Diversion Books, January 12, 2016.
Two Stars
My main issue going into this novel was that, based
on the synopsis, I was expecting historical fiction, and instead it turned out
to be a romance novel with only tenuous historical ties. However, I think the
plot would be confusing even for fans of the romance genre, as it doesn’t
follow any of the usual tropes. The love triangle, if you can call it that, was
very messy and did not feel very realistic. The few scattered historical facts
were interesting, but there just weren’t enough of them to flesh out the novel.
The story begins in the 1950s, with Castro’s takeover
of Cuba. Natalia and her family, members of the Cuban aristocracy, flee to the
United States – but instead of starting fresh, they cling to the old customs,
living in limbo as they hope to return to Cuba to resume their former lives.
Natalia, however, wants to move forward, and even Americanizes her name to Natalie.
She fully embraces her new reality, moving to New York and finding a job in a
restaurant, as well as another job tutoring students. She abandons her former
life of privilege, and exists in poverty, sending her meagre earnings home to support
her family and pay for her brother’s private school.
Natalie’s immigrant experience was actually really
interesting for the first half of the book, and her character was sympathetic,
with a lot of depth. It was a coming of age story in an unfamiliar world, with
no familial support. However, the plot took several completely unexpected (and
really, unexplained) detours in the second half, and the novel became very hard
to follow. Natalie runs into complications at work, and ends up being hired to
ghostwrite the autobiography of a wild young socialite. Meanwhile, she stumbles
into romantic relationships with two different and unlikely men. The twists
became melodramatic and I just couldn’t suspend disbelief enough to buy into
the story.
Between Here
and Gone started out strong with the historical
background, but the romance plot couldn’t stand alone once the author abandoned
the historical details. It almost felt like two different novels that were
forced together into one, and I ended up skimming over a lot of unnecessary
descriptions. Natalie was a strong young woman who became weak, and I lost
interest in her story.
I received this novel from Diversion Books and Netgalley
in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment