Customer Reviews

Bowery Girl

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved this book. It really reminded me of the times when my mom must have grown up. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's the 1880s, and the Brooklyn Bridge is just being completed. Annabelle and Mollie are teenagers and already hardened by life in the Fourth Ward, or the Bowery, on the Island of Manhattan. The Fourth Ward are the slums where people are crammed into small, windowless apartments with no running water. Annabelle is a prostitute who's in love with her pimp. Mollie is a pick pocket. They both want to move to Brooklyn, where they've heard they can have a better life. They want to make an honest living and have an apartment with a window to the outside. The thing that might help them get their wish is also the thing that might hold them back. A wealthy woman, Emmeline Dupre, has purchased the East Side Bath house, where they used to pay five cents to bathe in filthy water. She's converted it into a school to teach the uneducated how to read and learn how to use the new fangled typewriter so they can get a job. Mollie is jealous of Annabelle's involvement with the new establishment and wanting to better herself. However, she soon finds Emmeline captivating and decides to take typing classes. There's a secret surrounding Emmeline, like who she is and why she wants to help the poorest of the poor.

This is a realistic picture of what life was like in the Bowery. Not for the faint of heart. I have to admit the cover photo is what first attracted me to the novel. It turns out that photos of the period, place and people are what attracted the author to write about it. It's not a happy, little slice of life story. Like life amongst the poor, bad things happened with very little great things to look forward to.

I was most intrigued with the character of Emmeline and continued to wonder about her long after I finished the book. I think there's a second book in her story, which was never completely revealed.

Though the book slightly drags in very few parts, It has a great plot and the characters are ones you can relate to if your a teen or just a little older. Kim Taylor really out did her self with this book.

This book was awful. The writing was terrible, the story was NOT engaging. The novel is basically about two girls living in poverty in New York City, when the Brooklyn bridge is being built. The two characters are both incredibly annoying, as well as their foil, who they refer to as the "Do-Gooder" - everyone is irritating, and you could really care less about them. When tragedy strikes the main characters, you honestly DON'T CARE, and can't wait for the story to be over. I skimmed probably the last 50 - 60 pages of the book. The only reason I kept reading it was because I had already read 100 pages and felt like I had to read the rest. Interesting idea, but terribly executed, terribly written, and terribly boring.