4.5" The book was quite good but the whole time reading it I wanted to know how Fannie handles the news when she finally gets it. That's the one thing missing, seemed important.

This book was the oldest book on my library wish-list. While I’m not entire sure how long it’s been there, I’m going to say it was at sometime in 2015 because that’s when I discovered I can check out ebooks and get them sent directly to the kindle app on my phone. I’m not entirely sure why I decided to read it now. After six years of anticipation, I had a lot of high hopes for this book and was seriously disappointed. I’m going to start with Florence…notice how Florence is mentioned repeatedly throughout the entire synopsis, so I figured this story was about her. It wasn’t. *spoiler alert* She dies at the very beginning of the book. While some of the rest of the book is about her death, the story isn’t about her. It’s not really about her sister, Frannie, either. While the story circles around Frannie, it’s not really about her. Come to think of it, it’s not about her husband either. The story takes several tangents surrounding Isaac’s history and how he ended up in Atlantic City, it’s not really about him. Or their daughter, but their daughter does get a lot of attention in the book. The story isn’t really about the “mysterious young woman” despite the amount of words the author spends on her and how she ended up with the Adlers. The book isn’t about the hotel heir, or the hotel heir’s dad, or the anti-Semitism associate to that hotel, or even the anti-Semitism in Europe at the time. It’s also not about Esther and Joseph Adler either. Esther might have the biggest role in this book, because in reality the book IS about the decision Esther made to not tell Frannie that her sister had died, but that particular storyline didn’t really feel like the focus of this book. So, in case you’ve not been paying attention, this book doesn’t feel like it’s really about any one thing, or two associated things...or anything. There are too many plotlines, conflicts, and story arcs. So by the time the end of the book finally meanders around, there isn’t a feeling of resolution because there was just too much going on. The end just brought about a sense of relief that it was over.

Despite wanting to hear from Florence and get to know her better, I enjoyed the book telling her story through her family's, friends', and a stranger's perspective. This feels too true that when someone is dead and gone, it is the people around us who tell someone's story and make up who they were whether they knew them personally or not. I thought the story was very well written and the pre-World War II themes express the tension of the era, especially in ones who escaped Europe but are worried for their families back home. It also expressed the Anti-Semitism that wasn't just spreading in Europe but had already arrived in America. The book did feel slow and at times there were certain perspectives that I felt didn't need to take place in the storyline as they dragged it on. I hated the character of Isaac, as perhaps I was supposed to. He seemed wishy-washy from the start and then a complete convoluted coward by the end. I felt horrible for Fannie who was going to be losing two family members by the end of the book, despite still having the financial and emotional support from her family. I admired the deal Joseph made it was made with integrity as he only wanted what was best for his remaining daughter. I was surprised to hear that this was a story based on the author's family, but it made the significance of the book more impactful. The author, who never met the real Florence, gave her readers the same treatment when Florence leaves the story early on and becomes a series of stories from loved ones. I would recommend this book to people who love literary fiction and/or beach readers despite the fact I read this in January.

3.5

3.5 stars-