Customer Reviews

Prima Donna: A Novel

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

 

 

This novel opens with a murder. In its aftermath, feted soprano Sabine Conrad flees her life in New York in the late 1870s to start a new one in Seattle, as Marguerite Olson, a few years later. She takes a job at a boxhouse, first as a cleaner and later as the theater's joint manager. Her partner, Johnny, dreams of turning the boxhouse into a real theatre, but Marguerite always fears that her past life and actions will come back to haunt her--as indeed it does. The novel is told through diary entries made by Sabine, and also later, when she is Marguerite. Right from the very first sentence of this novel, I was hooked on this book.

I've read three of Megan Chances novels, and they've all been enjoyable, fast-paced reads. Prima Donna, like The Spiritualist: : A Novel and An Inconvenient Wife, is well-researched, and draws you in to the Victorian era like few other novels can. It's an extremely absorbing novel that I never really wanted to put down. Her previous books have a bit more suspense to them, but this is equally enjoyable nonetheless. Without trying to give anything away (and I know I'm being very vague here), what I started out thinking had happened turned out not to be the case--to my surprise and delight. I'm not sure if the author meant for her readers to think what I did, but it was effective nonetheless.

Character development is equally strong, though I thought that out of the main characters, Johnny's is the weakest. For example, we never know much about his backstory, and, given his personality, his actions towards the end of the novel are not really believable. Still, the best character in this book is Marguerite/Sabine, who fairly leaps off the page--first as a naive, slightly breathy teenager, and then later as a world-knowledgeable woman in her twenties. It's clear that Marguerite/ Sabine has grown up over the years. Equally strong was her complicated relationship with Gideon Price--clearly, not a good influence on Marguerite, but someone who she's attracted to nonetheless. With the exception of the flaw I mentioned above, I really, really enjoyed this book. Read The Spiritualist and An Inconvenient Wife if you haven't already, as well as this one; you won't be disappointed.

This story is told from two different view points. One viewpoint is twenty seven year old Sabine who is living in Seattle and working in a saloon hiring prostitutes and constantly looking over her shoulder in fear that her past will catch up with her. The other viewpoint is seventeen year old Sabine's journal and it talks about the opera and her lovers and the all the scandal and family problems. The journal also slowly leads readers step by step towards understanding why and how Seattle Sabine is in the situation she is in.

I did not care for the journal of young Sabine. Thru her words readers visit the scandalous and heated backstages of 1800s opera, but it is literally a soap opera about the opera. Everybody is sleeping with everybody else and on top of being incredibly selfish, spoiled, and wanton, Sabine is also unbelievably naive. Her lover, Gideon takes women left and right and she cannot figure him out? Her jewelry also keeps disappearing. Hello, Sabine? Anybody home in that brain? Something else I found bothersome was that anytime Sabine and Gideon have words, they must sum it up with rough sex.

Seattle Sabine is not much better. Tho she lacks the fame, money, and pretty dresses, she still offers her body to get what she wants and thinks only of herself. Tho hiding from her past and those that are searching for her, her vanity and love of her own voice may be her downfall. She begins a show business venture with her current lover and it is only a matter of time before her past catches up to her and she has a decision to make.

I was all prepared to give this four stars due to the amazing historical details and the fact that I truly felt I was on the rainy streets of 1878 Seattle, but just when I thought Sabine was finally redeeming herself, I lost what little respect I had for her around page 334. The ending left me feeling empty. I feel Sabine went back to square one and well... what was the point of all this then?

I've read two of Ms. Chance's previous novels, 'An Inconvenient Wife', which is one of my favorite books EVER, and 'The Spiritualist', which was just 'Eh'. It was a very strange book. I've had 'Prima Donna' on my wishlist forever it seems, impatiently waiting for it to be released. I had high hopes for it...until the synopsis was released. I am NOT a fan of Opera, or theatre, but I do love period novels, so figured I'd still give it a go.

Right off the bat I didn't like Marguerite/Sabine very much, and my dislike for her only intensified throughout the novel. The book alternates between her in Seattle under an assumed name, and her journal entries starting from when she was sixteen. I really began to dread the journal entries. Sabine was an incredibly spoiled brat who was unable to make her own decisions, then would blame everyone else around her when things didn't go her way. Her manager/lover Gideon wasn't much better. They were so destructive together that I would become very angry while reading this...not how I like my books to make me feel.

Older, Seattle Sabine (Marguerite), was not much better. Any time she wanted something, or didn't get her way, she morphed into a flaming whore. Really! Even as a teenager, in the journal entries, everything was about sex. Her and Gideon would fight (which was pretty much all the time), and they would end up having violent sex...she needed money or the notice of society, so she'd sleep with a wealthy man twice her age, then complaine about how she felt cheap...ahhh, she WAS!! And she KEPT doing it...that's what drove me crazy!

