The Gin Lovers
by Jamie Brenner
When done properly, I am a huge fan of novels set in the 1920s. The Gin Lovers, unfortunately, was not done properly. Several times I actually considered permanently closing the book, but I finished it in hopes of a redeeming ending. The characters are as follows: 1) a timid married woman who finally "lets loose" and cheats on her husband with 2) a bootlegger without morals, whose club is being investigated by 3) a married undercover agent who, once exposed to the sleazy underground, becomes obsessed with 4) a prostitute with a secret lesbian lover, the sister of 5) a secretly destitute member of posh society, who happens to be married to Character #1. Toss in a butler with less than honorable intentions towards his employer's wife, a unscrupulous club owner unimaginatively named "Boom Boom", and a complex yet boring plot, and you have a highly unpleasant novel on your hands.
I understand The Roaring Twenties were named such for a reason, but does every character in the novel have to "roar"? Must every chapter contain an explicit sex scene, and must everyone's definition of "letting loose and finding one's self" include promiscuity and infidelity? I find it extremely hard to believe everyone in the 1920s acted that way, and I would have appreciated at least one sane character among the chaos.
I don't consider myself a prudish reader--after all, I saw the cover and read the first couple of chapters before buying the book--but I think, despite the ever-present notion that "sex sells", intimate scenes are best used when necessary to the plot, or to illustrate a facet of a character. Others may enjoy this novel, if they like sensationalism. Sufficed to say, this book was not for me.
I understand The Roaring Twenties were named such for a reason, but does every character in the novel have to "roar"? Must every chapter contain an explicit sex scene, and must everyone's definition of "letting loose and finding one's self" include promiscuity and infidelity? I find it extremely hard to believe everyone in the 1920s acted that way, and I would have appreciated at least one sane character among the chaos.
I don't consider myself a prudish reader--after all, I saw the cover and read the first couple of chapters before buying the book--but I think, despite the ever-present notion that "sex sells", intimate scenes are best used when necessary to the plot, or to illustrate a facet of a character. Others may enjoy this novel, if they like sensationalism. Sufficed to say, this book was not for me.