Historical Fiction

I came close to throwing in the towel on this book multiple times within the first 180 pages but stuck with it mainly to see what the author would do with this tumultuous time period. I was also pleasantly surprised that he had some flash backs to the battles fields of WWI, which I always find interesting. Sigmund Freud and Marie Curie are characters in this book and I enjoyed the way Rubenfeld used both of their discoveries and theories as part of the scaffolding for his story. There's political intrigue, scientific discoveries, cutting edge medical treatments, social unrest, prohibition, abuse of workers, capitalist tycoons, classism, sexism, Italian-bashing, antisemitism, rape, white slavery, multiple trips across the Atlantic, a car and motorcycle chase, an airplane ride, and lots of other historic tidbits and thriller novel conventions, but none of it seems overly forced to me. Rubenfeld is a skilled writer to pack in as much as he does without the story getting too clunky. While the novel never became a page turner for me, the reading did pick up after those first 180 pages. I'm glad I stuck with it just to see how much he was so skillfully able to weave into what I thought was a very good story. The two big things that were lacking for me were well-rounded characters that I cared about and atmosphere. Hence, the two star rating: it was okay and I'd recommend it to historical fiction fans. ( )

Loved the history and the way the story was worked into the real events. Very interesting and enjoyable book... ( )

I don't often read popular fiction because the writing is often clunky. No exception here, but the story was compelling and fun enough to keep me going. ( )

This is a well researched and interesting who-dunnit type of tale set in the 1920s New York and Vienna and Paris. The novel features Freud and Marie Curie among others. The novel was a touch too long for me as the twists and turns of the story meandered around but it was generally interesting and I learnt a lot and wanted to finish it. ( )