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A review by andipants
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
3.0
This was a really interesting book, and I liked all the component pieces, but I'm not sure how well they flowed together. The women's lives intersected, yes, but I didn't feel like the narrative did a lot to emphasize the connections or to show why all these stories belonged in the same book; it felt like reading three different books at once. The pacing also seemed a bit rushed in places — which I suppose is an expected hazard when you're covering three storylines over multiple decades in a single novel, but there were a few jarring time jumps.
I did very much appreciate the handling of Herta's sections, although they were difficult to read at times; I liked how her motives were explored and she was presented as realistic without going to great lengths to make her sympathetic. The reader isn't meant to like her, but we do get a chance to understand her, which is an important distinction. In the end, I found myself most frustrated with Caroline's sections. Her chapters in particular felt very disconnected from the rest of the story, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of a narrative arc. And the romantic subplot with Paul may have been true to life, but it was frustrating as hell to watch. If that's how it really went down, I would have been fine with some artistic license taken to either or cut it entirely.
One other thing worth noting — I listened to this partly on audiobook, and I actively disliked the narrator. Her accents sounded weird and uneven, particularly for Herta, and in scenes with multiple characters speaking, she did little to differentiate between the voices to indicate who was talking, which got confusing. I don't usually notice much about audiobook narrators (unless they're absolutely fantastic), but this stuck out enough to me to warrant noting.
Overall though, it was a solid read. I'd say two stars on its merits solely as a novel, but I'm bumping it up to three because of all the fascinating history. The author definitely did her research, and I learned quite a bit.
I did very much appreciate the handling of Herta's sections, although they were difficult to read at times; I liked how her motives were explored and she was presented as realistic without going to great lengths to make her sympathetic. The reader isn't meant to like her, but we do get a chance to understand her, which is an important distinction. In the end, I found myself most frustrated with Caroline's sections. Her chapters in particular felt very disconnected from the rest of the story, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of a narrative arc. And the romantic subplot with Paul may have been true to life, but it was frustrating as hell to watch. If that's how it really went down, I would have been fine with some artistic license taken to either
Spoiler
resolve itOne other thing worth noting — I listened to this partly on audiobook, and I actively disliked the narrator. Her accents sounded weird and uneven, particularly for Herta, and in scenes with multiple characters speaking, she did little to differentiate between the voices to indicate who was talking, which got confusing. I don't usually notice much about audiobook narrators (unless they're absolutely fantastic), but this stuck out enough to me to warrant noting.
Overall though, it was a solid read. I'd say two stars on its merits solely as a novel, but I'm bumping it up to three because of all the fascinating history. The author definitely did her research, and I learned quite a bit.