Elizabeth Gilbert

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'Stunning' Lisa Taddeo, author of THREE WOMEN 'Warm and wise' Stephanie Merritt, Observer 'Glamorous, sexy, compelling' Dolly Alderton, Sunday Times 'I fell in love with Vivian from page one' Daisy Buchanan 'An education in love, and an iridescent delight' Rowan Pelling, Spectator Nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris arrives in New York City in the summer of 1940 with nothing but a sewing machine and a heretofore unindulged taste for adventure. Finding employment as seamstress at the Lily Playhouse, a charmingly down-at-heel Manhattan revue, Vivian quickly becomes the toast of the showgirls, transforming the tat only fit for the cheap seats into creations for goddesses. Adventure and opportunity blossom on every corner of this strange wartime city of girls, and Vivian and her girlfriends mean to down New York to its last drop. But there are hard lessons to be learned, and bitterly regrettable mistakes to be made. Vivian learns that to live the life she wants, she must live many lives, ceaselessly and ingeniously making them new.

A Novel

City of Girls

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER'Stunning' Lisa Taddeo, author of THREE WOMEN'Warm and wise' Stephanie Merritt, Observer'Glamorous, sexy, compelling' Dolly Alderton, Sunday Times'I fell in love with Vivian from page one' Daisy Buchanan'An education in love, and an iridescent delight' Rowan Pelling, SpectatorNineteen-year-old Vivian Morris arrives in New York City in the summer of 1940 with nothing but a sewing machine and a heretofore unindulged taste for adventure. Finding employment as seamstress at the Lily Playhouse, a charmingly down-at-heel Manhattan revue, Vivian quickly becomes the toast of the showgirls, transforming the tat only fit for the cheap seats into creations for goddesses. Adventure and opportunity blossom on every corner of this strange wartime city of girls, and Vivian and her girlfriends mean to down New York to its last drop. But there are hard lessons to be learned, and bitterly regrettable mistakes to be made. Vivian learns that to live the life she wants, she must live many lives, ceaselessly and ingeniously making them new.

The Sunday Times Bestseller

Grace

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.

I fear I'll never truly be able to convey what this book means to me

mars ☆

Abbie Duggan

This book had such promise and just fell short in every possible way.

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'Stunning' Lisa Taddeo, author of THREE WOMEN 'Warm and wise' Stephanie Merritt, Observer 'Glamorous, sexy, compelling' Dolly Alderton, Sunday Times 'I fell in love with Vivian from page one' Daisy Buchanan 'An education in love, and an iridescent delight' Rowan Pelling, Spectator New York, 1940. Young, glamorous and inseparable, Vivian and Celia are chasing trouble from one end of the city to the other. But there is risk in all this play – that's what makes it so fun, and so dangerous. Sometimes, the world may feel like it's ending, but for Vivian and Celia, life is just beginning. City of Girls is about daring to break conventions and follow your desires: a celebration of glamour, resilience, growing up, and the joys of female friendship – and about the freedom that comes from finding a place you truly belong.

Interesting but didn’t really see why it had to be framed through Vivian being her father’s friend it gave Evelyn Hugo dupe. 

Denaiir

Tish

This is one of my favorite reads from 2019, it’s up there with Daisy Jones & the Six and You. It only took me so long to get through it because of finals and just general business with graduation. As soon as I woke up today I jumped back into it to finally finish it and wow! Vivian is such a good narrator and it made me really care about her character. The writing was spectacular! This book made me really want to work in a playhouse in 1940 NYC. I can’t recommend this book enough!

Reminded me of the seven husbands of evelyn hugo. The purpose of the story is to learn how Vivian came to meet Angela's father but it was nice journey (a little long winded) but none the less a nice read. 

marissa 

jinni

3.5 ✳︎ this was not the type of love story i expected & it made me shed a tear. vivian morris, what a woman

Joana da Silva

SUCH A GREAT BOOK! I loved it so much, it was so much fun. The dialogues are great and I found myself smirking during some of it. Elizabeth Gilbert managed to create a world so perfect that it really felt like I was there, NY of the 1940s of all places. Beautiful writing, great characters, I'm in awe of the writer's work.

evelyn hugo but make her self centred and conceited. ofcourse our main character writes a 450 page response to one question that someone asks her and i am absolutely here for it!

