Kerri Maher

A novel based on the life of Sylvia Beach and her bookstore Shakespeare and Co., this is not one of those books she would have favored in her offerings. The writing is never more than serviceable, and sometimes worthy of romance literature at its most cliched. But it does give the reader a flavor of Paris between the wars, when writers we now know by name were young and daring and milling about, influencing each other and drinking too much.

If Sylvia Beach is a focus of this book, another is show more James Joyce, struggling to write [Ulysses], stay solvent and keep his marriage intact, all at once. As with many struggling artists, he makes use of the devotion of others without always rewarding them. The author claims as much authority as can be gleaned from letters, diaries, autobiographies, etc. so it may pass as historical fiction. And i think the book itself is shaped as an ellipse around these foci, gracefully winding down with an epilogue letting us know when everyone died. show less

It's the story of Sylvia Beach, a women's rights activist, a bookseller, the woman who was the first to produce Ulysses when no male publisher cared and nearly perished in the process.
In 1919 Sylvia opened her bookshop 'Shakespeare and Company'. She did this with the support of her friend and later partner Adrienne Monnier, who already had a French bookshop where French authors and intellectuals came and went. This encouraged Sylvia to open an English-language bookshop. Not only did the show more French authors support her, but she soon counted American and English authors among her friends. On the one hand, she ran the bookshop as a kind of lending library and on the other, she also sold the books.
Everything was going well until James Joyce came to her, who was looking to get his book Ulysses published somehow. In America, the first chapters were already among the 'forbidden books'. There was no chance that his work would ever be published. Joyce was a very unpleasant contemporary. Many of Sylvia's friends called him the false Jesus. He took the worst possible advantage of his fellow human beings and disappeared when he had to pay his debts.
Sylvia, however, felt that she had to support him and threw herself into an adventure as a publisher, but also into debt and hopelessness until her health suffered.

I was very impressed by this story. I also didn't realise that at the beginning of the 20th century, same-sex love and cohabitation were not a problem in France.
I can warmly recommend this book. show less

I inwardly cringe every time the Kennedy Family is portrayed as "American royalty.'' No, no, no. Wealthy? Yes. Privileged? Yes. Powerful? Without a doubt. But I hate seeing them put on a pedestal. Digging into the history and behavior of the Kennedy clan can be quite a disturbing experience. One daughter lobotomized to avoid scandal and hidden away for the rest of her life. Another dead in Europe before her time, separated from her family because she defied her father. Two sons shot to show more death. One son getting away with murder after letting a girl drown in his car at Chappaquiddick. It's not a golden story....but a really dark and sad one. And all for ambition, power and greed. Seems such a waste.

After listening to an audio book about the life and lobotomizing of Rosemary Kennedy earlier this year, I wanted to learn more about her sister, Kathleen "Kick'' Kennedy, so I snapped up this book! Kick grew up in privilege, enjoying Europe in the 1930's when her father was an ambassador and becoming a bright, beautiful debutante. Much was expected of her by her parents. They had ambitions for their family and expected Kick to tow the line. She didn't. She fell in love with an Englishman that her family did not approve of. Kick defied her family, choosing love over duty to her parents' ambitions. Her choices had consequences.

Although I found the Kick's story disturbing and sad, the book is well-written and filled in some gaps in my knowledge of her life and experiences. This is Kerri Maher's debut novel. I will definitely be looking for more by this new author! This book was informative, obviously well-researched and very interesting.

I think I need to lay off books about the Kennedy family for awhile though. It's just too much......with nothing really hopeful or uplifting coming out of any of it. Sad. No reflection on Maher's book -- the book is excellent! Great debut novel! Just thoughts about the family and all the destruction that came in the wake of extreme ambition. Power corrupts.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** show less

Reading this was like wading through tepid oatmeal. Nothing offensive happened, but nor can I say that I enjoyed the experience. A novel needs some grit to propel it forward. I will note that there is nothing in this novel that would prevent giving it to your grandmother, or to your pastor's grandmother, which is surprising given that Grace Kelly had some fun before she got married. You certainly wouldn't know it from this book, where she whines and complains and dresses nicely for 370 show more unrewarding pages. The writing is fine, but lazy, with the most expected turns of phrase used every time. This book is not only boring, but there are a ton of careless errors, casting doubt on every detail presented. I wish the author had taken some of the time she used to go on vacation in Monaco to learn how to use google. Ms. Maher, Long Island Iced Teas were invented in the 1970s, so it's unlikely that Hollywood starlets would have been drinking them in 1956, and canoes are propelled and steered by paddles, not oars. It's the small details like that that make the rest of the story less believable. show less