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Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'
The Glorious Guinness Girls: A story of the scandals and secrets of the famous society girls by Emily Hourican
2 reviews
waytoomanybooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I adore books that are told through a first person narrator looking back over their life, but this isn't really a good example of that.
Felicity looks back over her time with the Guinness family as a time of in-between: childhood and adulthood, rich and poor, alone yet in a crowd. Felicity is down-to-earth, honest, moral, and sensible, and yet, it doesn't really get her anywhere. She's like a rock in a stream: life flows past her, around her, shapes her. She leaves little impact as she lives her life on the fringe. And yet, she accepts this as an unchangeable fact. She will make do because what other choice does she have?
I can't help but wish she had had a happier ending, or at least a life that felt fleshed out while staying true to her character and storyline. But as this historical fiction, it is based on real people and real events, so I suppose Hourican wrote Felicity as someone of her station, upbringing, and background would act, think, feel, etc. She is out of place, and so her narrative is as well. I assume that that is on purpose.
Though Felicity herself is hardly more than an observer, Hourican gives her a keen eye for detail. Through her, we get to enjoy a rich narrative of parties, political upheaval, and emotional turmoil. Hourican's writing kept me hooked on every midnight treasure hunt, alcoholic bender, and the inevitable morning after. Readers have the pleasure of feeling the emotions in the book as deeply as the characters do. They're all merry, acting as though the world might end tomorrow, not caring a bit that their hard partying and lack of care will ultimately hurt them in the long-run.
One issue I had is that the "twist" was revealed far too late into the book for it to have had an impact on me...or Felicity for that matter. It fell flat, and over all, the story ended abruptly. Although, to be fair, the Jazz Age of the Bright Young Things also ended abruptly when the stock market crashed.
Over all, I' say it's...okay. If you're looking for a series with a similar tone and mood, but since well, I'd recommend the Luxe series by Anna Godbersen, which easy summer read that is easy to pick up and put down without feeling like I've missed something important.
Felicity looks back over her time with the Guinness family as a time of in-between: childhood and adulthood, rich and poor, alone yet in a crowd. Felicity is down-to-earth, honest, moral, and sensible, and yet, it doesn't really get her anywhere. She's like a rock in a stream: life flows past her, around her, shapes her. She leaves little impact as she lives her life on the fringe. And yet, she accepts this as an unchangeable fact. She will make do because what other choice does she have?
I can't help but wish she had had a happier ending, or at least a life that felt fleshed out while staying true to her character and storyline. But as this historical fiction, it is based on real people and real events, so I suppose Hourican wrote Felicity as someone of her station, upbringing, and background would act, think, feel, etc. She is out of place, and so her narrative is as well. I assume that that is on purpose.
Though Felicity herself is hardly more than an observer, Hourican gives her a keen eye for detail. Through her, we get to enjoy a rich narrative of parties, political upheaval, and emotional turmoil. Hourican's writing kept me hooked on every midnight treasure hunt, alcoholic bender, and the inevitable morning after. Readers have the pleasure of feeling the emotions in the book as deeply as the characters do. They're all merry, acting as though the world might end tomorrow, not caring a bit that their hard partying and lack of care will ultimately hurt them in the long-run.
One issue I had is that the "twist" was revealed far too late into the book for it to have had an impact on me...or Felicity for that matter. It fell flat, and over all, the story ended abruptly. Although, to be fair, the Jazz Age of the Bright Young Things also ended abruptly when the stock market crashed.
Over all, I' say it's...okay. If you're looking for a series with a similar tone and mood, but since well, I'd recommend the Luxe series by Anna Godbersen, which easy summer read that is easy to pick up and put down without feeling like I've missed something important.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
theespressoedition's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy of this novel in exchange for a review.
"There were three, and they dazzled. Blue eyes and blonde hair. The same but not the same. They had each other's face but with small variations so that looking at all of them together was to see a single treasure hoard split three ways. A store of rubies here, sapphires there, spun gold that together added up to three faces, three stares that were not curious or kindly but almost a dare."
I think it is of utmost importance to share in advance that I am not the biggest fan of historical fiction. While it is a genre that I greatly enjoyed in my younger years, I find it hard to indulge in or escape to as an adult. The further back we go into history, the less excited I become. In addition to that, I know very little of the politics and history of other countries aside from America. This is something that I realize is a fault of my own making, but it does play into my feelings about The Glorious Guinness Girls.
This book has a really fascinating concept: touching on the glamour and intrigue surrounding the lives of the three daughters of Ernest Guinness - founder of the malt beverage empire. However, while I believed that would be a large part of the story, it really didn't come into play much at all. In fact, it seemed as though the Guinness that we may know now had very little to do with the Glorious Guinness Girls. Yes, they had the name and the money, but the company itself was virtually unimportant to them.