(this book did what Normal People set out to do but failed miserably:3)

Midori Kobayashi

evelyn hugo but make her self centred and conceited. ofcourse our main character writes a 450 page response to one question that someone asks her and i am absolutely here for it!

(this book did what Normal People set out to do but failed miserably:3)

Roman

Anna Ureta

*listened to the audiobook*

If you're looking for a book to transport you, to experience New York City in the 1940s, learning about the musical and theater scene, how the war impacted the city, and learning about yourself and how your actions have consequences to your friendships/relationships, this book is for you :)

Jamieson

elizabeth gilbert has definitely read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and it shows


rtc maybe

Jeannette Ordas

Zoe Rowlands

4.5⭐️
This book has all the emotions of a young women to survive through her young adult life with many obstacles throughout the way but it is also about what emotions she goes through, as it draws you in throughout her life, I really did enjoy this book so much and each character involved, it is a must read, I highly recommend this book for everyone who reads this.

Katelyn Sykes

Great narration and great story. My only complaint would be that it is a bit long to get the story out. 

Overall great book.

Jacqui Siroia

The first half of this book was awesome as I got the sense of what New York in the 30’s was like and then about halfway through, it got way less exciting. Disappointed with where this story went but it was all very well-written that it’s hard to fault that.

Tess McMahon

I mostly gave this book 4 stars because I think Elizabeth Gilbert is an excellent writer. I loved the setting of 1940s New York, and the cheeky, vain and funny Vivian makes a fabulous narrator. The only reason it didn’t get to 5 stars for me was because I felt the pacing was a little off. The first half of the book seemed to drag on while a lot happened in the second half. Like others have said, it probably could have been edited down by quite a few pages. Otherwise, a lovely little escapist read!

Cheri McElroy

I had a hard time rating this book. It is a vampy coming of age story set in the 1940s New York theater scene. The main character is Vivian , age 19, who has failed out of Vassar, and been sent to live with her Aunt Peg, who has a rundown theater in mid-town New York. Vivi is pretty and can sew. She’s also ready to embrace life in New York with gusto and sexual liberation. 

This isn’t my usual read, and I disagreed with some of the themes. I disagree with the lifestyle Vivi leads, and some parts were uncomfortable for me. However, it held my interest, and was really well-written and engaging. And I did agree with the idea that love doesn’t always look like we think it will. So, overall. 3.75 stars rounded up.

Tia Malt 

I was enamoured with this book from start to finish, and will look forward to when I can read it again

Whitney Pickle

I very much enjoyed this memior-esque book. A 90 year old woman looking back on her life in NYC from when she was 19 on (mostly younger years).

Eva Bailey

3.5 stars. This was delightful. The perfect holiday binge read.

Carlee Edwards 

I loved this book. 
Just put it down, and I feel like I’ll be thinking about Vivian Morris for days- she was a wonderful character. 
City of girls had everything for me. I loved it from start to finish. It was so heartwarming. 
Would fully recommend this book!

maggie

this was literally the most meaningless narrative i have ever read. the writing was over-explanatory, the characters directionless, and the plot so overwhelmingly banal... i just have nothing that could save this for me except for the beginning and the love i have for theatre and historical drama. otherwise, i feel like there is literally no reason for me to have wasted my time with this book :/

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up.

