In My “Showgirl Era”
With Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” blasting through my headphones for the better part of a month now, I couldn’t help but bring some of those vibes into my latest book review. I recently gave “City of Girls” by Elizabeth Gilbert a 5-star review on Goodreads. It has all the things I look for in an entertaining novel: humor, history, character development, and romance. I mean you can’t have a 470 page book about New York showgirls in the 1940s without those things. The main character, Vivian, retells her experience while living in her aunt’s New York theatre before, during, and after World War II. Vivian’s character starts out as a young, naive girl and slowly morphs into an empowered woman through her many trials and tribulations. In a time when marriage and children were the forefront of women’s lives, this story tells a different tale of independence and defying stereotypes.
I really resonate with Vivian and several other unusual characters in this novel. Many of them chose an unorthodox life and as a thirty something year old woman who doesn’t want marriage or children I can relate to a lot of the questions and concerns projected onto these characters. It seems there are many things that have changed since the 1940s, but also a lot of things that haven’t.
Many similar themes can be found in “City of Girls” and “The Life of a Showgirl” including being unapologetically yourself, loving the life you choose, and how tough living in the spotlight can be. If you’re currently in your “Showgirl Era” I think you will enjoy this novel!
Happy Reading,
Brandi
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Book Description:
In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in a professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves–and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest. Now, ninety-five years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life–and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. Beloved author, Elizabeth Gilbert, returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.
