City of Girls: A Novel

by E Gilbert

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

From the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love and The Signature of All Things, a delicious novel of glamour, sex, and adventure, about a young woman discovering that you don't have to be a good girl to be a good person.

"A spellbinding novel about love, freedom, and finding your own happiness." - PopSugar

"Intimate and richly sensual, razzle-dazzle with a hint of danger." -USA Today

"Pairs well with a cocktail...or two." -TheSkimm

"Life is both fleeting and dangerous, and there is no point in denying yourself pleasure, or being anything other than what you are."

Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love.

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 eighty-nine 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. "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time," she muses. "After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is." Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.

• ISBN10: 1594634742
• ISBN13: 9781594634741
• Publish Date: 7 April 2020 (first published 4 June 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Riverhead Books,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 496
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781594634741

Reviews

[kaliwinn]

This book was incredible! I actually teared up at the end, which I hardly ever do. 

*******

City of Girls is structured as a letter, with the main character Vivian Morris writing to someone we know is named Angela. Part of what kept me hooked on this book is Angela's relation to the story is not revealed until the very end. Vivian's letter tells the story of her life, beginning at age 19 when she first moves to New York City. The tale moves effortlessly through time, and I truly enjoyed Vivian's unique perspective on her experience during World War II. Her honest account of her activities at a young girl in New York City were enthralling. Her honesty in assessment of her relationships, actions, and mistakes and that time made me reflect of my own choices and relationships. Vivian also expressed a unique trait which I found to be important: her willingness to let relationships be what they are, and to not ask anything more of them. In my own life I find myself wanting to make more out of relationships than they are, and this was an important less for me. 

*******

Vivian is also an icon of feminism. In a time where women were expected to be married and with children by 20, Vivian follows her own path to satisfaction, unconcerned with the pressures of society. 

[emilybettridge]

This was a great book, keeping my attention glued for the first half, but the second half gets a little long winded. Vivian Morris is a fascinating human being, and I really fell in love with her character over the 15 hours of this audiobook. One star docked because sometimes she rambled too much and it took way too long to get to the point of the “letter.” Also because I would have liked even a short response from Angela!

I absolutely loved it. I had heard it was good and was worried that it was overhyped. It’s a longer book than average and I thought it might be slow in places, but I was wrong. This book sucked me in immediately and it never slowed down. Its beautifully written and I enjoyed every minute of it. The ending was just so beautiful.