Book Review
Title: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Historical, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
I have never read anything by Elizabeth Gilbert before although I do remember seeing the Eat, Love, Pray movie which was decent, however, the dual timelines of City of Girls and the fact the main character is telling her life story reminded me vaguely of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. This coupled with the fact I picked up my copy in a charity shop for less than £2 (hardcover although missing the dust jacket) meant it was finally time for me to pick this book up. We are following Vivian Morris between the present day and the 1940’s when she had been kicked out of Vassar College and sent to live with her Aunt Peg at the age of 19. The story begins with Angela sending Vivian a letter informs her of the death of her mother and asking what Vivian’s relationship was with her father. While Vivian can’t tell Angela what she meant to her father as only he could do that she can explain what he meant to her which hints at a strong relationship between them. However, Vivian begins her response by discussing how she grew up in an isolated home where there wasn’t much love for her and being sent to live with her Aunt Peg seemed to be the best thing for her at the time.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we get to see Vivian’s friendship with one of the showgirls, Celia develop which was nice to see but I have a feeling Celia is a lot younger than she says she is. As time passes both girls become very close to the point where Celia actually helps arrange for Vivian to lose her virginity. They end up sending her to a man who regularly pays the showgirls for sex, Doctor Kellogg, a vet and the experience is interesting for Vivian to say the least and while she admits it wasn’t amazing, it wasn’t a bad experience for her either. Vivian and Celia as they are often left unsupervised get into a lot of trouble but this doesn’t become apparent to Vivian until she almost witnesses Celia being assaulted but she is sent away before it happens. Vivian regrets that she didn’t stay to support her friend and did nothing to help or prevent the situation but it seems like Celia is used to being treated this way which is worse. Vivian because of this behaviour also has a few STD and pregnancy scares which turn out to be nothing especially since she is having an on again off again relationship with Kevin “Ribsy” O’Sullivan. Throughout this time Vivian doesn’t really communicate with her parents and actually ends up meeting Edna and Arthur Watson as the Second World War has now reached Britain and they have been left homeless and stranded in America. Vivian forms an immediate bond with Edna over her love of clothes and sewing but she also witness Celia changes from the strong, independent woman she has been partying with to being subservient to Edna. I also really liked the fact everything is discussed with hindsight as Vivian is recalling these events in the future.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Peg is planning to host a play for Edna to star in as she is currently not working due to the war and their resident playwright is working on something called The City of Girls. After consulting Billy, Peg has many ideas for the play and works begins but the cracks in the management of the Lily quickly begin to show but I am not sure where the story is going here. Vivian also celebrates her 20th birthday in New York and obviously she goes a little wild with Celia but the morning after she finally gets to meet her uncle Billy who has only been talked about by others up until this point. It is clear to see from this that Billy was the problem in his marriage to Peg as he is unfaithful a lot of the time but we don’t get much history on them unfortunately. I wasn’t sure where the story was going as it is supposed to be a story of Vivian explains what Angela’s father meant to her but we are getting close to the halfway mark and nothing about this person has been mentioned if he has been introduced at all and it just seems to be following Vivian as she parties and works at the Lily which doesn’t make for entertaining reading. I felt a lot more could be done especially with the Second World War as a backdrop to the characters’ lives.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, everything seemed to be stagnating a little until audition for the City of Girls play is underway and Vivian ends up meeting the handsome Anthony Roccella. Vivian immediately falls for the charming and arrogant Anthony ending up in his bed later that night but he does introduced her to a world of pleasures she has never experienced before deepening her feelings for Anthony. However, she is warned by several people including Edna and Peg about not letting her relationship with one of the male leads disrupt the play as that comes first as it could be the game changers that the Lily needs right now. During this time we also get more insight on the relationship between Peg and Olive and it seems like they are a lesbian couple despite Peg being married to Billy which could be a cover as LGBT relationship weren’t allowed at this point in time which would explain Vivian’s shocked reaction to seeing Peg and Olive dancing together, it would also explain the strange tension between Olive and Billy. Peg was the most interesting character during this section as we see she has problem with alcohol which is why Olive tries to keep it away from her even though all Billy does is encourage her to drink more which isn’t good for her. When the play finally opens and the reviews (all great) come pouring in I have a feeling this might be a turning point in the novel for it to get more interesting. I didn’t feel that Anthony was Angela’s father as he is the only serious love interest that Vivian has had in this entire half of the book which would be lazy writing to me but I am going to see where it goes as I am interested in seeing the conclusion.