City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert – Audio

Book Blurb:

In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves-and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest.
Now ninety-five years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life – and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. 

My Review: 4.5 stars

Click here to order on Amazon

City of Girls was a joy to listen to. The characters came alive and I think I’d listen to any narration by Blair Brown. In all honesty, I wasn’t planning on reading this. The author’s first book, the mega-hit Eat, Pray, Love, didn’t wet my whistle like it did for so many others. That was the one and only Gilbert book I had read, until City of Girls.

The majority of people, including myself, loved this book, however, the reason many people didn’t like it was due to the rampant sex and the many characters who lacked in moral compass. For me, well, that’s one of the reasons I did like it. These women were crusaders, they each had incredibly powerful backstories and they lived life like it was their last day. They were raw and complicated. The girls had complex relationships with one another and when men were added to the mix, oh it was a gritty love fest with passion, jealousies, anger, betrayal and love.

I highly recommend this romp through the 40s that will come alive through atmosphere, dress, language and setting. Oh,  how I hope this one becomes a movie. It ran like one in my mind. Enjoy!

Quotes I liked:

Life is short and difficult, people. We must take our pleasures where we can find them. Let us not become so cautious that we forget to live.”

“In my experience, this is the hardest lesson of them all. After a certain age, we are all walking around this world in bodies made of secrets and shame and sorrow and old, unhealed injuries. Our hearts grow sore and misshapen around all this pain – yet somehow, still, we carry on.”

“People will tell you not to waste your youth having too much fun, but they’re wrong. Youth is an irreplaceable treasure, and the only respectable thing to do with irreplaceable treasure is to waste it. So do the right thing with your youth, Vivian—squander it.”

“Love is like that is a deep well with steep sides. Once you fall in, that’s it. You will love that person always.”

“I fell in love with him, and it made no sense for me to fall in love with him. We could not possibly have been more different. But maybe that’s where love grows best—in the deep space that exists between polarities.”