Review: Wild Women and the Blues

Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

Wild Women and the Blues is a historical fiction story that starts us in 2015 from the first person point-of-view of Sawyer Hayes as he tries to finish his thesis. He thinks he has discovered an Oscar Micheaux film in his grandmother's things and while the film is being restored, he travels to Chicago to interview Honoree Dalcour, a chorus girl he thinks is in the film going by other clues in his grandmother's box. When Sawyer meets the one hundred and ten year old Honoree, we then get chapters from her third person point-of-view during her life in 1925 Chicago. Honoree's chapters start off with some who's who of the people that lived at the time (Lil Hardin Armstrong, Josephine Baker, Capone) that felt a little name-dropping at first but ultimately evened off to create the atmosphere and shape a vibrant personality for the setting. 

Something happened in Chicago in 1925. Something she doesn't want me to know. Doesn't want anyone to know. 

Even though he starts us off, Sawyer's chapters are less than Honoree's and 1925 Chicago quickly becomes the star of the show. Honoree's first chapters set up the atmosphere but as they go on, they slowly meld with Sawyer's plot as relationships, friendships, and love bring together the story. Honoree is nineteen and alone in Chicago trying to move up in the dancing chorus line world, she gets a try-out at the Dreamland Cafe and from there good and bad plague her decisions and outcomes. Ezekiel, a childhood sweetheart, reappears in her life after disappearing three years ago, she witnesses a murder, and befriends a younger girl, Bessie Palmer, who eventually moves in with her. 

Every time she had a shot at the good, the bad was on its heels. 

Honestly, if Sawyer's point-of-views were left out and this was just told completely from Honoree's point-of-view and maybe just telling the story to her nurse Lula, I wouldn't have minded. Sawyer interrupted at times that I was getting into 1925 Chicago and I'm not sure I was ever fully immersed in his family issues. The death of his sister, him seeing her ghost felt out of place and unresolved, and his strained relationship with his dad eventually fit into the overall story but fairly minuscule as the star was clearly the events happening in Honoree's past. 

Love was better the third time around. 

This novel did have the ability to sweep you away and provided an atmosphere that brought Chicago in the 1920s alive. From the music, to Bronzeville, the Policy rackets, mobsters, and nightlife, Wild Women and the Blues brings it all to life through the people that lived it.

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