I don’t know why I decided to pick up City of Girls. Historical fiction isn’t one of my go-to genres. I don’t care all that much about fashion. I’ve never read anything by Elizabeth Gilbert. But something drew me to this book and I decided to give it a whirl because I was in the mood for something outside of my norm. Thankfully, I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading it. City of Girls definitely delivered the “something different” I was craving.
“You must learn in life to take things more lightly, my dear. The world is always changing. Learn how to allow for it.”
Vivian Morris is a little bit of a failure. Her affluent, upright parents are fed up with her after she flunks out of college, so they send her to live with her Aunt Peg in New York City. This is where Vivian’s life truly begins. Peg owns and runs a dilapidated playhouse called The Lily, where subpar shows are put on every single week for the working class folks who live in the same neighborhood. While these performances are fairly lackluster, there is some genuine talent to be found within The Lily’s walls. This includes Celia, the stunning showgirl who decides to take Vivian under her wing. Celia is the opposite of a good influence. She leads Vivian deeper and deeper into debauchery until Vivian finds herself crossing a line that cannot be uncrossed.
“Let us not become so cautious that we forget to live.”
Before her ruin, Vivian had found a purpose at The Lily. While she might have flunked out of school, she is immensely talented at one thing: sewing. The woman is a wizard with a sewing machine, and quickly elevates The Lily in her own way by outfitting the cast in the best costumes she can conjure on Peg’s shoestring budget. Vivian falls in love so quickly and so often after her arrival. She falls in love with The Lily, and the city itself, and the lifestyle Celia pulls her into. She falls a little in love with her friend, and the brilliant, classy, superbly talented British actress Edna Parker Watson, who she sees as a mentor. She falls in romantic love for the first time. And she starts to love herself, until the aforementioned line is crossed and she sees herself as a garbage human being. 
“At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is.”
The book itself is a love song to so many things: fashion, theater, friendship, sex, and most of all, New York City. There was an insane amount of sex here, including the funniest loss-of-virginity scene I’ve ever read. While this is not a lifestyle I can really understand, it was interesting to watch a woman become so joyously free sexually so long before the start of the Sexual Revolution. That was probably my least favorite element of the story, but I can see why Gilbert made this decision for her character. Speaking of characters, I was very impressed by how fully formed and unique each character was, no matter how small their role in the story. I could picture them incredibly well, and every single one of them felt real. Even the titular play, “City of Girls,” felt like a real character to me. It was wonderful to see behind the scenes of such a production. But my favorite aspects of this novel were its voice and its span. I’m a sucker for an epistolary novel, which is what I found here. The narrative is couched in a letter written by Vivian to Angela, a woman who has asked Vivian to explain who she was to Angela’s father. I loved wondering which man mentioned would finally be revealed as Angela’s father. 
“The world ain't straight. You grow up thinking things are a certain way. You think there are rules. You think there's a way that things have to be. You try to live straight. But the world doesn't care about your rules, or what you believe. The world ain't straight, Vivian. Never will be. Our rules, they don't mean a thing. The world just happens to you sometimes, is what I think. And people just gotta keep moving through it, best they can.”
I also loved the span of Vivian’s letter. She quite literally includes her entire life’s story, and it was delightful to watch important moments in history intersect with that life. We see World War II from the perspective of a romantically unattached woman in a big American city, and how the war impacted those at home. Her contribution to the war effort was also something I’d never seen or considered before, which added another layer of interest. We see Vivian moving through the decades following the war, and all of the changes those decades entailed, including changes in the realm of fashion. It was such a different look at American life in the twentieth century, and I applaud Gilbert for her originality.
“After a certain age, time just drizzles down upon your head like rain in the month of March: you’re always surprised at how much of it can accumulate, and how fast.”
City of Girls was so much more than I expected it to be. If you’re interested in a different take on historical fiction that has much to say about female empowerment and finding the courage to march to the beat of your own drum, this book is for you. I’m intrigued to see if any other of Gilbert’s books works this well for me.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Mariane Ferrantino 

This is the first book I finished since quarantine started, and I’m so grateful for it. No matter what any dumb character says, Vivian IS an interesting person, and I hope she’d want to be friends with me. Fingers crossed my drought is over and I can keep reading things.

City of Girls A Novel

Reviews

Highlights