A review by thelexingtonbookie
The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin
2.0
Goodwin does a very good job describing the "Edwardian Dollar Princess" era, in which young and rich American women were married off to historically upper class and titled European bachelors. And being a fan of the Downton Abbey television series, I can imagine much of what is portrayed in The American Heiress. I researched to see which came first, the novel or the TV series, and the novel was published a month prior to the series.
The downside to the novel, in my opinion, is that though both the series and the novel have slow paces, the TV series has much more action that pushes the plot along, and less predictability than the novel. In the novel, the narration goes into detail trying explain the setting and grandeur of the era, but it leaves the reader bogged with minute details that make it difficult to turn pages. I also noticed that there is a lot of necessary reading between the dialogue lines in order to understand the passive-aggressive upper class taunts, gossip, and reactions to both, which also slows the pace. But the most frustrating to me wasn't the pace- it was the predictability of the plot. I stuck with the story basically to prove that I was correct in predicting the climax and resolution.
I won't spoil it for those that do wish to read it, or are working on finishing it (shout out to my friend Amelia, who I know was having similar problems with the slow pace), but I expect you could guess what the outcome is by the first 50 pages, and spare you from reading the next 400.
The downside to the novel, in my opinion, is that though both the series and the novel have slow paces, the TV series has much more action that pushes the plot along, and less predictability than the novel. In the novel, the narration goes into detail trying explain the setting and grandeur of the era, but it leaves the reader bogged with minute details that make it difficult to turn pages. I also noticed that there is a lot of necessary reading between the dialogue lines in order to understand the passive-aggressive upper class taunts, gossip, and reactions to both, which also slows the pace. But the most frustrating to me wasn't the pace- it was the predictability of the plot. I stuck with the story basically to prove that I was correct in predicting the climax and resolution.
I won't spoil it for those that do wish to read it, or are working on finishing it (shout out to my friend Amelia, who I know was having similar problems with the slow pace), but I expect you could guess what the outcome is by the first 50 pages, and spare you from reading the next 400.