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kassgorl's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 There were really good pieces in this novel, but it was tedious at times. I think Nancy Cooper Slagle and her Cantonese wedding bowl were mentioned 85 times. That’s not an exaggeration. It got to the point where I started laughing every time it was mentioned.
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
5.0
I was hooked when the novelist narrator, one of the three sisters cleaning out their mother's basement, wonders if the story will be told by followers of the factual researcher Thucydides or the more novelistic Herodotus. Martha McPhee combines both styles in a novel that is riveting and infuriating at the same time.
Five year old Thelma (Tommy) and her younger sister Katherine are pulled from their cozy beds in the middle of a January night in 1910, and hauled to the train station by their mother, Glenna. She is leaving their father, and they are going to Montana where she will be a teacher. Before they even get on the train, Glenna asks some nuns to look after them and disappears into the club car for two days, not emerging even when the train is stopped by a blizzard. This will be a recurring theme, Glenna finding people to look after the girls and then vanishing for months or even years. She finally leaves them to fend for themselves in a room in Butte, adding that Tommy has had plenty of schooling and she can stay home and look after Katherine. The girls do find their own ways, and not how you think.
The character of Glenna is so difficult to get a grip on. When she's away from her children the hurt she's causing is hard to bear; when she's with the girls, we see that she is remarkable, a real heroine, a genius.
"An Elegant Woman" is not an easy book, but you will not be able to get enough. Still stuck in my head.
Five year old Thelma (Tommy) and her younger sister Katherine are pulled from their cozy beds in the middle of a January night in 1910, and hauled to the train station by their mother, Glenna. She is leaving their father, and they are going to Montana where she will be a teacher. Before they even get on the train, Glenna asks some nuns to look after them and disappears into the club car for two days, not emerging even when the train is stopped by a blizzard. This will be a recurring theme, Glenna finding people to look after the girls and then vanishing for months or even years. She finally leaves them to fend for themselves in a room in Butte, adding that Tommy has had plenty of schooling and she can stay home and look after Katherine. The girls do find their own ways, and not how you think.
The character of Glenna is so difficult to get a grip on. When she's away from her children the hurt she's causing is hard to bear; when she's with the girls, we see that she is remarkable, a real heroine, a genius.
"An Elegant Woman" is not an easy book, but you will not be able to get enough. Still stuck in my head.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
3.0
It wasn't a bad book but I didn't find it as powerful and moving as the blurb made me think I would be. Was unable to connect fully with the characters or story and therefore had a problem focusing on it. It was an okay book overall just not as good as I had hoped
readingwithmygoldens's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars rounded up
Since there isn't as much press for this one, I want to provide a short summary for those reading this review. Isadora (a novelist) and two of her sisters are going through their grandmother's belongings as she has passed away and it is their job to review what can be sold or thrown out. You know the deal, that person in your family that saves absolutely everything? Well, that's this scenario. What a nightmare, right? Well, what makes this story so special is that the granddaughters actually know some of the history behind the objects in this house because their grandmother Katherine (aka Thelma, Tommy - more on this later), made it a point to repeatedly tell her children and their children the stories of their family dating all the way back to Mary Queen of Scots up through the Civil War.
Isadora is the granddaughter who was closest to Katherine so while her sisters look at most everything as junk and something to get rid of or sell, she treasures the history in the belongings and wants to write a story on her grandmother. It is from Isadora's point of view that we learn about their grandmother's life. Beginning in the winter of 1910, at a train station where Katherine's mother, Glenna, is taking her and her younger sister out West to Montana to start a new life because Glenna is leaving their father in the dead of night due to his philandering.
The characters in this book are WOW. They are fully developed characters who are powerful, flawed, headstrong and human. There is something in here for everyone. Though Glenna is extremely unlikeable, there is something to be said about how she lived her life and the courage it took to move around the state of Montana and Nevada with the gusto she had. I most enjoyed the dynamic between the sisters, Thelma (who went by Tommy and later became Katherine), and Katherine. I could write a dissertation on their relationship, but I won't because this review already is too long. There is a lot to dislike about both sisters, but I think that's one of the other themes of this book - the humanity we all share as flawed beings. We all make mistakes and all do the best we can in the environment we are raised. The decision that Thelma makes sets both sisters on a course that will reverberate through the generations.
