Hello Elizabeth Gilbert.
Thank you
for gracing the earth with this beautifully light hearted book. Thank you for not passing judgement on anyone's actions
and presenting us with a novel that lets us know that everything will be alright.
Also thank you to Tandem Collective and Bloomsbury Publishing for a copy of the recently released paperback version of the book. I read this as a read along on instagram with a group of fellow bookstagrammers/book bloggers as part of tandem collectives April read along and my god did I enjoy it!
Synopsis:
It is the summer of 1940. Nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris arrives in New York with her suitcase and sewing machine, exiled by her despairing parents. Although her quicksilver talents with a needle and commitment to mastering the perfect hair roll have been deemed insufficient for her to pass into her sophomore year of Vassar, she soon finds gainful employment as the self-appointed seamstress at the Lily Playhouse, her unconventional Aunt Peg's charmingly disreputable Manhattan revue theatre. There, Vivian quickly becomes the toast of the showgirls, transforming the trash and tinsel only fit for the cheap seats into creations for goddesses. Exile in New York is no exile at all: here in this strange wartime city of girls, Vivian and her girlfriends mean to drink the heady highball of life itself to the last drop. And when the legendary English actress Edna Watson comes to the Lily to star in the company's most ambitious show ever, Vivian is entranced by the magic that follows in her wake. But there are hard lessons to be learned,
and bitterly regrettable mistakes to be made. Vivian learns that to live the life she wants, she must live many lives, ceaselessly and ingeniously making them new. 'At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is,' she confides. And so Vivian sets forth her story, and that of the women around her - women who have lived as they truly are, out of step with a century that could never quite keep up with them.
This book is a breath of fresh air, showing us all the natural behaviours of a women and making us remember we should not care what people say or think. Our actions do involve consequences and as long as we are big enough to admit and accept we were wrong all is ok.
This book covers many topics which in the 1940's were very contrivirousal. You have infidelity, sexual independence and sexual freedom which are both still questioned now even after the sexual revolution which started in the 60's! It covers PTS from WW2 and ways which people coped in New York during the war.
Although during the book it is easy to start to feel like not much is happening and you do start to question is there a point. I found that even with this I was entranced by the book and did not want to put it down. I was still having
so much fun following the adventures of Vivian and Celia through New York all the way to the end.
Vivian is a woman which I feel we can all relate to in some sort of way. She does questionable things under peer pressure which we have all fallen victim to in one way or another all in the motions of trying to find her true happiness.
This book has had mixed reviews. I can see why some people wouldn't have enjoyed it but personally I was besotted with the book. I have now gifted two
copies of the book as I loved it so much I want everyone to read it and I won't be surprised if I send it to more people.
This has got to be my favourite read of 2020 so far. I rate this a solid 5/5.
I hope that if you do get the chance to read you enjoy it as much as I did, please comment and let me know your thoughts!
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