Strings Attached
by Judy Blundell
From the opening chapter, I believed Strings Attached would be a fun, flirty romp set in the 1950s as a young girl tries to make it in New York City as a chorus girl. The writing was vivid and snappy (“Shirley spat the question at me like a wad of chewing gum.”) and I’ve always had a weakness for the Golden Age. The protagonist reveals early on her boyfriend is fighting in Korea, and his father approaches her with an offer to help her get on her feet. He gives her a furnished apartment and an audition at a nightclub, but are there strings attached?
Had the trajectory turned into a love triangle between the boyfriend and his father, or a mere chronicle of her early career, with clever name drops of stars on the New York Stage at that time, I would have enjoyed it. However, it turned into a strange mystery with equal parts gangsters, family secrets, and the Red Scare. The chapters alternated with present and past timelines, which always annoys me. None of the characters grew to be likable, and I wasn’t quite sure what the overall point was.
Had the trajectory turned into a love triangle between the boyfriend and his father, or a mere chronicle of her early career, with clever name drops of stars on the New York Stage at that time, I would have enjoyed it. However, it turned into a strange mystery with equal parts gangsters, family secrets, and the Red Scare. The chapters alternated with present and past timelines, which always annoys me. None of the characters grew to be likable, and I wasn’t quite sure what the overall point was.