Rating: 
Summary: Lillian Dawes - enchanting as a summer day in Central Park
Review: This book might be best savored under a large tree with a wicker hamper from Dean and Deluca and a split of Dom Perignon champagne(attractive companion optional). Enter the world of Gabriel and Spencer and be transported to New York in the 1950s - an era of white gloves and house parties, old patrician families and rebellious scions, ageless social rituals rubbed at the edges by the new realities of life after World War II. In this heady world Gabriel,age 17, learns more in a few months than he can hope to have learned in years at the exclusive and stuffy boarding school from which he has been expelled. The inspiration for his education is Lillian Dawes, a mysterious and somewhat penniless heroine, in the style of Edith Wharton, who glides comfortably among both rich and poor with a beauty and charm that makes slaves of them all. She has a hidden past that speaks of danger and privation. She has an impetuous bravery that puts the rich and powerful to shame. She inspires in Gabriel a love that threatens to tear him apart from his fascinating older brother with whom Lillian falls reluctantly in love during this special summer in Greenwich Village.
Katherine Mosby writes in a lyrical style that is both easy to read and truly exquisite. She is a poet as well as an author and it shows. This novel combines the satire of the social world mastered by Edith Wharton and F. Scott Fitzgerald with the evocation of place found in the likes of Faulkner and wraps it all up in a love story of classic proportions.
Rating: 
Summary: Collective Disappointment
Review: This book was chosen by my office reading group. It was generally felt to be a disappointment. I for one really liked the writing style and prose but wondered why simpler words were not chosen. Some felt, too, they required a dictionary by their side. It was definitely a book one could easily put down. There wasn't much in the way of character development and the story lacked intrigue. The ending, too, was a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Collective Disappointment
Review: This book was chosen by my office reading group. It was generally felt to be a disappointment. I for one really liked the writing style and prose but wondered why simpler words were not chosen. Some felt, too, they required a dictionary by their side. It was definitely a book one could easily put down. There wasn't much in the way of character development and the story lacked intrigue. The ending, too, was a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before...
Review: This novel I actually listened to on tape, and though it made my seven hour car ride enjoyable, I couldn't help thinking I've read this book before...I think that's because it reminds me of other famous novels--"The Great Gatsby" meets "Catcher in the Rye," meets Edith Wharton's social commentary. I was quickly able to guess the secret identity of the missing heir who was swindled, and the only suspense was how it was all going to work-out. Mosby's writing style was pleasant, and I enjoyed the difficult vocabulary she interjects--its refreshing to read (or my case, listen), to something that is not written for the lowest common denominator. Its not over-burdened with difficult vocabulary, though the author's descriptive metaphors were often a little forced, and seemed like they were only there to show-off her cleverness. Gabriel was wiser than his years or experience, and Lillian didn't seem entirely believable. I understand that Gabriel would have over-exaggerated her charms since he was enamored, but Lillian shows too much book-intellect for someone that left home at 17 with no formal education beyond that point. Had the author showed her more as someone with a curious, insightful mind (with some life experiences that broadened her education), it would have been easier to believe. The other characters were not fully developed by the author to better understand their behavior, and I for one enjoy more descriptions of their looks so I can better imagine what the characters look like as I'm reading. Everyone does seem much too intelligent, but a private prep school education in the '50s was probably more stringent than a '90s college education...Aunt Livinia adds some comic relief to the novel, though I couldn't helping feeling she was channeling Oscar Wilde with her constant witticisms and social observations. On the whole I enjoyed the novel, and will read the book again to see if I missed something by listening to it on tape. (I will actually enjoy having my dictionary handy to look-up words that are rarely used today in literature.) Also, I wasn't crazy about the ending--I guess I've grown accustomed to the tidy, Hollywood-endings, and had hoped for at least a little hint as to what happened to Lillian and Spencer.
Rating: 
Summary: Eloquently written novel with a vintage feel
Review: This reminded me a little of the Great Gatsby with its reflective prose and clever usage of vocabulary. Part of me found both of these things vaguely irritating from time to time, like I wanted to shake the book and yell, "Just spit it out already-nobody talks like this!" But perhaps this is precisely the way people of a certain upbringing conduct themselves.The story revolves around brothers Spencer and Gabriel Gibbs, Spencer in his late 20's, Gabriel 10 years his junior. Gabriel has been expelled from his chi-chi private school and comes to live with his brother. He also comes, over the course of a summer, to be infatuated with the mysterious Lillian Dawes, a woman who seems to leave all men trembling in her wake, as she possesses that ineffable "certain something." It is really a tale of Gabriel's coming of age in 1950's New York City. He is a likeable young character, as is his brother, despite their pretensions. Lillian, however, remains rather aloof and unknown throughout the novel, but part of the mystery surrounding her eventually gets unraveled (and if you area halfway intelligent person you will figure it out before Gabriel finally does.) Overall, an enjoyable read. Maybe I was initially resistant to the way Mosby writes because so few people write like that these days. I had to keep a dictionary handy, though, for some of the vocabulary words.
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