The Paragon Hotel

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye   432 pages

In this beautifully written novel, the Paragon Hotel is based on Portland, Oregon’s, Golden West Hotel, which was a haven for people of color, mainly African Americans, from 1906 to 1931. Author Faye says in the Historical Note that the descriptions she uses of the hotel is as accurate as she can make them. She did a great job, as I felt I knew the place inside out.

At the core of this novel is racism. I found is horrifying to learn that in the 1844, prior to statehood, Oregon’s Legislative Committee did its best to make the territory exclusively white. History shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. Oregon was “the only state of among the fifty ever to explicitly deny blacks the right and live and work there.” Since the NOW sections of the novel take place in 1921, this denial is most apparent. The THEN sections of the story provide the backstory that helps the reader understand the blacks’ plight.

Alice “Nobody” James is on the run from the New York Mafia with a bullet wound in her side. She boards a train bound westfor Portland. She is very sick by the time she arrives. She befriends Max, the black porter who takes pity on her, and takes her to the Paragon, a haven for “small and increasingly besieged black population.” The fact that Nobody is white makes them uneasy. Most of the residents like, or at least interested in Nobody, but not everyone.

 

Still, Nobody fits right in. That’s her super power, to be able to remain totally forgettable no matter what situation she finds herself in. She makes friends with most of the residence, especially cabaret singer Blossom Fontaine, who reminded me a lot of The Lady Chablis from “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

As Nobody heals, a young boy goes missing. As the search progresses more and more dirty little secrets come to life.

This book is complex with its dualing timelines and threads of  mental illness, the Mob, racism, love, friendship, secrets, romance---all set against the backdrop of a hotel exclusively for people pf color. Faye has a wonderful writing style. Nobody’s language is dead-on for a gun moll. It isn’t forced whatsoever. Faye has the ability to take tired old clichés and similes and make them new and bright. I wish I had marked some of them.

 “The Paragon Hotel” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Night Season

The Night Season by Chelsea Cain                 Audio Book: 9 hours             Paperback Book:  400 pages                    

Another excellent murder mystery will lead investigator Archie Sheridan.    Chelsea Cain is excellent at creating stories and characters so real it is as if you are reading the inside scoop on current horrendous criminal cases.    Excellent character development.    It’s as though the reader is in the inner circle of the crime investigators both law and journalistic ones.   A real suck in your breath this is going to take you on a wild ride story.     Cain must do a lot of research because she gives details on important parts of the story that are extremely well developed and delectable tidbits that seriously make the story POP.   She is a master at that, and the reader will not only enjoy the story but will come away from each of her books having learned things about the law, medical procedures, forensics, and a multitude of other topics depending on where her stories take you.   I love learning things and each of her stories are so enjoyable from beginning to end that the reader will pick up so many new facts there will be dozens of new wrinkles in your brain by the time you complete one of her books.     This story concerns a massive flood breaking through the walls built to contain such occurrences and that is only the beginning.   You might want to pour yourself your hot drink of choice while reading this one because the rain and flooding described will actually make the reader feel chilled right along with the characters in the story.    So much action and surprises occur, floating skeletons, a child turning up that has been missing longer than statistically possible for him to still be alive,  lives being saved in raging torrents turned into rivers of debris, and a serial killer with an unusual hobby turned into weaponry.    The bodies mount pretty quickly in this one and it is a toss up if Archie is going to make it out alive or not.   I won’t spoil the story, but, if you are a murder mystery fan, this is truly the series for you.   This is my second and I am definetly going to try and read every title this gal has done.   Bravo, Chelsea Cain.    Another winner.

A Table by the Window

A Table by the Window by Hillary Manton Lodge   320 Pages

I got tired of waiting for this novel from the St. Louis Public Library, so I read Book 2 in the “Two Blue Doors” trilogy, Reservations for Two a while back. I had a love/hate relationship with that one.  I posted reviews for it, so you can go peek at my thought, if you so desire.

Still I was interested in reading Book 1 so I could get the backstory.  Basically it’s the story of Juliette and Neil’s long-distance romance. All the other plot points from Book 2 are here: The passing of Juliette’s beloved grandmother, her mother’s cancer diagnosis, the introduction of Juliette’s family members, and the restaurant world/food writing world that Juliette loves. 

It becomes clear the how and why of Juliette learning that the man she called Grandfather may not be her biological ancestor. Still, I think I’m going to have to wait for Book 3 (Coming May 2016, according to the end of Book 2) to have this issue resolved.

I’m glad I read Book 2 first. Maybe because A Table by the Window didn’t pull me in as much. However, I was familiar with the characters, the plot, and the writing style so that may have had something to do with it. 

I give A Table by the Window  3 out of 5 stars.