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City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert is a 2019 Riverhead publication.

This work of historical fiction spans several decades and follows the life of Vivian Morris. During the 1940’s Vivian threw away a golden opportunity at Vassar College, which prompted her parents to send her to New York to live with her eccentric Aunt Peg.

Aunt Peg owns a midtown theater and soon Vivian becomes enthralled with the thrill of live performances. She quickly strikes up a close friendship with a couple of the showgirls and from there, she embarks on a life of partying, scoring men, and falling prey to horrific scandal.

Years later, Vivian receives a letter from a woman whose father was once close to Vivian, asking what the nature of their relationship had been. In her reply letter, Vivian regales the reader with her colorful life story and through her memories, she gains more understanding of her life and herself.


I suppose that technically, this book could be categorized as an epistolary novel- although it is just the one letter, I suppose, and not a back and forth correspondence. Either way, Vivian, now well on in years, takes the reader on a long trip back down memory lane, which will eventually reveal the answer to the simple, yet complicated, question posed to her.

This is my first book by Elizabeth Gilbert. That's right- I never read ‘Eat, Pray, Love�� which was a hot topic book at one time, or anything else written by this author.
But, about this book-

I had high hopes for this novel. I’ve been on a long dry spell when it comes to historical fiction and hoped this one might be a nice change of pace from the current trends in this category. I did finish the book, but it was a struggle at times.

Vivian’s character, as funny as she could be sometimes, was too over the top with her casual promiscuity. I quickly grew tired of hearing about all her one -night conquests- which were too many to count.

In fact, the entire first half of the book could have been paired down without lessening the overall impact of the story. There are emotional and poignant moments, but the story experienced some turbulence in execution, making it a bit of a bumpy ride.

The landing, however, was flat and anticlimactic for me. It wasn’t as stirring, or delightful, or profound as I had hoped it might eventually become. I would love to expound on why I feel this ambivalence towards the story, but in doing so I’d reveal too much. It wasn’t all bad, and it was enjoyable enough to make it worth my time and effort, but mostly I found it underwhelming.

3 stars