Rating: 
Summary: Historical Soap Opera
Review: CIty of Light is a history lesson of the Environmental Movement, Electriicty, Niagra Falls, Racial tolerance, and Women's suffrage with a little Hanky Panky thrown in for good measure. It seemed to be meticulously researched and I learned more than I ever thought I would about turbines and water currents of the Great Lakes that feed the falls. I was disappointed that this book and so many others I am reading have to inject lesbianism into their story lines. I just don't think it fits here and I think somewhere some editor likes to put these episodes in just to sell a few more books. Just my opinion. Read Laurie Kings books or Patricia Cornwell's books for some more examples. Frankly I am tired of this. Let's get on with a good story and forget all this titillating prose. I'd still recommend this book. PS--if you think Bill Clinton has no morals wait until you meet ......well I don't want to spoil it for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting!
Review: This was a wonderful mystery - a total page turner! I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. It was really one of the best books I've read this year and I highly recommend it, especially for people who adore historical fiction about the "gaslight" era! Run, don't walk, out and buy it because it is a treat!
Rating: 
Summary: A Book in Search of a Plot
Review: I found this book a very frustrating and ultimately disappointing read. Within the first few chapters there is a death that is suspected of being a murder. A reasonable person might think the solving of the mystery surrounding this character's demise might be a central plot element. Wrong. The novel also covers social mores and class structure - i.e. one's "place" in Victorian society as determined by sex, race and relative wealth, conditions for blacks and especially black women in turn of the century America, development of electric power and the ramifications of its development for society and industry, the Buffalo Pan-American exhibition, the assassination of President McKinley. You name it, it's in there. A smorgasbord that somehow misses being a feast. Potential plot elements are picked up and just as quickly dropped like so many hot potatos. Characters do illogical and improbable things - our heroine, the self-possessed headmistress of a girl's school, bearing Grover Cleveland's love child? Since we meet her as a savvy and mature woman it's hard to conceive of her as that young and dumb. Characters romantically involved one minute who hadn't previously so much as held hands then acting like virtual strangers upon the rising of the sun. I found myself soldiering on to the bitter end just to see how Ms. Belfer was going to wrap it all up. When I read the last word I pitched the book across the room glad to be able to get on with my life. Advice to Ms. Belfer: Try again but next time don't be so ambitious. Advice to potential readers: If you really want to read this get it at the library.
Rating: 
Summary: Simplistic in style, short on real substance
Review: How anyone can compare Belfer's writing to Wharton or James I can't imagine. Her style is overly simplistic and the story is as shallow as melodrama. There's not an ounce of flair here. There is nothing the least bit remarkable in her authorship except for her obviously extensive research, which is really what this book is about -- it's like reading an easy-to-read history book for teenagers. Too unchallenging for this reader.
Rating:
Summary: Victorian Tragedy
Review: I am a life long resident of Buffalo New York and I recommend visting Buffalo to anyone who travels to this area. Contrary to our "Snow Belt/Rust Belt" legend, Buffalo provides a rich source of historical and cultural pursuits to explore. Ms. Belfer, a Buffalo born author is an authoritative source of knowledge on the geographic, ethnic, and cultural aspects of the City. Her descriptions of the area during the Victorian period; in particular; the Niagara Parks, Niagara Falls, and the neighborhoods that border on Elmwood Village and South Buffalo are accurate and bring to life a vibrant period of that time. I was, however, disappointed in the characters and the book's plot and would classify it in the category of harlequin romance. The central character, Ms. Lousia Barret is the long suffering headmistress and,(mistress), of Grover Cleveland and all I can say about this character is that she is extremely pathetic. Louisa Barrett is not caught up by the events of the time she lives in, but by her own inability to come to terms with reality. This character is too weak to be believable even in victorian times. I found myself asking myself if Ms. Belfer was trying to draw comparisons to her characters with those involved in the recent Clinton scandal or was she simply attempting to describe the traps of victorian society mores on both men and women? My guess is that the plot of the story suits the initial assumption that this is the story of a love affair between a working girl and a president that culminates in tragic repercussions for both parties. City of Light simply cannot be compared with such excellent Victorian novels as Caleb Carr's, "The Alienist" or Sheri Holman's "Dress Lodger". These books take a period of history and weave strong believable character with intricate and thought provoking plots. My advice is that Ms. Belfer go back to the drawing board. Her potential is there but has yet to be released.
Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING BUT FLAWED
Review: I enjoyed this book though I found it flawed. Like many, I could not put it down and stayed up late into the night to finish it. For that reason alone, I would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Buffalo at it's best!
Review: Anyone who has spent any time in the Buffalo area should read this book! It ties fact w/ fiction in Buffalo in 1901, when this city was truly a force to be reckoned with. The author does an excellent job making the reader feel as though they are actually strolling through Delaware Park or exploring the Falls. I was disappointed with the ending, as I feel the heroine could have made better choices and changed her fate. All, in all I rate it 4 stars for this first-time novelist.
Rating:
Summary: City of Light
Review: A must for anyone with ties to Buffalo!! I could not put this book down. It's clear the author did her homework, set in Buffalo at the turn of the century, with lots of historical information intertwined with a fabulous storyline.
Rating:
Summary: Light and Darkness in the Progressive Era
Review: Lauren Belfer immerses the reader in the turn of the century city of Buffalo. It is an exciting time where change and industrialization is worshiped. It is a time for women as well as men. Their position in society is changing. they are becoming increasingly educated and able to impact through social change. It is a time to come to America and walk the streets of gold. Immigrants from eastern Europe flock to this country and cause upheavals of their own. It is the time for the worker. Industries are targeted by labor unions and strikes are common. In Buffalo it is a great time to make a buck. The power plant at nearby Niagara Falls is being built. Opportunities abound for new business and industry. Buffalo displays all the strife that accompanied the social change of the Progressive era. Lauren Belfer has done a tremendous amount of research about the time and place. She is able to bring this society to life in her book and takes a close look at the movers and shakers of the time. Caught in the middle of it all and desperately trying to make her way and not upset the apple cart is the narrator and heroine, headmistress Louisa Barrett. Louisa Barrett wants to do the right thing and feels strongly that she is helping to shape a generation of young women into the profound thinkers of the future. In reality Louisa is frozen with fear of the effect of action. In many ways she is a puppet on a string. The story is part mystery, part romance, part psychological study and part historical time piece. In it written with tons of detail about the time and place. If the reader appreciates this most likely this is a book for you. If other elements are more appealing the book may be found wanting.
Rating:
Summary: pensive heroine honors commitments, maintains dignnity
Review: Other critics have lavished praise on Lauren Belfer's commendable "City of Light" for its authentic evocation of turn-of-the-century Buffalo and its intricate characterizations. Indeed, the protagonist Louisa Barrett seems to symbolize both the repression women encountered in a Victorian culture and the incipient hopes of a feminist who confronts the evils of both personal and systemic sexism. The author's knowledge of (and affection for) Buffalo brings an even deeper passion to the work. However, the novel's greatest strength, I feel, is not in its thoroughly-fleshed characters, but in its treatment of personal powerlessness and its understanding of the compromises people of principle must pay in order to protect those dear to them. The wealthy in "City of Light" are a smug, offensive group, content to manipulate the lives of thousands of poorer (often recently-arrived) immigrant families for power and prestige. The only exception to this dessicated group of power-hungry elitists is the father of the aptly-named Grace, Tom Sinclair. Otherwise, Belfer does us a tremendous serivce in painting the upcoming story of the twentieth century: corporate capitalism gnawing away at any semblance of moral authority and reasoning. I left the novel repulsed at the ugly barren nature of these "lords of Buffalo." In addition, Ms. Belfer treats the theme of moral compromise brilliantly. Without detailing the core dilemma of the novel, I can assure the reader that he/she will discover Louisa as a completely believable character, constantly measuring her desire to lend her voice to moral outrage against her need to protect a persona beloved by her. Her constant capitulations to social evil so that she may maintain a morally pure relationship with the focus of her life earns her a sense of nobility. This is a solid, imporant work of literature, but I join those voices who believe that "City of Light" tends to ramble and the characters may come close to caricature in some instances. Nevertheless, these flaws are more than balanced by Ms. Belfer's beautiful language and compelling treatment of theme.
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