Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - La bibliotecaria di New York

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

La bibliotecaria di New York by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

31 reviews

amerikanerin's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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ashleyreads88's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

The Personal Librarian is the story of Belle da Costa Greene. It's heartbreaking but hopeful. Belle was a young Black woman who passed as white. The Personal Librarian tells Belle's story as the librarian of J.P. Morgan. It's about her professional and personal life as Morgan's librarian, and the challenges she faced being a woman in a man's world. The way Belle navigated auctions and negotiated was inspiring. Were there times when she was manipulative? Yes, but it was to get deals done for the rare manuscripts for the library. I loved how strong and fearless Belle was, I loved watching her growth, how she loved the library and wanted what was the best for it. She had great attention to detail in making the library what it was. After reading this book, it made me want to go visit the library to learn more and see firsthand what Belle did. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

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toriwatson's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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remie's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

A beautiful fictional account of Belle da Costa Greene, J.P Morgan's personal librarian, based on real events and people.

Belle, born Belle Marion Greener, of African American heritage was forced to live a lie by her mother because of their light skinned appearance. While in this novel, Belle is only occasionally conflicted, I'm sure her life, and that of her family's, was harder than what was written.

The novel also only briefly touches on other parts of her life, education, friendships, relationships, extended family of hers and that of JP Morgan's. There are some resources mentioned in the author's notes that would be good to get more background into Belle's life.

This is a compelling, beautifully written book that touches on topics of racism, feminism, love, passion, and personal identity.

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kalin_grace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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plathandpoetry's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a very fast, intriguing read about a Black woman, Belle Marion Greener, passing as a white woman and working for a white tycoon under the name Belle de Costa Greene. Belle is lovable, and three-dimensional in her debate between living life as she wants socially with a career that she wants, and the desire to be honest about her roots. Though, Belle was a real person, she destroyed all evidence of her thoughts and feelings towards her internal debate, leaving the authors to pull from personal experiences, interviews with other people, fiction, etc. I felt as though they created a well-rounder character whose feelings felt authentic.

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