City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Jan 6, 2020

3 min read

*sigh* I loved this book so much.

City of Girls is a story of Vivian Morris sharing the events of her life as a young woman finding her way in New York City. This book starts in 2010 with Vivian deciding to write a letter to another woman, Angela, detailing how she came to know Angela's father. We rewind back to 1940 when Vivian is a 19-year-old college drop out heading to New York City to live and work with her Aunt Peg at the Lily Playhouse. Vivian will come to meet showgirls and actors and writers and musicians and, using her talents in sewing to become the resourceful costumer, becomes the newest member of the team.

I've seen a few reviews that call this book plotless and meandering and containing way too much sex. But one of my absolute favorite tropes in literature is when an older person is relaying the story of their life to a younger person. It usually includes some element of mystery, but it truly is all about the character. Does this book lack plot? Yeah, kinda! But does it have rich characters and a vibrant setting? YEP! For me, that's exactly what I want in my historical fiction and this one hit all the marks.

Vivian Morris is also quite an interesting character to follow. She comes to New York as somewhat meek and naive, but quickly gets wrapped up in the glitz and glamour, not to mention the...romance. This book does contain a lot of sex. It's not particularly explicit, but Vivian is quite the little seductress. Truly, I loved that Elizabeth Gilbert included this sexual freedom as part of her book, especially one set in 1940. You rarely read about it, but we all know it was happening.

This book is also very much about families and true love and what those two things really mean. Particularly around the subject of family, Vivian doesn't rely on her blood relatives, but instead assembles a found family to bring her through life and help her feel like her most true self.

And on the topic of love, it's not just about romantic or sexual love, but love of friends and family and neighbors and community and even your home. It is such an important part of this story and I think Gilbert handled it with a lot of care.

Finally, I want to say that had I not had the opportunity to read this in marathon sessions as opposed to sprints, I don't know that I would have enjoyed it as much. Funnily enough, I'd find myself getting a little restless when I would first sit down with this book, but after a chapter or two you could barely pull me away. Perhaps this has something to do with the (lock of) plot and focus on characters, but it definitely made me consider that the context and circumstance of reading can be just as important as the subject in terms of enjoyment.

Overall, I do love this story and I love these characters. I don't think it will work for everyone, but I'm so happy to worked for me. Who doesn't love starting out the year with a 5 star read?