≡ PDF The American Heiress Daisy Goodwin 9780312658656 Books

The American Heiress Daisy Goodwin 9780312658656 Books

Download As PDF : The American Heiress Daisy Goodwin 9780312658656 Books

The American Heiress Daisy Goodwin 9780312658656 Books

First of all, I'd like to preface my review by saying that I never really understand when reviewers say things like "I'll never get that time back" when criticizing a book that's meant to be entertainment. Unless something is a school assignment, is necessary for continued participation in a book club, or a threat at gunpoint is involved, why finish a book you hate? Isn't life too short to read bad books?

I don't consider myself a "quitter" when I choose not to finish a book; I just consider a different use of my time, because time is money. (And so are books, admittedly.) With that being said, I did finish this book, and was entertained by it. Does that make it a great book? No, but do all books have to be great literature? Let's hope not, because that would really lower the bar on what's considered great.

Entertainment aside, this is a very formulaic book with a very predictable plot. The heroine is a static character, and there's a pretty poor attempt at an African-American, southern-born lady's maid -- the concept of which could have been very interesting, considering, but ends up being a fail here. Additionally, there are very modern (as in, 21st century) character views in the book which don't ring true at all for the times. Marriage for love was an anomaly; marriage for money, property or position was the norm. Things like cheating husbands, mistresses, etc., were, if carried on tastefully, not just accepted by wives, but were often even expected. Would most 21st-century women be shocked and outraged by being expected to live that way? Probably. But if you're writing a book about another era, does it make sense to plop a 21st-century woman into the center of it?

Ms. Goodwin does do a fantastic job of recreating this world, in the sense of social behaviors, clothes, furniture and the like. Her atmosphere is really very good in that regard, and when details like these are used to further the sense of transportation into another time or place, I disagree with readers who dismiss these details as mere fluff. They're part of what makes this book entertaining.

For entertainment's sake, "The American Heiress" lives up to its many good reviews. It is entertaining, it's a fun read, and it's an easy read. If you're a fan of this era and/or these situations, and want something autobiographical, check out "The Glitter and the Gold" by Consuelo Vanderbilt, from whose life and circumstances this book heavily borrows. For straight-up nonfiction, check out "To Marry an English Lord" by Carol McD. Wallace and Gail MacColl. For "great" literature based on this era and circumstances, try anything by Edith Wharton. But don't blame Ms. Goodwin for not being Edith Wharton.

Because at the end of the day, who *is* Edith Wharton ... but Edith Wharton?


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The American Heiress Daisy Goodwin 9780312658656 Books Reviews

The writing in this book is of the highest quality. I love historical novels and whether the book is able to truly draw me into the world of the characters is always hit and miss. The American Heiress hit it out of the ball park. The world and time Cora Cash and I live in could not possibly be more different. Many things about the world she was describing were total fantasy to me but I found myself totally immersed. Even maybe like I had an understanding of these things in such a vastly privileged life. It was a rich heady experience to me like some of my other favorite historical novels, I am Livia, Memoirs of a Geisha, and the Other Boleyn Girl just to name a few of the popular novels I found immersive.

And they are so excessively privileged I thought I would find it hard to like or identify with any of the characters. Daisy Goodwin accomplished a bloody miracle. While there were plenty of characters who were still shadowy by the end and who I ought to have disliked at surface value, their actions and traits within context always kept them wonderfully in the gray. I hate when a novel has a bunch of "good" and "bad" characters. A lot of reviewers felt the character Bertha felt kind of tacked on or unnatural. I didn't feel the same way. I felt like she served to move the plot very well and her actions may have been irrational at times but I felt they had integrity. An irrational thing a real person might do, to put someone who may or may not deserve it before yourself.

I also thought a lot of readers felt it was a glum read. This isn't entirely untrue, the novel is chock full of troubles. But if it weren't for this air of something amiss and negative developments it would have never have felt as good to explore the pure decadence of the time and social status. It would be another flimsy paberback romance novel. Instead it was a good balance of decadence, hope, hard work, mysterious developments and troubles.