By the end of the book, I was almost exhausted from reading page after page of Marguerite lying to her Seattle friends and lovers. Of her back-and-fourth of 'What an I gonna do?' Where am I gonna go'? Senseless lie upon lie that she doled out to her boss/lover Johnny, and how she would sometimes lie to her only friend Charlotte for seemingly no reason. UGH!! Anyway, in the end, I didn't HATE the book...I mean, I did finish it. It'll keep you reading just to find out what happened, and why Sabine ran away from her life, and who she murdered...however be prepared. Sabine is a most unlikeable character, and I'd be SHOCKED if you didn't find yourself wanting to hurl the book across the room at least once.

Like the reviewer below me here, I think this novel deserves a great deal more praise than some of the reviewers are providing.

I couldn't put this book down.

There are two simultaneous, eventually converging, stories being told here from the same narrator--one story in the 1870s and one in the 1880s. I found this structure brilliant and engaging, and it keeps the novel moving.

I found the relationship between Sabine and Gideon to be fascinating, and the relationship between Margie and Charlotte to be heart-warming. The ending truly surprised me--and I'm hard to surprise.

This is well-researched and well written, certainly rising far, far above a lot drek being published today.

It is an excellent novel, and I was sorry when it ended.

I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction, but I've read all of Megan Chance's books and thoroughly enjoyed every single one. I just finished my second reading of Prima Donna and was equally captivated the second time - turning the pages just as quickly to get the end of a story I'd already read!

Interesting to read other reviews. People don't like Sabine - she's not all that likable, but it makes the book very likable because it creates great tension. In my opinion, what makes a work great -- be it a book or a movie -- isn't whether you like the characters, but whether you believe them, whether they have dimension and come alive for you - whether you truly are able to suspend belief, even for a moment - and if it's longer than a moment, all the better....

If you hate a character, that means passion has been aroused in you, that the author has done their job of making the character three-dimensional and real. I found the story fascinating and the level of detail in Chance's books grab me every time - if I can see the story, picture the surroundings and really 'feel' the characters, I consider it a win.

More than that though, I really enjoyed this book - the issues of what women need to do to get ahead in the world - then and now - and the details about opera and singing, and music and passion...and life in NYC and Seattle in those years - it all jumped off the page for me, and I found myself, after finishing the book for the second time, wondering about the characters and what might happen to them next.

That's always a good sign for me. I read a lot and I forget a lot -the ones that stay with me and keep me thinking are my favorites. My only complaint is being completely caught up on her books and having to wait for the next! I'm a fan.

Ever since my introduction to Megan Chance within the pages of "An Inconvenient Wife" I've been hooked on her style. The way she writes is so clean and mysterious at the same time- and so filled with emotion. Weather its that of a bound society wife yearning to break free, a lower class girl unexpectedly raised high by her marriage and then suspected of murdering the same man, the hysteria of the Salem witch trials or in this book-the desperate yearning of young, talented Sabin Conrad for fame and music, and her older self's' desperate desire to hide as far as the railroad can take her-and never, ever sing again.

Instead Sabin takes on the name of Marguerite Olson and, almost unrecognizable with a deforming scar across her face, works as a bar maid in a sleazy tavern in Seattle. But the lure of the stage is strong and soon even the little platform the taverns owner, Johnny, has built, has her lusting after music. She can't sing of course-she's far too recognizable- but the "severing girls" who will keep company with men for a price can be trained to sing and play-badly. And at this point Johnny, a rough, harsh man who loves Marguerite, decides he wants to go bigger and bolder.

We watch Sabine's life unravel both in the past and in the present as a lust for music and fame (in the past) and a fear of being found but a craving for the stage (in the present) prove to be her undoing. Her little tavern stage and the jewelry she sold to cross the country she sold from New York after a violent incident that left the scar across her face leave a clear path for her old manager, one time lover, and tyrant, Gideon Price to follow. And once they meet again the one sided story we've been told so far by Sabin opens up into a three dimensional tale where there is no clear bad guy and everyone may have done something wrong....

Like most of Chance's novels this book basically boils down to perception versus reality. This had worked for her before: the Salem witch trials-no better place for exploring such a thing. Female hysteria, bring it on. An innocent women being charged with murder because she wasn't rich before her marriage-all the kinds of things where perception plays an equal or larger role than reality.

But here we have, through Sabine's diaries of her days on the stage from the tender age of 16 acess to her inner most thoughts, desires and fears. Her increasing unease and unhappiness with Gideon as her manager; The element of fear when she's around him-and a feeling of degradation at things she feels he makes her do. Lets be frank, there's no doubt that Sabin will debase, beg, and whore her way to the top is she needs too-but Gideon is always in the wings, And just as Sabin in truly coming to terms with her new life as Marguerite there's a big event which is kind of a "here he comes to save the day moment" only it's really only it's "oh you silly dear. I didn't make you do those things. You just need a strong guiding hand like all women."

Also the writing was pretty bad. The dairy entries were the most entertaining part of the novel and they were stiff and so coated with selfishness I wanted to gag. And in the present life is bleak-and Marguerite so depressed and withdrawn that getting through her sections was like wading through molasses.

The Queen of historical feminism goes all caveman on us? I was confused-and sad. Everyone loves a love triumphs in the end story but this was more than that. I gotta say, I'm not too interested right now in reading Chance's new Novel, "City of Ash."

Two and a half stars.

I was excited to read this book for a couple of reasons - particularly the choice of setting and unique character occupation. The story itself moves between the present with Marguerite in Seattle and the Journal of Sabine Conrad. I liked how the author used his technique to reveal certain information to the reader from the journal that helped to piece together some of what was happening in the present. The aspect of the story that I found most interesting was the choice of Seattle as the setting for most of the current-set plotline. I don't know of too many hist-fic novel that have taken advantage of this locale. I think that it is a unique choice and it was so interesting to see it juxtaposed with the bigger, more established cities like New York and Philadelphia at that time. It was almost like another character that you got to know - a seedy, dirty, up-and-comer!

In another unique move, Sabine Conrad (as in "The Journal of") is an opera singer. I haven't read any novels about opera singers and it was certainly interesting to be immersed in that world of music. I learned many things about music, opera, and the stories that they tell. What was interesting to me is that at this time, during the 1800's, opera appeared to be a very popular entertainment. Everyone seemed to at least know something about the opera, even if they couldn't afford to attend - they were the celebrity singers of the day. I couldn't name one opera singer for you if I tried!

Just a quick word of warning - there is some violence and sex scenes and much of the story takes place in a "box house" which is like a bar with private rooms. Certainly not terribly graphic but there are some mildly disturbing descriptions (particularly toward the end of the book).

I really enjoyed this story. The writing was fast-paced and kept the story barreling ahead. At the end of each chapter I didn't want to put it down because there was always a little something to keep you coming back - especially the Journal chapters. You really don't find out for certain what happened until right at the very end - and you will find it very hard to guess accurately! I highly recommend this book and can't wait to have the chance to look into some of this author's other novels.

4.5 stars

This book was received from the publicist in exchange for an honest review.

Loved loved loved the Sabine/Marguerite character. I am soooo tired of cookie cutter heroines who are unrealistic and "spunky" or "waiting for some man to fulfill her dreams." Megan Chance's characters (the young Sabine and older Marguerite) quite simply ring with a truth many one dimensional female characters can't begin to achieve. Sabine is a seventeen year old ingenue with "a voice like an angel" in late 1800s NYC who is swept away by the intense adoration she provokes in others. She sees how people manuver in the opera world and mimics the same. Everyone around her is ambitious, so naturally she takes on the same characteristics. How many of us can resist that which we must have, or think we must? Her addiction to her manager Gideon is an extension of her addiction to fame/adoration. Sabine/Marguerite remains true to her nature throughout. At first I wasn't sure I would like the diary style flashbacks but I found them to be an effective device to move the story forward and explain Marguerite's character. Yes, I wanted to throttle the young Sabine on several occasions, but who hasn't had the same reaction to someone who makes the wrong (in our eyes) decision (esp. teenagers :-)? I cared about what she did. What more can you ask for in a character?

This was my introduction to Ms. Chance, and I will eagerly continue on to the rest.

While I don't think this is the best work I've read from this author I still found the story and the characters interesting and enjoyable. I think Megan Chance is very good at writing characters in an ambiguous way so the reader isn't really sure how to interpret their actions. She's also very good at writing emotional or romantic relationships. I liked the way she did both in this story.

I highly recommend 'An Inconvenient Wife' by Megan Chance, which is a very interesting novel with some similarities to Prima Donna, 'The Spiritualist' is also similar to Prima Donna in that the reader isn't certain about the character's motivations.

In 'Prima Donna' I enjoyed reading about the young Opera star, Sabine's, rise to fame and the way she goes about securing patrons and the gifts they give her. I thought the way her relationship with her sister's beau Gideon changed over time was intriguing and I wondered who's interest he had at heart.

I thought the story's weakest point was the relationship between the characters Marguerite and Johnny, who run a theater (with a little prostitution on the side) in Seattle. The reader is told how Johnny feels but is never shown the reasons for his feelings or how they develop, this omission felt like a void in the story to me.

I thought this was an easy and enjoyable read but more historical romance than historical fiction. If you are looking for something by this author I would encourage you to try 'An Inconvenient Wife' or 'Susannah Morrow'.

Rarely do I take the time to write a review, but after seeing the mix of them for this book, I just had to put in my two cents because I feel it deserves much more praise than it's getting. The story had me intrigued from the very first page and I could NOT put it down until the very last. Sure, Sabine was not the most likeable of characters but strangely enough, I felt myself symphatizing with her throughout the story. The ending was not what I had expected but I was pleasantly surprised all the same.

If you love to read and love getting caught up in whirlwind of a story, then this one is for you!