative, the desire to find out who he is, while also wondering how a woman who moves to New York City in the fall of 1940 will make it through such world-shattering times. It took long enough for that reveal to happen that I began to wonder if the book would land for me as anything other than a very readable and light exploration of the theatre world and life in New York in general. But when it does land, it's quite a shift, and it gave the book some emotional weight it hadn't had for much of it. So much of it was deliberately light and insubstantial, and to suddenly have a real foundation made the lightness matter more.
Grade: A
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