A review by friendshipbravery
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

5.0

I CRIED READING THIS BOOK: i love all the memorable characters, edna, vivian, frank, walter, celia, peg, olive, billy, andrew, the thrill of new york city. at first, i came to this novel having the feeling of “for some reason, i feel like this has the answer to all my questions. i need to know something that’s in this novel.” and now i know it—life can be bittersweet—sometimes life HAPPENS to you, and you have to deal with those things. vivian is such a real character and a real person and her relationship with frank literally made me cry at midnight. i love edna’s iciness, i love all the characters, even if they’re somewhat of jerks and i don’t know how vivian doesn’t resent edna after all these years. this book is a MASTERPIECE. it’s so raw and beautiful, and truthful and eye opening. it’s life, in a nutshell. city of girls is literally a depiction of life and the hardships and the trauma but the happiness and bliss and excitement, all wrapped up in the bow that is new york city. i love this book to pieces—10/10 reread if i need a pick me up. AND THE ENDING—gods, the ending, the offer of friendship from vivian, who’s 89, to angela, who’s 70, is heartwarming. that final note about edna’s words at the end was a REALLY good touch because vivian was never those things edna told her she was.

all in all... loved this book. CRIED for frank and vivian’s relationship. cried in sorrow and kept repeating the same words, “this is so beautiful” while sobbing. because it was, and i will never think otherwise.