Reviews

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

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jennifermreads's review against another edition

In my “reading from shelf” goal, I thought for sure this one would be a winner for me: set in 1920s Portland (in my new home state of Oregon), mobsters, found family, racial tension, dual timeline. When I saw that both Kirkus and Library Journal gave it starred-reviews, I thought I was safe and this book would not be a victim of my “I’m in a reading funk” era.

Alas, I made it to page 108 and just could not find a comfortable rhythm as I bounced from present day and the MC’s previous life in Harlem. I never connected with the language and manner of storytelling. I struggled keeping the characters straight in my head—and there were a lot of characters. But ultimately, because of the number of characters, there were so many storylines and I was overly preoccupied wondering which one of the plot points would be the main one. With my semi-slump of so many hits-then-misses, I am sad this is added to the “miss” side of the equation. But, by page 108, there should be some focus.

Content Warnings

bonnie_reader's review

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Knowing yourself, and letting others know you and your story, is the main theme, beautifully wrought. Set in New York City and Portland OR in the 1920s, this illustrates who we name as "us" and who is "other" and the cruelties inflicted by people with more social power. Wonderful book.

book_gremlin42's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

sophia_konrad's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

goodem9199's review

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5.0

Can I 10-star this? AMAZING. I loved this so hard. Easily one of my all-time favorites. I adored each and every character and Faye is one of the sharpest, most quick-witted authors I have ever read. I am going to miss the Paragon and all of its inhabitants for a very long time.

eve_prime's review

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4.5

Very enjoyable, though there are certainly moments of shocking violence. It's the early 1920s, and Alicia James is on the run from the New York City mafia. She's been working with them closely - one of their leaders has been her guardian - but she's got a bullet wound and knows she has to get away as far and as fast as she can. On the train to Portland, Oregon, she buys a record from a Pullman porter named Max, and when they get to Portland he helps her by taking her to the all-Black hotel where he lives, the Paragon Hotel. A doctor there fixes her up, and as she recuperates she gets to know some of the people who live there, especially Blossom Fontaine, a very sharp nightclub singer. One day several of them take young Davy Lee, a mulatto boy, to an amusement park - but he disappears. Has the Klan taken him? We learn about the Klan's big presence in Oregon in the 1920s, and we also learn about the New York City mafia, as we get Alicia's backstory. It's interesting and entertaining, with some big surprises. I remembered one of them before I started rereading it, and was pretty sure of another once I'd started, but there were yet others that I hadn't remembered.

elby3gc's review

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informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Loved it. It was a little bit slow for me and very difficult to listen to as an audiobook because of the very frequent use of offensive racial epithets. But it was a great book. I’m giving it a 4.25 because I will definitely remember this book and hold on to much of the reflection and insight I developed while reading it. And I will happily recommend it to others with the great caveat that one should be prepared for a clear and unflinching look at racism and racist people. I’m not sure how it holds up in terms of its story development of the white savior (because it seems that the white savior features heavily as does the white voice and narrative). Even still I really enjoyed reading it and am very happy to have found it.

coleycole's review against another edition

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1.0

Soooo... don't use trans people as an afterthought plot point, and a violent one at that...??? Disliked that a lot. Also, definitely significant white savior narrative happening here. I think the author tried to avoid this, but it still is there.

A lot of the reviews complained about the dialogue - very flapper/gun moll, and I am ok with books that play with dialogue in a way that isn't necessarily fully realistic. I enjoyed the "then" sections in NY the most, where the story wasn't fraught with perspective issues...

The concept has a lot of interesting threads but I wasn't happy with where they all went...

samhanson's review

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

3.0

tiffschwartz's review

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5.0

There were times where this book was dry, but the historical information and the twist at the end had me hooked! If it wasn't for this book I never would have known the racist history of Oregon or looked into it. It is eye opening and very shameful.

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