City of Girls

I found the beginning of the book absolutely fantastic. Funny and very clever. Pretty disappointed with the second half. Incredible how such a fun story can end so boring. Also much more conservative than I thought it was. 

Hmm. I'm a sucker for historic fiction set in NYC. And I love coming of age stories. So the idea of a young woman getting kicked out of Vassar and seeking refuge in her quirky aunt's theatre company in Manhattan = the perfect summer read. I also thought it was clever to structure it as a letter to a stranger who has asked the protagonist to clarify her relationship with the stranger's father... that served as a great framing device for the story, imparting a touch of mystery to the overall book. So why am I not giving this book five stars? Two reasons: 1) The protagonist is vapid, so it's hard to care about her; 2) The book seems preoccupied with (and in your face about) sex. I'm not prudish and I appreciate that she's empowering a female character to own her sexuality, but it just didn't feel very …