Helpful Score: 1
Belva PLain writes with such depth that you feel the pain of all of her characters. This book is about the jewish coming to america and how they are frowned upon, and still triumph over adversity and make a life here, all while dealing with the war going on and trying to pass the law for freedom of slavery. Excellent book if you enjoy history and a bittersweet love story.
Married, Miriam Raphael struggles to reconcile her duties as a Southern wife with forbidden passion, ambition, and personal convictions and principles. Centered amid the turmoil of Civil War New Orleans
19th Century New Orleans during the Civil War and all the forbidden passion it can create....
colorful and intriguing story of New Orleans in the nineteenth-century!
Very good story.
Plain is a great storyteller and gives lots of detail about her characters and the location of the story. Her books are compelling.
This is a great story with an exciting plot.... you're bound to enjoy
it to the end!
it to the end!
She was the stunning daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant. From an idyllic childhood in opulent New Orleans, Miriam Raphael would be swept up into the turmoil of the Civil War. Forced to choose between her duties as a Southern wife and mother and her love for a forbidden man and a forbidden cause, Miriam is at the center of a whirlwind of divided loyalties and divided hearts.
I really enjoyed this book. This was the first time that I have read this book, even though I love Belva Plain as an author. This is actually the first book that I've read that takes place during the American Civil War and give it a strong A+!
I really enjoyed this book. This was the first time that I have read this book, even though I love Belva Plain as an author. This is actually the first book that I've read that takes place during the American Civil War and give it a strong A+!
I've been a Belva Plain fan since I was a teenager, but I haven't read all of her books. So I was excited to choose CRESCENT CITY for the February 2014 "New Orleans" theme in my online book club, The Reading Cove.
I thought the first half of this story was very engaging. A German widow fleas to America to make his fortune after his wife is killed, and returns to Germany to collect his children as the book opens. The kids were being raised as Orthodox Jews, but their father had relaxed his beliefs and embraced the freedom of the American culture. So his kids, Miriam and David experienced a great culture shock, unable to adapt to the institution of slavery and the lax attitude toward their faith.
But then the Civil War hits, and it's all Gone With the Wind knock-off from there! Complete with Miriam cast as Scarlett O'Hara, Andre as Ashley, and Gabriel as Rhett. And the David character, for all his passionate convictions, basically amounted to nothing. Very, very disappointing.
The second half of the story was tedious, boring and, most of all, done better before. You may as well just go read Gone With the Wind. Sorry, Belva.
I give CRESCENT CITY a C+.
I thought the first half of this story was very engaging. A German widow fleas to America to make his fortune after his wife is killed, and returns to Germany to collect his children as the book opens. The kids were being raised as Orthodox Jews, but their father had relaxed his beliefs and embraced the freedom of the American culture. So his kids, Miriam and David experienced a great culture shock, unable to adapt to the institution of slavery and the lax attitude toward their faith.
But then the Civil War hits, and it's all Gone With the Wind knock-off from there! Complete with Miriam cast as Scarlett O'Hara, Andre as Ashley, and Gabriel as Rhett. And the David character, for all his passionate convictions, basically amounted to nothing. Very, very disappointing.
The second half of the story was tedious, boring and, most of all, done better before. You may as well just go read Gone With the Wind. Sorry, Belva.
I give CRESCENT CITY a C+.
A great story set in New Orleans in the early nineteenth century. Miriam Raphael from a rich Jewish family has to make choices of the duties of a wife and mother with passion for a forbidden relationship and cause.
