A review by haleypages
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.75

This book was incredibly atmospheric and felt like an amalgamation of One Day and Where the Crawdads Sing. It was a slow start, but then I sank into it fully. It is so clear that the author has deep knowledge and love for the cape, and it seeps out of the pages. However, the event halfway through the book, that really defines the protagonist's adult life, felt so rushed and happened in a page and a half. Although I understand it wasn't the event itself, but the ramifications that were the center of the book, it was jarring how little page time was spent on the event itself.

Overall, I really fell in love with Elle and her struggles (it was especially nice to see literally fiction in which the protagonist is a wonderful mother), and I enjoyed the complicated relationships in the novel, and that not every important conversation was had.
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