Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Queen of the Night
- KateHubbs
- Feb 4, 2017
- 2 min read
Title: Queen of the Night
Author: Alexender Chee
Pages: 561 Length: 19 Hours
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended: If you want to be hooked on a captivating story.
Song: "Started From the Bottom" by Drake
I spent an embarrassingly long time staring at the book cover and wanting to look as glamorous and mysteries as the girl in the picture.
This Book is Just Too Much
I first heard about this book on the "All the Books" podcast from Bookriot. (Seriously, this my favorite podcast ever. Hosts Rebecca Schinsky and Liberty Hardy are my best homies who have no idea who I am.) Anyway, they ranted and raved about this book for the better part of last year. It lived up to all the hype.
Started From the Bottom, Now We're Here
When her whole family dies, a young girl takes on the name of Lilliet Berne and makes her way from poverty on American frontier to the grand opera stages of Second Empire Paris. Her story take many twists and colors from point A to Point B. Reading this book will put you in the middle of a hippodrome arena, give you a peephole into a fetishist whorehouse, and take you inside the workings of an empresses world. Most of all, Lilliet shows what it is like to make it to the top on your own terms.
Lilliet has a past for sure. Just every mortal person, she has the story she wants everyone to know, and the story that she prefers remain hidden. When an author comes to her with an opera that tells her true story, she has the opportunity to star in a coveted original role at the risk of unveiling the skeletons in her closet that could ruin her hard-won status.
Opera Literamatique
The closet thing to an opera I've seen is the diva scene from "The Fifth Element", so I had little to go on.
My main takeaway from this opera-in-a-book is that opera is a progresssion of successes and failures, triumphs and tragedies. Lilliet's story takes this same roller coaster ride.
All the arias and plays referenced in this book were completely new to me. Trust, me, I've looked them all up. Even without any opera background, I instantly recognized the "Queen of the Night" aria. You might too.
Diana Damrau? More like Diana DAAAAMNNRAU. That woman can sing!!!
Antogonist
The antagonist is just as unnamed as the protagonist: his name is The Tenor. Without spoiling too much, he is in a position where he literally owns Lilliet. He remains a looming presence as she rises, giving her the step-up she needs to succeed while standing in the way of her true happiness.
Audiobook
Good story. Good recording. Performance would have been better with songs played.
Comments