NIGHTSTANDS & COFFEE TABLES

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

REVIEW BY MEREDITH MCKINNIE

“At some point in a woman’s life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is.”

The novel follows Vivian Morris, a privileged girl who moves to NYC in the 1940s. A college dropout, Vivian claims, “I didn’t understand what I was doing at college, aside from fulfilling a destiny whose purpose nobody bothered explaining to me.” She moves to escape her parent’s disappointment and finds herself immersed in the theater world of showgirls, night life, and debauchery. And Vivian positively revels in the excitement of it all. She moves in with her Aunt Peg, owner of The Lily Theater, and forms connections with the stars by sewing their costumes. She makes mistakes, she makes friends, she discovers the power of her sexuality, and she learns to not apologize for any of it. When a scandal puts her lifestyle and reputation at risk, she retreats inside herself and finds the courage to live her life out loud without fear of others’ judgment. Her journey is backdropped by the highs of New York City living during World War II. Society is adjusting to its new normal of rations and men fighting abroad, all while women are forced to take up the slack and challenge previous notions of femininity. Vivian’s willingness to not only embrace change but often steer it sets her on a path of redemption and what it means to truly live.

The characters alongside Vivian give the novel its color. They’re ahead of their time, even in liberal New York. Celia, the gorgeous showgirl who introduces Vivian to nightlife and the company of men, is a girl taking full advantage of her youthful beauty, sometimes to her detriment. As Vivian describes Celia, “She’s had many husbands, but only one of them was her own.” Aunt Peg is a woman who loves the theater saying, “When I was a young girl, I honestly believed a life spent in the theater would be nothing but fun. And God help me-it was.” Peg’s optimism about life is refreshing. She’s not naive, just knows it’s easier to let things go. Edna, the aging star at the Lily defines grace and elegance and teaches Vivian about marriage and womanhood, “It’s best you learn now: most marriages are neither heavenly nor hellish, but vaguely purgatorial.” Marjorie, the young daughter of immigrants, possesses a maturity beyond her years and becomes a lifelong confidant, the counter to Vivian’s privileged upbringing.

Gilbert, the renowned author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” has once again taken readers on a whimsical escape, a novel about girls becoming women, but ultimately becoming themselves. Vivian realizes, “I have never loved the people I was supposed to love,” and finds the alternative more interesting, more true, and more meaningful for a woman hell bent on defining life on her own terms. She makes us want to break the rules, if only for the liberty to say we did.