The largest theme discussed in the book, which caused me to ponder about my own family history, (which I unfortunately know very little about), is that what the younger generations know is all based on the stories we are told from our ancestors. If there is no written record (or if that record is difficult to obtain), we can only rely on word of mouth. With this, falsehoods can be inserted and once those falsehoods are accepted as truth, events can be altered. These tiny alterations play a big part in the history of this family and was an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered before.
If you hadn't guessed already - this was a freaking fantastic read. I haven't read historical fiction in a long time (on a genre hiatus), but this reminded me why I love reading about the past. Nostalgia is a powerful force and the history nerd in me was geeking out entirely while reading this meticulously researched book that spanned from 1910 to present times and followed each generation. Multi-generational stories are my JAM and this did not disappoint in the slightest. I read somewhere that this is loosely based on the author's family and so I can see why this book was a decade in the making.
My last thought has to do with generational stories overall, but its something I wish to note here.
There was some slight confusion as I tried to grasp whose point of view we were listening to in the beginning. Once I got the rhythm down, I didn't want to stop reading. I become increasingly annoyed with my generation when reading these books. Most of the time, we are depicted as vapid, money hungry with no regard or appreciation for the past. The steady decline in American life in large part due to loosely regulated capitalism and corporate greed makes me want to vomit. Being born in the early 80's, I remember enough about life with department stores, catalogues, corner/general stores - essentially a more small town feel. I think with advances in technology and globalization there are a lot of positives, but it makes me wish I could take a time machine and visit the world my grandparents grew up in. Make no mistake, I'm not naive enough to think their lives were perfect, but I think human beings had a lot more appreciation for their work, their reputations, their word and how they treated one another than we do now. It really makes me so sad that so many contemporaries have little to no appreciation for the hard work and sacrifices of our ancestors. How hard they worked to make our lives better and how little we regard those struggles because we are so busy living our lives. I want to make it clear that I also think we have a lot more to contend with than previous generations, particularly in a world where the 1% rules everyone else (this is before COVID), but I think the American way of life that my grandparents fought for is dying and I sincerely hope that my generation realizes this and is able to lead us to a better and happier place soon. (Didn't mean to opine for so long about this since it's a little off topic, but the book brought up some very strong feelings for me on this topic. Apologies for the soap box!)
I cannot urge you enough to read this book and I sincerely hope you do.
Thank you to Scribner and Martha McPhee for sending me a print copy to review. Thank you also to Netgalley for providing an egalley to review as well.
Review Date: 05/27/2020
Publication Date: 06/02/2020
Since there isn't as much press for this one, I want to provide a short summary for those reading this review. Isadora (a novelist) and two of her sisters are going through their grandmother's belongings as she has passed away and it is their job to review what can be sold or thrown out. You know the deal, that person in your family that saves absolutely everything? Well, that's this scenario. What a nightmare, right? Well, what makes this story so special is that the granddaughters actually know some of the history behind the objects in this house because their grandmother Katherine (aka Thelma, Tommy - more on this later), made it a point to repeatedly tell her children and their children the stories of their family dating all the way back to Mary Queen of Scots up through the Civil War.
Isadora is the granddaughter who was closest to Katherine so while her sisters look at most everything as junk and something to get rid of or sell, she treasures the history in the belongings and wants to write a story on her grandmother. It is from Isadora's point of view that we learn about their grandmother's life. Beginning in the winter of 1910, at a train station where Katherine's mother, Glenna, is taking her and her younger sister out West to Montana to start a new life because Glenna is leaving their father in the dead of night due to his philandering.
The characters in this book are WOW. They are fully developed characters who are powerful, flawed, headstrong and human. There is something in here for everyone. Though Glenna is extremely unlikeable, there is something to be said about how she lived her life and the courage it took to move around the state of Montana and Nevada with the gusto she had. I most enjoyed the dynamic between the sisters, Thelma (who went by Tommy and later became Katherine), and Katherine. I could write a dissertation on their relationship, but I won't because this review already is too long. There is a lot to dislike about both sisters, but I think that's one of the other themes of this book - the humanity we all share as flawed beings. We all make mistakes and all do the best we can in the environment we are raised. The decision that Thelma makes sets both sisters on a course that will reverberate through the generations.
The largest theme discussed in the book, which caused me to ponder about my own family history, (which I unfortunately know very little about), is that what the younger generations know is all based on the stories we are told from our ancestors. If there is no written record (or if that record is difficult to obtain), we can only rely on word of mouth. With this, falsehoods can be inserted and once those falsehoods are accepted as truth, events can be altered. These tiny alterations play a big part in the history of this family and was an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered before.
