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A review by votesforwomen
Alex & Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz
2.0
I'm so disappointed. I went into this book very excited and hopeful for a great read. I am a self-proclaimed Hamilfan, and I've read a couple of Melissa de la Cruz's books before. While they weren't my FAVORITES, they weren't bad, so I assumed that this book would be at least a four-star read.
I was wrong.
I'll try to give some likes first - it really wasn't all bad - and then I'll move on to the things I didn't like so much.
WHAT I LIKED
-So Eliza's whole family was in there? And that was kind of lovely? She had brothers (ha-ha! Take that, Angelica! But you still have to social-climb for one) and Peggy and Angelica were both very present and her MOM AND DAD were both there too. And it was wonderful.
-Angelica was dating John Church. Which was a major enough part of the story that I liked it.
-It was just plain sweet when Eliza FINALLY decided she might like Alex a little.
-And the part at the beginning when Angelica, Eliza AND PEGGY gave Hamilton the verbal lashing of his life was just #Yessssssss.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
-This is going to be most of the review, but it's unfortunately most of the book, too. The characters just felt wrong.
-Like, Eliza was this feminist person who at the beginning is like, "Mama, you cannot make me wear that dress and I won't do it because I'm supporting the patriots' cause and I will not dress like that when our men are starving!" And she was like "I won't fall in love with that Colonel Hamilton! We'll know each other for like two years but we'll never actually talk to each other!" And that gave me trouble with seeing her as the woman who sang "Helpless" in the musical and she certainly would never have been the one who sang "That Would Be Enough" or who stuck with Alexander after the whole Reynolds pamphlet fiasco or took his hand in "It's Quiet Uptown" or dedicated her life once he was gone to preserving his memory. And I'm reading the Chernow biography right now (which, by the way, is an exemplary biography and you should read it despite the fact that the writing is very difficult to swim through) and it sounds like Miranda's version of Eliza is a lot more accurate to her in real life.
-Alexander wasn't a tomcat or a flirt and he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would womanize behind Eliza's back later on in life. (Other than that he was mostly okay.)
-Lafayette made a cameo but he was not in it anywhere near enough and that made me mad.
-And Angelica and Peggy just felt wrong? I don't know. Maybe it was because they weren't Renee Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas-Jones, but I feel like it was something to do with the fact they weren't really clever and witty. They also faded into one person.
-Also there was this issue of time? Like in both Hamilton and Chernow it says that the romance was whirlwind thing where they met and - Boom! One week later, writing a letter nightly... etc., etc., etc. This is more of a "hate-at-first-sight" thing where they didn't get around to falling in love until two years after their first meeting.
-And there was this weird arranged marriage thing where Eliza was supposed to marry this other guy for his money but then he was like this awful pig and his family was made up of awful pigs and he
-Also there was this cast of underdeveloped male characters who faded into each other and there were just too many of them. OH I'M SORRY, IS THIS NOT YOUR SPEED?
Verdict: This was a decent book, but I honestly think it would be better if it was read by someone who hasn't read Chernow or seen the musical. Because they're very different fictional works. And I just couldn't get past how wrong the characters felt in general.
I was wrong.
I'll try to give some likes first - it really wasn't all bad - and then I'll move on to the things I didn't like so much.
WHAT I LIKED
-So Eliza's whole family was in there? And that was kind of lovely? She had brothers (ha-ha! Take that, Angelica! But you still have to social-climb for one) and Peggy and Angelica were both very present and her MOM AND DAD were both there too. And it was wonderful.
-Angelica was dating John Church. Which was a major enough part of the story that I liked it.
-It was just plain sweet when Eliza FINALLY decided she might like Alex a little.
-And the part at the beginning when Angelica, Eliza AND PEGGY gave Hamilton the verbal lashing of his life was just #Yessssssss.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
-This is going to be most of the review, but it's unfortunately most of the book, too. The characters just felt wrong.
-Like, Eliza was this feminist person who at the beginning is like, "Mama, you cannot make me wear that dress and I won't do it because I'm supporting the patriots' cause and I will not dress like that when our men are starving!" And she was like "I won't fall in love with that Colonel Hamilton! We'll know each other for like two years but we'll never actually talk to each other!" And that gave me trouble with seeing her as the woman who sang "Helpless" in the musical and she certainly would never have been the one who sang "That Would Be Enough" or who stuck with Alexander after the whole Reynolds pamphlet fiasco or took his hand in "It's Quiet Uptown" or dedicated her life once he was gone to preserving his memory. And I'm reading the Chernow biography right now (which, by the way, is an exemplary biography and you should read it despite the fact that the writing is very difficult to swim through) and it sounds like Miranda's version of Eliza is a lot more accurate to her in real life.
-Alexander wasn't a tomcat or a flirt and he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would womanize behind Eliza's back later on in life. (Other than that he was mostly okay.)
-Lafayette made a cameo but he was not in it anywhere near enough and that made me mad.
-And Angelica and Peggy just felt wrong? I don't know. Maybe it was because they weren't Renee Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas-Jones, but I feel like it was something to do with the fact they weren't really clever and witty. They also faded into one person.
-Also there was this issue of time? Like in both Hamilton and Chernow it says that the romance was whirlwind thing where they met and - Boom! One week later, writing a letter nightly... etc., etc., etc. This is more of a "hate-at-first-sight" thing where they didn't get around to falling in love until two years after their first meeting.
-And there was this weird arranged marriage thing where Eliza was supposed to marry this other guy for his money but then he was like this awful pig and his family was made up of awful pigs and he
Spoiler
tried to RAPE Eliza but then Alexander came in and broke it up but then his family blamed HER for it? But then her parents let her call of the engagement? And it was just weird?-Also there was this cast of underdeveloped male characters who faded into each other and there were just too many of them. OH I'M SORRY, IS THIS NOT YOUR SPEED?
Verdict: This was a decent book, but I honestly think it would be better if it was read by someone who hasn't read Chernow or seen the musical. Because they're very different fictional works. And I just couldn't get past how wrong the characters felt in general.