Book Review: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Book Review: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

I won this book as an ARC in a Goodreads giveaway, and this is my honest review.

I had heard a lot about this book before I won it on Goodreads, so I was looking forward to reading it. A few of my bookish friends touted it as a profound book for 2021 readers.

Vivian Morris, after getting kicked out of Vassar College, flees her family's judgment and condescension by moving to live with her aunt in New York City, where she becomes part of a middling theater group as the seamstress and costumer. She discovers herself as a voracious sexual being--shocking even in 1940s New York City. She also discovers that her pursuit of sexual conquests has damning personal and professional consequences when she allows her promiscuity to lead her to make bad judgments that irreparably damage the life she has built for herself in her theater community.

But the story is deeper than Vivian's promiscuity.

And, though I was tempted to not finish the book at several points (mostly the extremely vivid descriptions of Vivian's sexual encounters--just not my flavor), I heard my friends' rave reviews in the back of my head, propelling me to continue reading. I'm glad I listened to those voices.

Vivian's story of unapologetically unconventional and alternative lifestyle choices ultimately creates an incredibly endearing story of friendships and missteps, forgiveness and new beginnings, authenticity and hiding. Vivian's sense of agency at a time that discouraged women from exercising such agency is empowering and despite my disapproval of Vivian's choices, she doesn't need or seek my approval. Nor does my disapproval cloud my ability to genuinely like her. She's spunky, full of life and love, and forges lasting and meaningful relationships with the other characters. Vivian is someone I would like to know.

The prose is compelling, beautiful, poetic, and the historical background creates an immersive story showing a different type of life experience for those making sense of life in the 1940s.

I initially rated City of Girls 3/5 stars, but after I marinated in its afterglow, it deserves 4/5 stars.

Book Review: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

Book Review: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

I read an ARC of Rebecca Serle's novel The Dinner List.

The premise of this book is interesting: what would you do if you could spend an evening's dinner with any five people of your choosing--living or dead? Who would you invite? Why? What would you all talk about?

Sabrina's Dinner List wish is granted on her birthday as she spends an evening dining with her deadbeat, alcoholic father (Robert); her ex-boyfriend (Tobias); her best friend (Jessica); her favorite philosophy professor from college (Conrad); and movie star Audrey Hepburn.

Serle weaves flashbacks into the dinner party scenes, revealing intimacies she and Tobias shared which ultimately led to their break up. Sabrina's conversations with Robert, Jessica, and Tobias dominate the dinner as she has unresolved issues with each of them, and Conrad and Audrey serve as mediators of the sometimes intense emotions bubbling to the surface while Sabrina tries to beat the midnight toll which will end her evening dinner.

Serle's ability to weave the past events into the current events in the novel results in powerful storytelling. Tobias and Sabrina share a heart-rending love story that magnifies the abandonment she feels from Robert's escape into alcoholism and his new family she is not part of. And, Jessica's love for Sabrina stems from Jessica's desire for her friend to have the best life has to offer, which Sabrina interprets as judgment, leading to rifts in their once very tight friendship. The story is poignant, real, raw, and at the same time fantastical in its origins.

This is not a love story per se; it's more a story of one woman's struggle to find enduring love and to offer and accept forgiveness, a story that magnifies the messiness that life really is for many.

I really enjoyed this novel because I found the Sabrina's and Jessica's angst real and honest, but I found myself wishing we discovered more about "how" this event was able to happen. The question is raised a few times by the characters, but never really addressed. And, I wished Audrey Hepburn had a more purposeful role. I loved that she was present and appreciated her connection to Tobias and Sabrina's story, but felt her presence at the dinner was somewhat underdeveloped.

I love, LOVE the concept of this book and appreciate Serle's execution. Pull up a seat and join the dinner party: read The Dinner List.

Source:
Serle, Rebecca.The Dinner List: A novel. Flatiron Books, 2018.