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Rating: 
Summary: The Madam is a poetic, headlong rush of a story
Review: Everything I've loved in Baggott's other novels, Girl Talk and The Miss America Family--is here, but with a sense of place and time that draws you in from page one. There's the wild, off-kilter characters, desperation brimming just under deliberately tough exteriors, the family flung apart by circumstance and reconstituted into something altogether new, unexpected and yet exactly as it should be. The language is lush and evocative--as another reviewer said, you can tell a poet is at work here (Baggott's This Country of Mothers is an award-winning book of poetry and a must-read), but it's completely to serve the story, which culminates in a tense and powerful scene of a family saving itself. Baggott has taken on new territory here and made it her own.
Rating: 
Summary: Unreadable
Review: I had never read anything by Julianna Baggott prior to my unfortunate encounter with The Madam. I certainly won't bother with anything else she's written. I find it appalling that a writer who, according to information on the book jacket, has written both prose and poetry for various reputable publications, not only has a generally poor grasp of English grammar, but is unaware that "noisome" means "putrid" or "malodorous," and not "noisy," which is what, based on the context in which the word appears, Baggott clearly assumed it meant. And did anyone bother to PROOFREAD this book for such malapropisms--as well as its numerous grammatical inaccuracies? If the usage in this novel is a reflection of what is happening generally to the English language, then we are in serious trouble. Prose like this is, as far as I am concerned, unreadable by a truly literate public.
Rating:
Summary: Baggott does it again
Review: In spare, exact prose, Julianna Baggott transports us to 1920's West Virginia and continues to examine all sides of what it means to live within a family. This time, she not only explores the extended family, which she has done masterfully before in Girl Talk and the Miss America Family, but has added other characters to the bloodlines--and because of this begs the question--just what does family mean?Julianna also looks at ONE moment in a lifetime (not as earthshattering as Sophie's Choice, but because it's NOT as heartbreaking but still involves children, still well-worth the contemplation) and asks, How does this change a life, and more to the point, how does that one moment change all the participants in that decision? In, what I would call sepia tones, Julianna goes exploring. I say sepia tones because I believe we go exploring with Julianna as if we were exploring old photos in a scrapbook. Maybe it is because of the time period--those late 1920's when life could be hard as dirt. Each page is photo-perfect in unfolding the story. What I appreciate most about Julianna is her braveness in exploring a totally different voice than her first two novels while continuing to explore some of the same themes. Risky, sure, but ultimately rewarding for the reader. You won't pick up this novel and say, I've read this before. As a sidenote, if you ever get the chance to go to one of Julianna's readings, you will be sold for life. Some authors are just born to read their works and some appear to be wearing shoes two sizes too small. Julianna is wearing comfortable shoes. I've left the character particulars (Alma, Henry, the children) to other reviewers. Grab a cup of java, pick out your most comfortable chair, and settle down with The Madam. You'll be flung back in time and want to sit a spell.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a literary page- turner
Review: This is not the literary page-turner that the inside jacket suggests. This was juat an ok book. I'm still not sure if it was worth reading. The book starts off very slow and didn't pick up until the second half. Then there's just too much going on with everything being crammed into part two. There isn't enough dialogue between the characters. Just a bunch of insight into their thoughts. The ending wasn't too great either. A really great book that has a simalar plot is The Crimson Petal and The White by Michael Faber. I suggest that you read that before The Madam if at all.
Rating:
Summary: A Moving Character Study
Review: This must have been a difficult book for the author to write because it is based on her own family. Alma, her great-grandmother, was a madam in the 1930s in West Virginia. Lettie, her grandmother, who is now in her eighties, spent her girlhood in that house. Now, all these years later, the talented Ms. Baggott has chosen to use this background. The characters are all developed with the kind of quirky detail that characterizes all of the author's work. And the setting certainly comes across as real. I recently saw Ms. Baggott speak at a bookstore to promote her book, and I had to smile as she described how she did research by calling up her grandmother in the middle of one afternoon to ask about the prices charged for certain kinds services rendered to the men in 1932. The story is not only about Alma, mother of three, who worked in a mill, was abandoned by her husband and then took up the world's oldest profession. It's about the times she lived in, the reasons for her choices and the children she loved. Along the way, we meet the women who work for her as well as a very special nun who has more in common with Alma that meets the eye. The author has a great imagination and I know this was fiction, but I couldn't help thinking throughout about what was true and what was not. Certainly, all the thoughts and feelings had to be created. And the ending, which actually surprised me, seemed a bit too much of a shocker to have really happened that way. But one of the strengths of the book was that I was constantly guessing. As was Ms. Baggott's other two books, "The Madam" is a fast and enjoyable read. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Unreadable
Review: This story of a Madam in 1930's West Virginia has a meandering plot and poorly developed characters, except for maybe Alma. The story behind Alma is not that well developed, and the setting and story are not particularly evocative. I was rather disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This story of a Madam in 1930's West Virginia has a meandering plot and poorly developed characters, except for maybe Alma. The story behind Alma is not that well developed, and the setting and story are not particularly evocative. I was rather disappointed.
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