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Vee's life continues to spiral out of control as the success of the show continues to grow. One night Edna and Anthony get invited to an event which Arthur doesn't like and he makes his displeasure known causing Anthony to square up to him and snap at Vee in the process. Shocked by his behaviour she seeks out Cecilia who informs her she's been sleeping with Arthur and that Edna had probably been sleeping with Anthony as she likes young men. Feeling hurt, upset and betrayed Vee finds herself in a threesome with Arthur and Cecelia. The whole event is strange for Vee as she felt lonely during it and left shortly after but she learns that someone took pictures of them and her name is going to be plastered all over the papers the following afternoon. Edna and Anthony both already know about the threesome and Anthony doesn't want to see her again and Edna gives her a tongue lashing for her behaviour. However, thanks to the determination of Olive her reputation is saved but she decides to return home. In order to get brother to take her home she had to explain what happened and he doesn't really speak to her again afterwards. After returning home she falls into a depression but somehow finds herself engaged to Jim Larsen. However, she is forced to tell Jim she isn't a virgin and when he asks how she isn't a virgin he assumes she was attached and she feels she had no choice but to agree to this explanation rather than two him the truth.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, we continue to follow Vivian in the moment as she deals with her finance signing up for the war effort after the bombing of Pearl Harbour and calling off their engagement. Unsurprisingly, Vivian isn’t against this arrangement and when Peg comes looking for her to help with the Lily she immediately moves back to New York and plans to stay with the money she has been making from the wedding dresses. She adjusts to life in the city easily finding much easier than before because she knows the way it works now and how she needs to conduct herself in order to live her own life. However, the war takes its toll on her as her brother is killed on the USS Franklin which drives a wedge between her and her parents since she believes that they think the wrong child was taken from them. By the time the war ends in 1945 Vee has craved a true life for herself in New York and life goes on. Her life is shaken again when the Lily is demolished in 1950 and she decides to open a bridal boutique with her friend which goes surprisingly well but both women are seen as odd by everyone around them are they are ok with that. Vee also grows into her sexuality but her friend become pregnant due to an affair she has with a married man and they decide to raise the baby together. By the time Nathan is born they realise he isn’t quite right as he is always a small and sickly child which does lead to some issues between them but they deal with it the way they always have. As Vee gets older the people around her begin to die starting with Uncle Billy and her father, Peg isn’t in good health either at this point. Vee takes on a project for the Navy Yard which is closing to put on a show like they did in the war and here she meets the man that drove her backs to her parent’s house along with her brother who served with him during the war. Vee was traumatised by his words in the car and leaves him behind but she mentions to Angela that this was how she met her father making me think it is that man. She goes to Peg and Oliver for advice and realises in order to move further into adulthood she has to confront those issues once and for all
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we get to witness the final portion of Vivian’s letter to Angela as she details her relationship with Francis Grecco “Frank”, Angela’s father. After the war, Frank was obviously suffering with PTSD and couldn’t stand to be touched by his wife or his daughter but it didn’t diminish his love for them. However, he and his wife didn’t really have a relationship anymore but she didn’t believe in divorce so they lived separate lives while being married. He and Vivian develop a friendship and an intimacy with each other that neither had found anywhere else but they never had a physical relationship due to Frank’s PTSD and Vee’s vow to herself that she would never sleep with a married man. This relationship continues for years with Vee and Frank being the centre of each other’s world and he is the only person Vee can confidently say she truly loves. Frank comes to her years later and asks her to design Angela’s wedding dress and she talks about that meeting in her letter and how she designed the perfect wedding dress for her. She also discusses the crushing heartbreak she felt about learning of Frank’s death and she feels sad for the death of Angela’s mother too but she has answered the question Angela asked her years before about Vee’s relationship with her father to the best of her ability. I really enjoyed City of Girls more than Eat, Love, Pray and I hope it becomes a movie someday as I’d love to watch it. The only downside for me was it didn’t need to be almost 500 pages long, this story could have been told in half of that so it made it a struggle to read in places especially since it was character driven instead of plot driven.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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