The Little Shadows

Having been impressed by Good to a Fault I was delighted to discover The Little Shadows on my doorstep one afternoon (Courtesy Allen & Unwin Australia}. The premise was particularity inviting, promising a backstage glimpse at the life of vaudeville performers in the beginning on 1900′s.
Marina Endicott lifts the curtain to reveal Aurora, Clover, Belle and their mother auditioning to join a vaudeville house. The Avery sisters are young and pretty with sweet voices and their mother, once a performer herself, is prepared to lean on old acquaintances to encourage her daughters success. The life of all but the most successful and talented acts is difficult, performers must fight for their place in the line up to assure continued work but at show more the whim of the manager, or the audience, they can be dismissed and forced to move on. The Avery’s grow up amongst a motley collection of performers, moving from theatre to theatre in search of their big break and the dream of earning $1000 a week. The Little Shadows follows their career from naive teenage girls to seasoned performers as they navigate their way through success and failure, joy and heartbreak.

With a complete lack of irony, what I loved about The Little Shadows is also what made this novel a bit of a slog to read. Endicott obviously spent a lot of time researching vaudeville at the turn of the 20th century, the details of absolutely everything are exquisitely rendered – from the dank, dusty dressing rooms to the intricacies of a slapstick routine and the fine stitching of delicate costumes. The author breathes life into this hidden world with beautiful imagery that illustrates both the setting and the period in which it takes place. I truly admired the author’s ability to so finely create the Avery’s sisters world, but I also felt that at times, all this detail overshadowed both the plot and the characters.
The story centers on the Avery sisters, Aurora, Clover and Belle who are just 16, 14 and 13 respectively, though lying about their ages, at the beginning of the book. The girls mature in this unusual setting where they must behave as adults even though they are still children.
Aurora is the prettiest with the finest voice and is also the most ambitious of the three. Clover is the quietest, an astute observer of the lifestyle and the characters she encounters. Belle, the youngest, has the personality of the performer, she is effervescent, curious and a bit of a dreamer. Despite their general appeal though, I struggled to connect to their characters. Endicott describes how they put on their makeup, labour over their costumes, learn to sing from their diaphragms but she rarely gives access to their inner thoughts. They are swamped some how but what they are rather than who they are.
Similarly, Endicott describes the other inhabitants of the world of vaudeville in detail, stepping us through their various routines or roles but again, rarely shows us what these characters think or feel.

Endicott intends for the story to be driven by character rather than plot but the lack of direction is frustrating at times. Mostly I felt the book moved from one beautifully described scene to another without really going anywhere at all. I assume the intention was to give the story the structure of a vaudeville show but largely the story failed to come to life when the curtain came down, which is when the real action should have happened.

Though the language was lovely and the book well written, I really wanted to be swept away by The Little Shadows, and it is fascinating for its historical detail and unique setting, but for me, it lacked soul. show less

This Canadian novel tells of three sisters working in Vaudeville before and during WWI. It's a fascinating and well-researched look into a world that is both colourful and dark. Aurora, Clover and Bella are very young when the book opens and despite their mother's chaperonage, they are vulnerable to sexual and economic exploitation. But there are plenty of people to help them out too and even when things get very bleak their determination and grit keeps them going. I really enjoyed this book; there is plenty of drama and many larger than life characters, but it never goes over the top or wallows in melodrama. The sisters are quite different in personality but all are likeable and easy to empathise with, and the genuine love they share show more for each other is good to see when so many authors prefer to put women at odds with each other. show less

The Little Shadows is a beautifully written coming-of-age tale of three sisters at the beginning of the twentieth century. At a time when moving pictures were in their infancy and television was the stuff of science fiction, vaudeville was a hugely popular form of entertainment. So, when their father dies, their mother decides to have the three girls audition as a song-and dance routine. They are not particularly talented but, thanks mainly to the oldest sister's beauty and the mother's connections, they soon find themselves on the vaudeville circuit in western Canada and the US.

Author Marina Endicott is obviously very fond of her subject and has done her research. She describes in great detail many of the acts that were popular at the show more time. Although most of the characters are fictional, many of these acts were based on real performers like Buster Keaton. Also, many of the songs the girls sing are ones which most of us would know like Danny Boy. Although, few of us (including myself) have ever experienced a real vaudeville show first-hand, being able to recognize and hum along with the girls lends a sense of familiarity to the story.

The story is divided into acts as the girls progress from novices to seasoned veterans of the circuit and these acts are further divided into short vignettes or skits just as a vaudeville show would have been. There is even an encore at the end and I have no problem giving a huge round of applause to this delightful ode to a fascinating period in history. show less

The Little Shadows are three sisters working as touring vaudeville singers in early 20th century North America. The Avery family, and their mother, are still mourning the death of their father and a little brother, but they must try and earn a living.

This is perhaps the least glamorous theatre story I've ever read. As young girls/women, Aurora, Clover and Bella must be seen to observe proprieties, but this is a world of exploitative and predatory men.

Endicott very effectively creates and conveys a sense of historical setting and the way her main characters might have thought about things, and the dilemmas facing them. The book is rather long, and I felt that the story and character development could have been done as well in a shorter show more book.

I received a review copy of this book through the Amazon Vine programme.

(Amazon review posted 14.08.12) show less

I was left wanting MORE!

It has a bit of a slow pick up as you get to know the comings and goings of the vaudeville life, but once I was deep in it I was IN LOVE! I absolutely adore period books and this one didn't disappoint.

It really put me in the mind frame of the characters and their nomadic life, I felt their worries and victories and rooted for them every step of the way!

The sisterly love is beautifully portrayed as was their tenacious and brave mother. And all the secondary characters are just as good (or bad!).

The only complaint I have about this books it's that it's over too soon. #greedyreader I would love to follow along with the girls some more... Keeping this simple for fear of spoilers but I would love to follow along with show more their boys as well, some of their endings will have me worrying and wondering forever! show less

I liked reading about the Vaudeville era and about how the bookings and billings went. The novel made me think, too, about building and maintaining relationships in such a transitory industry. I found, though, that the book plodded along and could have been much tighter in terms of plot. Just kind of "meh" for me.

I'm still letting this one settle, because although I enjoyed it greatly, I think it could have been sharper and I'm trying to figure out how. But I really like Endicott's examination of women's lives. She does it deliberately, and while she doesn't have Atwood's bite, she's willing to show the warts. This novels explores a 3 sister vaudeville act, who travel the mostly Canadian Vaudville scene (Winnipeg's Pantages, Orpheum and Walker theatre figure at one point). Women don't have it particularly easy in that world, but Endicott doesn't let us forget that the men have their own struggles.