Reviews

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

kelly93's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

threegoodrats's review

2.0

Great premise, poorly executed. My full review is here.

vlreid's review

4.0

A historical novel focusing on The Barbizon Hotel for Women in New York City. The story is told in two different times and by two different protagonists. Darby is a young woman from Ohio who moves to NYC in 1952 to attend the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School. Rose is a mid-career journalist in 2016 who is writing an investigative article on the history of the Barbizon and the women who lived there over the years. The reader gets a real feel for the 1950's in NYC: jazz clubs, heroin use, the role of women in society, dress codes, the Barbizon house mother, and most of all how the Barbizon provided a safe place to live for young single women who were new to the big city. The alternating chapters and storytellers (1952 and 2016) weave together very nicely and move toward a suspenseful conclusion.

Read more of my reviews at https://thegoodreader13.blogspot.com/.

vannahcabana's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75

Set in 1952 and 2016, this book switches the year almost every chapter. It follows the journey of a journalist writing a story on a young woman attending secretarial school in New York. I overall thought this was a good read. It was a little slow in some parts, but it kept me interested enough to finish. A bit of a plot twist toward the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Sexual content

platothinks's review

5.0

Book was awesome, but the end felt rushed and lost it's mojo.

qli's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

ashc123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

ebc726's review

3.0

I feel like the thing about Fiona Davis’ books is that the stories are great in theory but the execution isn’t spectacular. This one was no different. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading them.

bourquesbookshelf's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

keeyoh's review

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0