City of Girls

Genre: Fiction

This is the story of Vivian Morris, a college drop-out, daughter to wealthy parents, and in her late teens in the 1940's. Her parents send her to live with her Aunt Peg (the black sheep of the family), who is the owner of a theater that puts on vaudevillian-esque shows to undiscerning crowds. The shows are meant for pure entertainment and joy. Living with Aunt Peg, who is unconcerned with appropriate behavior, social standing or supervising her young niece, uncorks something in Vivian, and she comes into her own, discovering she has a talent for fashion design. Vivian gets to know many of the actors and actresses who perform and live at the theater, but is particularly taken by the dancers and the general atmosphere of frivolity, fun and fashion. She joins a world that is taken with overdoing all the good things in life: partying, drinking and sex. Vivian will come out on the other side affected by all of this, but will she remember it fondly, and will she learn the true meaning of love? The story is told by Vivian as an aging woman looking back on her life. This is the story of friendship, growing up and discovering that love is the most important thing.

What a surprise this book turned out to be. I thought, for sure, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love (which was not my favorite book--I resigned myself to being the only person on earth who didn't enjoy that book), would disappoint me again. But, in her expert hands, the shallowest of characters are woven into a story with depth, intelligence and fun. This is pure indulgence, but, nonetheless, a very well-written story. Some of my favorite parts of the story were the reviews of the plays that Peg's theater put on. This one, from a critic at The New Yorker said, "Edna Parker Watson possesses the face of a woman who has lived her life in the state of upward dreaming. Enough of those dreams have come true, it appears, to keep her forehead unlined by worry or sorrow, and her eyes are bright with the expectation of more good news to come." I mean seriously, "the state upward dreaming"-that is poetic! I definitely recommend this book for its amusing descriptions and great story!