This is our 3rd book by Fiona Davis. The Spectacular, we really liked. The Magnolia Palace, we gave 3.5 (out of 5) stars due to way too much filler. This book had the same "filler" problem, plus it fell flat on character development. For this reason, it gets 3 stars. The draw is its setting of the NYC Library.
1914----Laura and Jack Lyons have 2 kids, Pearl and Jack, and they live in an apartment inside the NYC library because Jack is the superintendent. Jack is writing a novel, and understandably spends a lot of his free time holed up writing. Laura decides she wants a career too -- apparently she discovers her own flair for writing, though it's not clear if she ever yearned for it during her youth. Laura gets a scholarship for a semester at Columbia University, which is the only way they could afford for her to go. Now let's be clear -- we agree with women's plight from that time period of wanting more than "home, husband, kids." But Laura's character was poorly developed so that we never rooted for her. This was a poor "wannabe" of The Awakening by Kate Chopin -- one of my fave books of all time. I already felt this book's "wannabe" status, when a copy of The Awakening shows up in this book -- What??! In other words, in case you didn't already get the comparison, this author hits you over the head with it.
1993-----Sadie is the granddaughter of Laura Lyons, and Sadie works at the NYC Library. It's not clear why she kept it a secret that her grandmother was a famous novelist. I'd talk about it if working with other bibliophiles; most folks would, imho.
Both time periods have thievery of rare books from a locked/guarded section of the library. In the big picture, the historical importance of this story is the real life Columbia University rare book heist of 1994 --- where the thief was caught, jailed, and found guilty. And at sentencing, after a library official explains to the Judge that this wasn't just any stolen book, it was the theft of culture -- theft of the potential for future researchers to consult that material -- then the Judge "up-sentences" the jail time, increasing the time from what the jury had decided. He increases the sentence as a warning to all would-be thieves of rare items from libraries, and that lesson still stands today as a deterrent. This is fascinating, yes? But it's barely a blip in this book's storyline. What we get instead are poorly-developed characters -- whom we think we know until suddenly something happens out of the blue that has us wondering, Where did that come from?? (See spoiler below, if you're inclined)
If we hadn't already read 2 of this author's books and liked them, we might have stopped reading this one because the first 100 pgs are slow. I don't like pushing my way thru a book. I'm also sick to death of the page quota thing. --- Dear Book Publishers, STOP forcing a page count onto your authors. Let the story unfold naturally. Even if it ends up at 250 pages versus the almost-400 pgs that seem to be de rigueur these days.
Symbolism of "Lions" in the title. It's easy to see that the lion statues in front of the library is what the title refers to. Also, the Lyons family. Then we hear, "Jack made the lion's share of the decisions." In other words, the men of that period were the lions of their families...protecting, supporting ($$), controlling. Often, that control runs counter to what family members want for themselves -- whether it's the daughters who are pushed to get married, or wives who aren't allowed to detour from their duties as homemakers and moms. Or even sons who are expected to follow in dad's footsteps (eg, take over the fam biz, etc).
SPOILER ALERT--poor character development-- such as...(stop reading to avoid spoilers)...such as little 11 yr old Jack joining a gang, stealing books, setting his dad's manuscript on fire, then running away to live on the streets. Talk about your nonsequitors. And Jack was the perfect husband. Loving, supports his wife's dream for college (in 1914!)...then turns into a crazy guy when faced with Laura's indiscretions with Amelia (a mover & shaker among feminists of that period). Also, Laura had it really good -- and we don't get into her head to find out why she's ready to risk everything over a fling - and why did she want that fling to begin with?? Jack was, according to all descriptions, a really sweet guy.
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