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margaret_k30's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Pregnancy
awesomebrandi's review against another edition
3.0
I was sure this was going to be a five star book at the beginning. I fell in love right off the bat.. so, how did it end up at only three stars?
This historical fiction book follows three different, but (mostly) connected timelines of women involved with the real life Château de Chavaniac, which was indeed the birthplace of the Marquis de Lafayette; famous US & French revolutionary leader. The three featured women are Adrienne de Noailles (Lafayettes wife), Beatrice Chanler, and fictional character Marthe Simone. The book is centered during the Revolutionary war(s), WWI and WW2, depending on the character.
The women are generally heralded as capable, strong women, leading change in each of their time periods, which I loved. However, this book kept adding more, and more, and more, romance elements and eventually, my eyes started bleeding at the endless missives of the passionate love Adrienne felt for her husband, which was repeated ad nauseum. I thought the book largely moved along well, but in the second half it started going downhill. By 70% in I was so ready to be done, and had to force myself through the back 30%.
Overall, I just think if this book had been well.. 30% shorter overall, it would have been five stars. Some elements were really fantastic, but it just ended up dragging so much. I know that this is largely built on historical fact with the first two characters, but I ended up finding Adrienne to be rather insufferable in the end. Also, although it's typical with war centered novels, the ableism and negative speech about disability and injuries got to be over the top as well. There's no denying that major injuries have complicated results for humans, but the book just falls into some bad disability tropes and kind of beats you about the head with them. Again, some editing could have turned this into a five star book for me.
I am still interested in reading some of her other books. You might love this book to pieces, it has some great elements. It just really needed additional editing. Pull a few minor characters, edit out some of the fluff that really didn't add to the story (for me), boom..
This historical fiction book follows three different, but (mostly) connected timelines of women involved with the real life Château de Chavaniac, which was indeed the birthplace of the Marquis de Lafayette; famous US & French revolutionary leader. The three featured women are Adrienne de Noailles (Lafayettes wife), Beatrice Chanler, and fictional character Marthe Simone. The book is centered during the Revolutionary war(s), WWI and WW2, depending on the character.
The women are generally heralded as capable, strong women, leading change in each of their time periods, which I loved. However, this book kept adding more, and more, and more, romance elements and eventually, my eyes started bleeding at the endless missives of the passionate love Adrienne felt for her husband, which was repeated ad nauseum. I thought the book largely moved along well, but in the second half it started going downhill. By 70% in I was so ready to be done, and had to force myself through the back 30%.
Overall, I just think if this book had been well.. 30% shorter overall, it would have been five stars. Some elements were really fantastic, but it just ended up dragging so much. I know that this is largely built on historical fact with the first two characters, but I ended up finding Adrienne to be rather insufferable in the end. Also, although it's typical with war centered novels, the ableism and negative speech about disability and injuries got to be over the top as well. There's no denying that major injuries have complicated results for humans, but the book just falls into some bad disability tropes and kind of beats you about the head with them. Again, some editing could have turned this into a five star book for me.
I am still interested in reading some of her other books. You might love this book to pieces, it has some great elements. It just really needed additional editing. Pull a few minor characters, edit out some of the fluff that really didn't add to the story (for me), boom..
sofi0518's review against another edition
4.0
What a story. Three women intertwined through Lafayette through three very important times in history. I won't say it was an easy book to get through because it is very long and takes a lot of time to set up all three stories but the payoff was worth it in the end.
Spoiler
I did wish with all my heart that Marthe was Beatrice and Max's love child. I kept thinking that throughout the whole book.jlightsey127's review against another edition
3.0
I read this for book club and I’m glad I stuck with it, as the length is out of my comfort zone and the genre is still not my favorite. I enjoyed learning about and coming to appreciate Lafayette (and her husband!) and the other amazing female characters. I’m not a fan of split timelines and have trouble tracking the stories, no matter how engaging … I can’t help wonder how the reading experience would have been different had it been written in 3 separate parts. I get it that the intertwining timelines makes the overlaps satisfying. It’s just too many tabs to keep open for my brain.
melibeli's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
sallymentzer25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
kcb22's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
lareinadehades's review
Imo, each chapter feels more like a summary than a proper chapter.
egarb7809's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.75
majasmine02's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Woah. I’m finding it really hard to review this book because there is just so much in it. It is a perfectly crafted complex narrative with so many cogs turning that come together at exactly the right moment to create parallel moments of joy, terror and tension. Our many ladies each had their own individual voices and were the driving force behind each of their narratives but were clearly linked together by something bigger. This ‘something’ created a beautifully punchy ending that was incredibly emotive and had made some truly emotional moments throughout the plot. The way disability in the aftermath of war was handled was done brilliantly. Additionally, there were nuanced discussions of other identity markers like race, gender and religion within each time period which I found was done excellently when so many historical fiction books like to shy away from these things or give a simple right off to them. I know that while reading this book I did find faults but for the life of me now, I can not remember what they were. This illustrates to me that they were small hiccups that did not crop up repeatedly and that were buried under this wonderful narrative. The book itself is an epic that can seem more than a little daunting with so much going on but I was constantly engaged and felt that I slipped right into the narrative. It was also incredibly well researched and I have come out the other end feeling like I’ve learnt a lot. Overall, just amazing.