quietjenn's review
3.0
I think I liked the first Countess Karitska book better, but this was entertaining and enjoyable enough. Although, compared to much of the Gilman I've been reading, it's pretty recent (2003) and it's a little odd to have her characters making references to relatively contemporary things.
cmbohn's review
4.0
Just reread this one. I don't like it quite as much as the first one, The Clairvoyant Countess, but it's still a fun book. For one thing, we never get an explanation of how it's supposed to be a year after the first book, but we go from Hippies to Y2K. Still.
For some reason, I found the stories in the first one to be more interesting. But the story of the cult (can't remember the name) and the young mom who's debating on following her husband into the commune was really well done.
Cindy
For some reason, I found the stories in the first one to be more interesting. But the story of the cult (can't remember the name) and the young mom who's debating on following her husband into the commune was really well done.
Cindy
bookhound36's review
3.0
The Mrs. Pollifax books are my favorite by Gilman but this was still quite good! The reason for the 3 star rating being that the book was written as if it were short stories rather than one cohesive storyline. I don't care for that.
kailey_luminouslibro's review
3.0
A fun and easy read! It was interesting to see how all these seemingly separate plots started coinciding and running into each other.
scorpionturtle's review
3.0
I had such nostalgia for the Clairvoyant Countess which I read in the 80's that when i saw that more than 20 years later there had been another book I was delighted. I have the feeling that this book of interconnected stories was written over time maybe even since it first came out in the 70's or perhaps Gilman just took older stories and tried to bring them into the modern day. Either way it doesn't quite work. If you want to know about the history of movie star you can just use the internet. Early on there is a comment about how she can now afford a phone- a land line which someone reading even in 2002 when this was published would be confused by but of course those who grew up before cellphone or even the 90's would understand. Some of the stories are better than other and they all move so fast that if you don't like one you will like others. Funny enough when I read the first book as a teenager I thought Madame was in her 60's now in this book she is described as being in her mid 40's and moving it forward to the late 90's or early aughts makes her backstory even more confusing.
Still it was nice to revisit the characters
Still it was nice to revisit the characters
themadblonde's review
2.0
I dreamed for years of more Madame Karitska stories, & was SO excited to learn that they truly existed. The disappointment in these pallid sequels was intense, but then I was not the same person I was when I read the originals, so perhaps time is as much to blame with the reader as with the author.
ajlewis2's review
5.0
This appears to be Dorothy Gilman's last published work. She died 10 years later of complications with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 88. I would have enjoyed more of this series with further revelations on the history of Madame Karitska, a very interesting character.
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