If you hadn't guessed already - this was a freaking fantastic read. I haven't read historical fiction in a long time (on a genre hiatus), but this reminded me why I love reading about the past. Nostalgia is a powerful force and the history nerd in me was geeking out entirely while reading this meticulously researched book that spanned from 1910 to present times and followed each generation. Multi-generational stories are my JAM and this did not disappoint in the slightest. I read somewhere that this is loosely based on the author's family and so I can see why this book was a decade in the making.
My last thought has to do with generational stories overall, but its something I wish to note here.
There was some slight confusion as I tried to grasp whose point of view we were listening to in the beginning. Once I got the rhythm down, I didn't want to stop reading. I become increasingly annoyed with my generation when reading these books. Most of the time, we are depicted as vapid, money hungry with no regard or appreciation for the past. The steady decline in American life in large part due to loosely regulated capitalism and corporate greed makes me want to vomit. Being born in the early 80's, I remember enough about life with department stores, catalogues, corner/general stores - essentially a more small town feel. I think with advances in technology and globalization there are a lot of positives, but it makes me wish I could take a time machine and visit the world my grandparents grew up in. Make no mistake, I'm not naive enough to think their lives were perfect, but I think human beings had a lot more appreciation for their work, their reputations, their word and how they treated one another than we do now. It really makes me so sad that so many contemporaries have little to no appreciation for the hard work and sacrifices of our ancestors. How hard they worked to make our lives better and how little we regard those struggles because we are so busy living our lives. I want to make it clear that I also think we have a lot more to contend with than previous generations, particularly in a world where the 1% rules everyone else (this is before COVID), but I think the American way of life that my grandparents fought for is dying and I sincerely hope that my generation realizes this and is able to lead us to a better and happier place soon. (Didn't mean to opine for so long about this since it's a little off topic, but the book brought up some very strong feelings for me on this topic. Apologies for the soap box!)
I cannot urge you enough to read this book and I sincerely hope you do.
Thank you to Scribner and Martha McPhee for sending me a print copy to review. Thank you also to Netgalley for providing an egalley to review as well.
Review Date: 05/27/2020
Publication Date: 06/02/2020
redroofcolleen's review against another edition
1.0
Eighty pages read, and still not much of a story. The golden bowl....
gemwilder's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
A generations saga, following the life of Tommy (nee Thelma, but also aka Katherine and Grammy) as she is brought out West by her mother Glenna, left in the care of others to help raise her younger sister Katherine (yes, the names get confusing). This is all framed by the current generation's looking through the house in Maine that they need to empty out, and trying to piece together the real from the hyperbolic and fantastical in the stories they've been told about their foremothers.
I would have appreciated a bit more of the framing, with the "oh, so here's this story we've been told and here's the truth" highlighted. Instead, it's mostly Tommy's story with the framing occasionally interspersed. And while this may be loosely based on the author's family, that story wasn't exciting enough to keep my interest above a "meh."
eARC provided by publisher.
I would have appreciated a bit more of the framing, with the "oh, so here's this story we've been told and here's the truth" highlighted. Instead, it's mostly Tommy's story with the framing occasionally interspersed. And while this may be loosely based on the author's family, that story wasn't exciting enough to keep my interest above a "meh."
eARC provided by publisher.
suannelaqueur's review against another edition
4.0
So this is the third book I've read in 2022 that I categorize as "narrative nonfiction masquerading as fiction." Or maybe vice-versa. Anyway. Violeta was a bomb (and I'm a huge Allende fan so it kills me to say that); the Troubleseeker was better, but it couldn't sustain itself; An Elegant Woman is by far the most successful. Still, while I thought the writing was spectacular, I found the book organized very strangely. Jumping all over in time in between the first person present narrator and the events of the past. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but their development was excellent. The writing sustained me through the convoluted storyline. I enjoyed reading this but it did take effort.
monikasbookblog's review against another edition
4.0
An Elegant Woman is a story about Stewart sisters and their mother Glenna. The author has drawn stories from her own life and the characters are wonderfully written. I couldn't relate to them, but I could feel them. This is my first multigenerational family story. I was surprised that I loved it. If you want to read heavy, emotional women's fiction, pick this one. Not an easy or fast read, but definitely an inspiring one about what we choose to remember/tell about our own lives!
Thank you NetGalley, Martha McPhee and Scribner for letting me read and review this memorable book. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.
Thank you NetGalley, Martha McPhee and Scribner for letting me read and review this memorable book. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.