lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
Very nearly a DNF; despite the great things I heard about this, I didn't understand why it was set in the 1970s nor did I find anything likeable about Rainey. There are times when unlikeable main characters still lead to great books, ones that make you think but here? Not so much. If only we'd gotten more about her art, or some reason to live in her world.
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
mhall's review against another edition
3.0
If you like coming-of-age fiction about teenage girls, or things set in bohemian New York City in the 1970s, give this a try! It's got a lovely cover.
wordnerdy's review against another edition
3.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/07/2014-book-176.html
bwolfe718's review against another edition
4.0
Read my full review here:
http://readherlikeanopenbook.com/2014/09/09/rainey-royal-troubled-teen-artist-recovers-in-alpha-female-persona/
Dylan Landis’s debut story collection, Normal People Don’t Live Like This (2009), featured a range of memorable characters, one of whom returns as the titular protagonist of her first novel, Rainey Royal.
While she was a minor character in the first book, Rainey gets her moment in the spotlight in this raw and prickly coming of age story set in 1970s Greenwich Village. In these 14 interconnected stories, Rainey is the 14-year-old daughter of legendary jazz musician Howard Royal, whose rundown five-story brownstone serves as something of a commune for him and his musical acolytes and groupies....
http://readherlikeanopenbook.com/2014/09/09/rainey-royal-troubled-teen-artist-recovers-in-alpha-female-persona/
Dylan Landis’s debut story collection, Normal People Don’t Live Like This (2009), featured a range of memorable characters, one of whom returns as the titular protagonist of her first novel, Rainey Royal.
While she was a minor character in the first book, Rainey gets her moment in the spotlight in this raw and prickly coming of age story set in 1970s Greenwich Village. In these 14 interconnected stories, Rainey is the 14-year-old daughter of legendary jazz musician Howard Royal, whose rundown five-story brownstone serves as something of a commune for him and his musical acolytes and groupies....
lenacamci's review against another edition
1.0
Incroyablement décevant.
Sous couvert de décrire la culture des années 70, une moitié du bouquin décrit des aggressions sexuelles / abus de mineures dont l’ambiguïté morale rend la lecture très pénible. Je suppose que cela dépend de la sensibilité de chacun mais comme il n’a aucune prévention d’aucune sorte, je le note ici.
Rainey est décrite comme une jeune femme très belle, blanche qui est une incroyable artiste, volage et débrouillarde mais aussi use et abuse de son charme pour manipuler les autres. Cela aurait pu être intéressant si ce n’était pas la muse de tellement d’auteurs classiques américains au point où cette description m’ennuie déjà.
Leah est inintéressante. Le livre entier est dédicacé à montrer à quelle point Rainey est fascinante et le point de vue de Leah n’en vient qu’en rajouter une couche. Elle ne décrit que son adoration, et dégrade son quotidien en le comparant à celui de Rainey sauf lorsqu’elle rencontre Zola… Dont on n’entend plus jamais parler.
J’ai beaucoup aimé l’amitié de Tina et Rainey. Je pense que j’aurai préféré que le livre se concentre sur leur amitié si ambigüe au fil des années. C’est un personnage fascinant dont on n’entend pas assez parler.
C’est une histoire avec beaucoup de potentiel, et j’aime beaucoup le style de l’auteure mais le livre en soit est incroyablement décevant.
Sous couvert de décrire la culture des années 70, une moitié du bouquin décrit des aggressions sexuelles / abus de mineures dont l’ambiguïté morale rend la lecture très pénible. Je suppose que cela dépend de la sensibilité de chacun mais comme il n’a aucune prévention d’aucune sorte, je le note ici.
Rainey est décrite comme une jeune femme très belle, blanche qui est une incroyable artiste, volage et débrouillarde mais aussi use et abuse de son charme pour manipuler les autres. Cela aurait pu être intéressant si ce n’était pas la muse de tellement d’auteurs classiques américains au point où cette description m’ennuie déjà.
Leah est inintéressante. Le livre entier est dédicacé à montrer à quelle point Rainey est fascinante et le point de vue de Leah n’en vient qu’en rajouter une couche. Elle ne décrit que son adoration, et dégrade son quotidien en le comparant à celui de Rainey sauf lorsqu’elle rencontre Zola… Dont on n’entend plus jamais parler.
J’ai beaucoup aimé l’amitié de Tina et Rainey. Je pense que j’aurai préféré que le livre se concentre sur leur amitié si ambigüe au fil des années. C’est un personnage fascinant dont on n’entend pas assez parler.
C’est une histoire avec beaucoup de potentiel, et j’aime beaucoup le style de l’auteure mais le livre en soit est incroyablement décevant.
nectarine_waffle's review against another edition
3.0
If you like coming-of-age fiction about teenage girls, or things set in bohemian New York City in the 1970s, give this a try! It's got a lovely cover.
lep42's review against another edition
5.0
This one deserves a long well considered review when I'm at an actual computer. For now I'll just say that I'm sad to be done with it.
drewsof's review against another edition
5.0
For all the wildness of the story and the characters, there is a beautiful lightness to things in this book. Seeing pieces from one chapter track through several chapters later (Saint Catherine of Bologna, the cape, the teeth-licking trick, the parrot-boyfriend, and so many others) makes the reader feel like they're dropping in on old friends again and again, catching moments with them as we can - because this is a busy city. Rainey grows up (in her own way) over the ten-or-so years that this book spans, but we don't get to see the entire process. Instead, we experience just these stories, which might not even be the most momentous (although many are, or at least tie into momentous occasions) but are the stories that, if the reader were to go out and grab a drink to catch up with Rainey, she might tell us. Think about the stories you might tell, if you saw a friend maybe every six months or so - and then you'll see just how marvelous a novel this really is.
More at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2014/09/29/rainey-royal/
More at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2014/09/29/rainey-royal/
heypretty52's review against another edition
5.0
As Rainey Royal is Landis's first full-length novel, I expected the writing style to be unpolished and lacking focus. My expectations were off-base entirely.
Landis writes with passion and power of the life of Rainey Royal and all those who touch it. With an absentee mother living on an ashram in Colorado, a philandering musician father working his way through the wave of twenty-something women who show up at his door, two very different and very lost best friends, and one "family friend" whose relationship will forever mar the way Rainey sees men, Landis portrays the best and worst of relationships. In addition to these beautifully developed characters, Landis uses languages that pushes and rips. Gritty, intense, and laid-bare, the story of Rainey made me hurt, cry, and empathize with characters in a way few books do.
Landis writes with passion and power of the life of Rainey Royal and all those who touch it. With an absentee mother living on an ashram in Colorado, a philandering musician father working his way through the wave of twenty-something women who show up at his door, two very different and very lost best friends, and one "family friend" whose relationship will forever mar the way Rainey sees men, Landis portrays the best and worst of relationships. In addition to these beautifully developed characters, Landis uses languages that pushes and rips. Gritty, intense, and laid-bare, the story of Rainey made me hurt, cry, and empathize with characters in a way few books do.