The book was narrated from the perspective of Felicity, taken in as a companion for the three girls at a young age. She was raised with them but set apart from them due to her status. There were brief chapters from Felicity's perspective as an older woman in the late 1970's, but the majority of the story takes place throughout the 1920's.
I found it a bit challenging to understand the point of the novel since, in the beginning, we were made very aware of the difference between Felicity and the Guinness girls, and Felicity kept mentioning this over and over again (bringing up how her mother advised her to find herself). She also kept referring to an unnamed "him" (who wasn't actually named until the last few pages of the book) and her brother Hughie (who seemed to be a bigger part of the plot than he actually was).
It appeared as though there would be a lot of learning taking place... and that's where I got lost. Because when I reached the end of the book, it ended very abruptly. It didn't seem as though Felicity had learned much at all and there were several plot holes - or I suppose, open-ended plot points. This could be due to the nature of the novel and the fact that it was about real historical figures, so the author didn't feel as though they could wrap things up without providing inaccurate information. For me, however, it just felt as though I was being told several stories about several people that all "ended"... but not really. As though they were open to interpretation.
All in all, I felt as though the story moved quite sluggishly, and when things got interesting, that particular plot-line ended super quickly, heading back into politics and history that I didn't understand and weren't made particularly clear. When I began to like a character, they disappeared without explanation or something terrible happened without any kind of redemption. And when I felt like I was reaching a conclusion of some sort, it changed direction and navigated to something confusing again. I never felt fully satisfied. I didn't learn much (aside from the Guinness family being pretty terrible people) and I was bored - always hoping that things would pick up.
If you're a massive fan of historical fiction and love reading super informative books that don't have much actual story, this is a good pick. If you're new to historical fiction, this is definitely not the novel to pick up.
"There were three, and they dazzled. Blue eyes and blonde hair. The same but not the same. They had each other's face but with small variations so that looking at all of them together was to see a single treasure hoard split three ways. A store of rubies here, sapphires there, spun gold that together added up to three faces, three stares that were not curious or kindly but almost a dare."
I think it is of utmost importance to share in advance that I am not the biggest fan of historical fiction. While it is a genre that I greatly enjoyed in my younger years, I find it hard to indulge in or escape to as an adult. The further back we go into history, the less excited I become. In addition to that, I know very little of the politics and history of other countries aside from America. This is something that I realize is a fault of my own making, but it does play into my feelings about The Glorious Guinness Girls.
This book has a really fascinating concept: touching on the glamour and intrigue surrounding the lives of the three daughters of Ernest Guinness - founder of the malt beverage empire. However, while I believed that would be a large part of the story, it really didn't come into play much at all. In fact, it seemed as though the Guinness that we may know now had very little to do with the Glorious Guinness Girls. Yes, they had the name and the money, but the company itself was virtually unimportant to them.
The book was narrated from the perspective of Felicity, taken in as a companion for the three girls at a young age. She was raised with them but set apart from them due to her status. There were brief chapters from Felicity's perspective as an older woman in the late 1970's, but the majority of the story takes place throughout the 1920's.
I found it a bit challenging to understand the point of the novel since, in the beginning, we were made very aware of the difference between Felicity and the Guinness girls, and Felicity kept mentioning this over and over again (bringing up how her mother advised her to find herself). She also kept referring to an unnamed "him" (who wasn't actually named until the last few pages of the book) and her brother Hughie (who seemed to be a bigger part of the plot than he actually was).
It appeared as though there would be a lot of learning taking place... and that's where I got lost. Because when I reached the end of the book, it ended very abruptly. It didn't seem as though Felicity had learned much at all and there were several plot holes - or I suppose, open-ended plot points. This could be due to the nature of the novel and the fact that it was about real historical figures, so the author didn't feel as though they could wrap things up without providing inaccurate information. For me, however, it just felt as though I was being told several stories about several people that all "ended"... but not really. As though they were open to interpretation.
All in all, I felt as though the story moved quite sluggishly, and when things got interesting, that particular plot-line ended super quickly, heading back into politics and history that I didn't understand and weren't made particularly clear. When I began to like a character, they disappeared without explanation or something terrible happened without any kind of redemption. And when I felt like I was reaching a conclusion of some sort, it changed direction and navigated to something confusing again. I never felt fully satisfied. I didn't learn much (aside from the Guinness family being pretty terrible people) and I was bored - always hoping that things would pick up.
If you're a massive fan of historical fiction and love reading super informative books that don't have much actual story, this is a good pick. If you're new to historical fiction, this is definitely not the novel to pick up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, and Mental illness
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