Publisher: HarperTeen, 2010
Genre: Romance
Sub-genre: Historical
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
I'm about to reveal just how nerdy I am as I critique the cover art here. Bear with me.
I do like that the model has a head and is actively engaging the viewer. We don't have yet another dead girl staring sightlessly at the distance, and for once the fact that she's wearing a sparkly dress is actually appropriate to the content of the book. This is a book about ladies living as glamourously as they can, so there are many slinky and beaded dresses being used, including a silver one. While the dress, the jewelery, and the hair aren't quite right for the era they're going for, they do manage to evoke the right feel, balancing somewhere between the styles of the 1920s and something more likely to appeal to a modern audience. The makeup, however, is completely wrong. Smoky eyes and full pink lips? Noooo. The feminine ideal of the time was something like Clara Bow, with her sad doe eyes and bow-shaped lips. Is this a silly thing for me to froth over? Yes, of course it is. I'm gonna froth over it anyway.
Of course, on the other side of it all, "bright young things" was a term used to describe the generation that came of age in the 1920s, so it's certainly an appropriate choice for a title.
Uh, yeah. I might be a nerd.
Right at the end of 2010, two very similar series debuted. Both set in the 1920s, featuring a trio of young ladies dealing with romance and coming of age in the upper societies of the times. I read Vixen about a year ago because dude, 1920s. I ended up really enjoying it, and now it's time to put Bright Young Things through the paces. Because dude, 1920s.
Cordelia and Letty have always known they're destined for more than the small town they grew up in, so at the first opportunity they caught a train to New York, leaving behind their families and everything they'd ever known. Letty's certain she can make it as an actress and singer, and Cordelia is intent on finding the father she'd never known and who she suspects may now be a famous bootlegger.
Meanwhile, socialite Astrid is dealing with some of the downsides to the glamourous life Cordelia and Letty have been dreaming of. Her romance with the wealthy Charlie is troubled, and it looks like her mother's third marriage is about to end, uprooting her entire life yet again.
So basically, we've got a "coming of age in a glamourous setting" type of story, three young girls with very different dreams, each given a couple of romantic interests, and while the three stories interconnect at many points, they could each stand as an independent story. The personalities of the three ladies are quite distinct, especially the sheltered Letty, who has the most character growth to achieve. The book is aimed at an older YA or "new adult" audience, and I think most girls of that age range will find someone to relate to here. The emotions are real, the plot follows the characters' decisions rather than letting the characters be defined by the direction of the story, and as a coming-of-age tale, this is one with just enough teeth to dig in.
The most natural book to compare this one to is the aforementioned Vixen, and I'm not sure if Bright Young Things came off worse in that match-up because I'd read the other book first, but I think it has more to do with the use of setting in each series. When I reviewed Vixen, I said "Setting Vixen in the 1920s isn't a gimmick here; it would be impossible to separate this story from its setting and place it in the 1800s or the 1970s." I don't feel the same is true about Bright Young Things. Which is not to imply that Godbersen didn't do her research; I can clearly see evidence of that research in some of the minor details she drops. But the fact of the matter is they remain minor details and don't permeate the story and the characters as thoroughly as I wanted, and you could take the characters and the conflicts and put them in nearly any time period to tell the exact same story. The social issues of the day, the prejudices and mindsets don't really come into play. I can't, of course, speak to future volumes of the series, but it felt to me like using the 1920s here was a nice way to put a pretty shellac on top so we can describe all the pretty, slinky dresses (of which there are many). This doesn't have to be a bad thing, and if you're a reader more looking for a bit of coming-of-age drama that's full of costume porn, this is probably going to be very much your thing. I picked it up because I wanted to play in the 1920s, so I was left rather disappointed. Because, y'know, I'm a big old nerd.
Bright Young Things is available in hardcover
or as an e-book
.
Genre: Romance
Sub-genre: Historical
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
I'm about to reveal just how nerdy I am as I critique the cover art here. Bear with me.
I do like that the model has a head and is actively engaging the viewer. We don't have yet another dead girl staring sightlessly at the distance, and for once the fact that she's wearing a sparkly dress is actually appropriate to the content of the book. This is a book about ladies living as glamourously as they can, so there are many slinky and beaded dresses being used, including a silver one. While the dress, the jewelery, and the hair aren't quite right for the era they're going for, they do manage to evoke the right feel, balancing somewhere between the styles of the 1920s and something more likely to appeal to a modern audience. The makeup, however, is completely wrong. Smoky eyes and full pink lips? Noooo. The feminine ideal of the time was something like Clara Bow, with her sad doe eyes and bow-shaped lips. Is this a silly thing for me to froth over? Yes, of course it is. I'm gonna froth over it anyway.
Of course, on the other side of it all, "bright young things" was a term used to describe the generation that came of age in the 1920s, so it's certainly an appropriate choice for a title.
Uh, yeah. I might be a nerd.
Right at the end of 2010, two very similar series debuted. Both set in the 1920s, featuring a trio of young ladies dealing with romance and coming of age in the upper societies of the times. I read Vixen about a year ago because dude, 1920s. I ended up really enjoying it, and now it's time to put Bright Young Things through the paces. Because dude, 1920s.
Cordelia and Letty have always known they're destined for more than the small town they grew up in, so at the first opportunity they caught a train to New York, leaving behind their families and everything they'd ever known. Letty's certain she can make it as an actress and singer, and Cordelia is intent on finding the father she'd never known and who she suspects may now be a famous bootlegger.
Meanwhile, socialite Astrid is dealing with some of the downsides to the glamourous life Cordelia and Letty have been dreaming of. Her romance with the wealthy Charlie is troubled, and it looks like her mother's third marriage is about to end, uprooting her entire life yet again.
So basically, we've got a "coming of age in a glamourous setting" type of story, three young girls with very different dreams, each given a couple of romantic interests, and while the three stories interconnect at many points, they could each stand as an independent story. The personalities of the three ladies are quite distinct, especially the sheltered Letty, who has the most character growth to achieve. The book is aimed at an older YA or "new adult" audience, and I think most girls of that age range will find someone to relate to here. The emotions are real, the plot follows the characters' decisions rather than letting the characters be defined by the direction of the story, and as a coming-of-age tale, this is one with just enough teeth to dig in.
The most natural book to compare this one to is the aforementioned Vixen, and I'm not sure if Bright Young Things came off worse in that match-up because I'd read the other book first, but I think it has more to do with the use of setting in each series. When I reviewed Vixen, I said "Setting Vixen in the 1920s isn't a gimmick here; it would be impossible to separate this story from its setting and place it in the 1800s or the 1970s." I don't feel the same is true about Bright Young Things. Which is not to imply that Godbersen didn't do her research; I can clearly see evidence of that research in some of the minor details she drops. But the fact of the matter is they remain minor details and don't permeate the story and the characters as thoroughly as I wanted, and you could take the characters and the conflicts and put them in nearly any time period to tell the exact same story. The social issues of the day, the prejudices and mindsets don't really come into play. I can't, of course, speak to future volumes of the series, but it felt to me like using the 1920s here was a nice way to put a pretty shellac on top so we can describe all the pretty, slinky dresses (of which there are many). This doesn't have to be a bad thing, and if you're a reader more looking for a bit of coming-of-age drama that's full of costume porn, this is probably going to be very much your thing. I picked it up because I wanted to play in the 1920s, so I was left rather disappointed. Because, y'know, I'm a big old nerd.
Bright Young Things is available in hardcover
or as an e-book.1 comment | Leave a comment