A lot of people didn't like the end much either. I actually really loved the ending. It truly wasn't the sort of ending that many novels have where there is some kind of big punch and change for the apotheosis of the novel. Instead it feels like the sort of ending that happens in real life to real people, isn't good, bad, or easy but feels REAL. And while I read to escape most of the times and love fantastical happily ever afters as much as anyone, sometimes it is a wonderful literary experience to read an ending that rings on integrity instead of fairytale happiness.
Having just finished this book, I can state that it is shallow, predictable, mediocre in writing, and an altogether unsatisfying read. To compare Daisy Goodwin to Edith Wharton and Julian Fellows, is grossly unfair to both Wharton and Fellows, who are master writers and storytellers.
I will not recap the predictable story of the American billionaire heiress who has saved an English Duke's estate, her ambitious mother or the conniving landed English who set out to thwart her, that has been already been done by previous readers, and written far better by Wharton and Fellows.
What I will warn potential readers about is wasting their reading time on a work that is so poorly written and developed. The characters are shallow, stereotypical, and use interesting. The plot is predictable , down to the total reveal/ resolution during the last 20 pages of the book. Most disappointing is the lack of real research on the part of the author. Detailed descriptions of rooms, parties, clothing cannot compensate for the lack of historical basis. These details read like something the author imagined rather than something that is based in historical reference. Along the same vein, the dialogue vassilates between imagined speech of the Golden Age, both British and American, and current American dialect, perhaps to attract the contemporary reader.
If you enjoy reading this particular genre, reading or even rereading Wharton or Fellows is far more satisfying .
After reading this I do not have high hopes for Victoria, I will skip Goodwin's book and do not have high hopes for the TV adaptation, although it may improve onscreen.
Heed the naysayers, they are on target!
First of all, I'd like to preface my review by saying that I never really understand when reviewers say things like "I'll never get that time back" when criticizing a book that's meant to be entertainment. Unless something is a school assignment, is necessary for continued participation in a book club, or a threat at gunpoint is involved, why finish a book you hate? Isn't life too short to read bad books?

I don't consider myself a "quitter" when I choose not to finish a book; I just consider a different use of my time, because time is money. (And so are books, admittedly.) With that being said, I did finish this book, and was entertained by it. Does that make it a great book? No, but do all books have to be great literature? Let's hope not, because that would really lower the bar on what's considered great.

Entertainment aside, this is a very formulaic book with a very predictable plot. The heroine is a static character, and there's a pretty poor attempt at an African-American, southern-born lady's maid -- the concept of which could have been very interesting, considering, but ends up being a fail here. Additionally, there are very modern (as in, 21st century) character views in the book which don't ring true at all for the times. Marriage for love was an anomaly; marriage for money, property or position was the norm. Things like cheating husbands, mistresses, etc., were, if carried on tastefully, not just accepted by wives, but were often even expected. Would most 21st-century women be shocked and outraged by being expected to live that way? Probably. But if you're writing a book about another era, does it make sense to plop a 21st-century woman into the center of it?

Ms. Goodwin does do a fantastic job of recreating this world, in the sense of social behaviors, clothes, furniture and the like. Her atmosphere is really very good in that regard, and when details like these are used to further the sense of transportation into another time or place, I disagree with readers who dismiss these details as mere fluff. They're part of what makes this book entertaining.

For entertainment's sake, "The American Heiress" lives up to its many good reviews. It is entertaining, it's a fun read, and it's an easy read. If you're a fan of this era and/or these situations, and want something autobiographical, check out "The Glitter and the Gold" by Consuelo Vanderbilt, from whose life and circumstances this book heavily borrows. For straight-up nonfiction, check out "To Marry an English Lord" by Carol McD. Wallace and Gail MacColl. For "great" literature based on this era and circumstances, try anything by Edith Wharton. But don't blame Ms. Goodwin for not being Edith Wharton.

Because at the end of the day, who *is* Edith Wharton ... but Edith Wharton?