bookaddictlt's review against another edition
I just couldn't forsee spending another 400 pages with this character. The MC does not feel real to me, just a characture of stereotypes. The description is painful, I simply can't read another list of descriptors a paragraph long to explain a simple concept.
tcull3n's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
marykatew's review against another edition
5.0
LOVED this book and how it tied in both the history of immigrants at the beginning of the 20th century and the history of ice cream making.
mcoppadge07's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book via a Goodreads Giveaway.
Darlings, it took me 10 months to finally get into this book. I would start, lose interest quickly and put it down. But darlings once I got past this initial readers block I started to enjoy the book. The book is broken down into three parts and while each part tells about different periods in her life it also adds in present day (mid- late 1980's?) glimpses about the legal troubles she's going through. The first part starts when Malka is about 6 years old (1913) and ends when she's around 22 (1929). This first part I liked I'd give it about 3.5 stars. We watch Malka grow up and we see all of the hardships that she goes through but darlings we also the good things that help shape her into who she becomes later in life.
The second part picks right up in the spring of 1929 but takes little hops in time, around 2-3 years, and focuses on her life from 1929-1954. In this part it starts to focus on the building of her ice cream empire and all of the successes she starts to have. But darlings at this point Lillian (as she's now changed her name) starts to get annoying. She's rude, condescending and sometimes downright mean. Her ego kicks into overdrive and it gets old fast. She also starts to get paranoid that people are out to get her and the secrets of her ice cream and she makes mistakes, really stupid mistakes. This part gets barely a two.
Part three is the rest of her life and focuses more on the her legal troubles. Darlings I don't know if it's an age thing but everything about her starts to get worse. Once she got successful in part 2 she started to spend money and she just keeps on spending it all throughout the end of the book. She started drinking in part two and that also gets more and more out of control. Part three is my least favorite part. I just don't like who she becomes. I could barely stand her and again this is where I started getting that readers block that I had in the beginning and had to push to make it through to the end. Part three rating 1.5 possibly a 2 if I'm feeling generous.
It's a very flushed out story. Supporting characters are not just there they have personalities, they have backgrounds and they really contribute to the book. I wish we knew what happens to some of the characters as they kind of disappear during the duration of the book but minor detail. And while it steadily gets worse it's still a decent story.
In conclusion darlings this book was ok. Malka/Lillian turns out to be just awful at some points but it's the supporting characters and storyline that kept me going. I'd suggest giving the book a try maybe you'll find that she's not as annoying as I did.
(In case you're wondering about all the darlings in my review, this book is told in first person and Malka/Lillian uses the word darling to address the readers. She uses it A LOT.)
Darlings, it took me 10 months to finally get into this book. I would start, lose interest quickly and put it down. But darlings once I got past this initial readers block I started to enjoy the book. The book is broken down into three parts and while each part tells about different periods in her life it also adds in present day (mid- late 1980's?) glimpses about the legal troubles she's going through. The first part starts when Malka is about 6 years old (1913) and ends when she's around 22 (1929). This first part I liked I'd give it about 3.5 stars. We watch Malka grow up and we see all of the hardships that she goes through but darlings we also the good things that help shape her into who she becomes later in life.
The second part picks right up in the spring of 1929 but takes little hops in time, around 2-3 years, and focuses on her life from 1929-1954. In this part it starts to focus on the building of her ice cream empire and all of the successes she starts to have. But darlings at this point Lillian (as she's now changed her name) starts to get annoying. She's rude, condescending and sometimes downright mean. Her ego kicks into overdrive and it gets old fast. She also starts to get paranoid that people are out to get her and the secrets of her ice cream and she makes mistakes, really stupid mistakes. This part gets barely a two.
Part three is the rest of her life and focuses more on the her legal troubles. Darlings I don't know if it's an age thing but everything about her starts to get worse. Once she got successful in part 2 she started to spend money and she just keeps on spending it all throughout the end of the book. She started drinking in part two and that also gets more and more out of control. Part three is my least favorite part. I just don't like who she becomes. I could barely stand her and again this is where I started getting that readers block that I had in the beginning and had to push to make it through to the end. Part three rating 1.5 possibly a 2 if I'm feeling generous.
It's a very flushed out story. Supporting characters are not just there they have personalities, they have backgrounds and they really contribute to the book. I wish we knew what happens to some of the characters as they kind of disappear during the duration of the book but minor detail. And while it steadily gets worse it's still a decent story.
In conclusion darlings this book was ok. Malka/Lillian turns out to be just awful at some points but it's the supporting characters and storyline that kept me going. I'd suggest giving the book a try maybe you'll find that she's not as annoying as I did.
(In case you're wondering about all the darlings in my review, this book is told in first person and Malka/Lillian uses the word darling to address the readers. She uses it A LOT.)
bethanymplanton's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
rotemd's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rsarette's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book going through moments of being enthralled with the storyline and the characters and moments of contemplating stopping reading because a particular chapter was particularly uninteresting or seemed too petty/annoying. Overall a decent read that goes through some different historical events with a different perspective than I’m used to.
abby_writes's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5, if I am being honest. This is a story of poor Russian-Jewish immigrant who grows up in an Italian-Catholic home and learns the ins and outs of the ice cream business, eventually earning her the title of "The Ice Cream Queen." To me, Lillian was a female anti-hero who needed to possess not only business acumen but a whole lot of "pluck" to be taken seriously by the male-dominated society of her time. Overall, this was a fun, fluffy read -- an antidote to some of the literary slogs I've been reading lately. I really enjoyed Lillian's narrative voice. I know she used some trite phrases -- "darlings" and "so sue me" -- when addressing the reader, but I thought she was a well-developed (if somewhat vain and unlikable) character. Plus, historical fiction and ice cream make for a good holiday weekend read!
christinejean's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it. I felt all sorts of conflict, because I always felt for the protagonist even though her motivations and attitudes were often questionable, but it was immensely satisfying. Everything's i'd want out of a historical fiction novel.