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A review by theespressoedition
The Glorious Guinness Girls by Emily Hourican
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy of this novel in exchange for a review.
"There were three, and they dazzled. Blue eyes and blonde hair. The same but not the same. They had each other's face but with small variations so that looking at all of them together was to see a single treasure hoard split three ways. A store of rubies here, sapphires there, spun gold that together added up to three faces, three stares that were not curious or kindly but almost a dare."
I think it is of utmost importance to share in advance that I am not the biggest fan of historical fiction. While it is a genre that I greatly enjoyed in my younger years, I find it hard to indulge in or escape to as an adult. The further back we go into history, the less excited I become. In addition to that, I know very little of the politics and history of other countries aside from America. This is something that I realize is a fault of my own making, but it does play into my feelings about The Glorious Guinness Girls.
This book has a really fascinating concept: touching on the glamour and intrigue surrounding the lives of the three daughters of Ernest Guinness - founder of the malt beverage empire. However, while I believed that would be a large part of the story, it really didn't come into play much at all. In fact, it seemed as though the Guinness that we may know now had very little to do with the Glorious Guinness Girls. Yes, they had the name and the money, but the company itself was virtually unimportant to them.
The book was narrated from the perspective of Felicity, taken in as a companion for the three girls at a young age. She was raised with them but set apart from them due to her status. There were brief chapters from Felicity's perspective as an older woman in the late 1970's, but the majority of the story takes place throughout the 1920's.
I found it a bit challenging to understand the point of the novel since, in the beginning, we were made very aware of the difference between Felicity and the Guinness girls, and Felicity kept mentioning this over and over again (bringing up how her mother advised her to find herself). She also kept referring to an unnamed "him" (who wasn't actually named until the last few pages of the book) and her brother Hughie (who seemed to be a bigger part of the plot than he actually was).
It appeared as though there would be a lot of learning taking place... and that's where I got lost. Because when I reached the end of the book, it ended very abruptly. It didn't seem as though Felicity had learned much at all and there were several plot holes - or I suppose, open-ended plot points. This could be due to the nature of the novel and the fact that it was about real historical figures, so the author didn't feel as though they could wrap things up without providing inaccurate information. For me, however, it just felt as though I was being told several stories about several people that all "ended"... but not really. As though they were open to interpretation.
All in all, I felt as though the story moved quite sluggishly, and when things got interesting, that particular plot-line ended super quickly, heading back into politics and history that I didn't understand and weren't made particularly clear. When I began to like a character, they disappeared without explanation or something terrible happened without any kind of redemption. And when I felt like I was reaching a conclusion of some sort, it changed direction and navigated to something confusing again. I never felt fully satisfied. I didn't learn much (aside from the Guinness family being pretty terrible people) and I was bored - always hoping that things would pick up.
If you're a massive fan of historical fiction and love reading super informative books that don't have much actual story, this is a good pick. If you're new to historical fiction, this is definitely not the novel to pick up.
"There were three, and they dazzled. Blue eyes and blonde hair. The same but not the same. They had each other's face but with small variations so that looking at all of them together was to see a single treasure hoard split three ways. A store of rubies here, sapphires there, spun gold that together added up to three faces, three stares that were not curious or kindly but almost a dare."
I think it is of utmost importance to share in advance that I am not the biggest fan of historical fiction. While it is a genre that I greatly enjoyed in my younger years, I find it hard to indulge in or escape to as an adult. The further back we go into history, the less excited I become. In addition to that, I know very little of the politics and history of other countries aside from America. This is something that I realize is a fault of my own making, but it does play into my feelings about The Glorious Guinness Girls.
This book has a really fascinating concept: touching on the glamour and intrigue surrounding the lives of the three daughters of Ernest Guinness - founder of the malt beverage empire. However, while I believed that would be a large part of the story, it really didn't come into play much at all. In fact, it seemed as though the Guinness that we may know now had very little to do with the Glorious Guinness Girls. Yes, they had the name and the money, but the company itself was virtually unimportant to them.
The book was narrated from the perspective of Felicity, taken in as a companion for the three girls at a young age. She was raised with them but set apart from them due to her status. There were brief chapters from Felicity's perspective as an older woman in the late 1970's, but the majority of the story takes place throughout the 1920's.
I found it a bit challenging to understand the point of the novel since, in the beginning, we were made very aware of the difference between Felicity and the Guinness girls, and Felicity kept mentioning this over and over again (bringing up how her mother advised her to find herself). She also kept referring to an unnamed "him" (who wasn't actually named until the last few pages of the book) and her brother Hughie (who seemed to be a bigger part of the plot than he actually was).
It appeared as though there would be a lot of learning taking place... and that's where I got lost. Because when I reached the end of the book, it ended very abruptly. It didn't seem as though Felicity had learned much at all and there were several plot holes - or I suppose, open-ended plot points. This could be due to the nature of the novel and the fact that it was about real historical figures, so the author didn't feel as though they could wrap things up without providing inaccurate information. For me, however, it just felt as though I was being told several stories about several people that all "ended"... but not really. As though they were open to interpretation.
All in all, I felt as though the story moved quite sluggishly, and when things got interesting, that particular plot-line ended super quickly, heading back into politics and history that I didn't understand and weren't made particularly clear. When I began to like a character, they disappeared without explanation or something terrible happened without any kind of redemption. And when I felt like I was reaching a conclusion of some sort, it changed direction and navigated to something confusing again. I never felt fully satisfied. I didn't learn much (aside from the Guinness family being pretty terrible people) and I was bored - always hoping that things would pick up.
If you're a massive fan of historical fiction and love reading super informative books that don't have much actual story, this is a good pick. If you're new to historical fiction, this is definitely not the novel to pick up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, and Mental illness