Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler

Sister Noon Reviews

• 
  Ayelet Waldman

  I love this writer. I don't want to ruin anything about this book for you, so I'll just say that it takes place in San Francisco in the Gilded Age and that all the really interesting characters are women. How often do you get to read a book like that?
• 
  Juli

  I honestly still cannot decide how many stars to give this book. It's a strange, dreamy book. Definitely not plot-driven, but the language is so beautiful and lyrical that I still enjoyed the ride. Until the end, that is. The growth of the heroine is followed through well enough, but the author leaves holes everywhere else. I hoped some of the confusion and tangents and development of other characters along the way would lead to some sort of ah-ha moment at the end, but there was nothing.
• 
  Rebecca Rosenberg

  Since the imagery and characters are so fascinating, I feel this novel could have benefitted from more work on the story itself. There are so many different threads of the storyline, it is not clear if they have to do with each other. I read to the end hoping for a satisfying conclusion, but was disappointed. I give it 3 stars because the language is sometimes evocative and the characters so arresting I was rooting for them...but nothing much happened to any of them in the end.
• 
  Nakia

  "You can do anything you want. You don't have to be the same person your whole life."
  
  I really liked this tale focusing on the elite of early San Francisco in the mid 1800s. Fowler writes of Lizzie Hayes, an unmarried well off woman who works as the treasurer for a white orphanage, the Brown Ark; and Mary Ellen Pleasant, a wealthy Black woman who has everyone in the Bay Area wrapped around her finger. One day, Mary Ellen drops off Jenny Ijub, a young child who she claims came from a rich family who was swept out to sea. The story goes on to follow Lizzie Hayes as she seeks the truth behind Jenny's roots, while also investigating the mysterious rumors surrounding Mary Ellen's lifestyle and power.
  
  Fowler is great with words, telling this tale in a prose steeped in gentility, but still quite humorous. I had a feeling that Ms. Pleasant would be cast as the "magical negro", what with her having so much power in such a time as this, coupled with rumors of her mysticism and voodoo, but it seems that Fowler did a great job of rooting Mary Ellen's power more so in the mind's of white people, and less a factual truth.
  
  This book was a bit confusing though, with so many characters making unnecessary appearances. By the end, I had no idea of what had happened, or the purpose of the story. I may need to read it again to grasp the point of it all.
  
  Nevertheless, I walked away having enjoyed this story and ready for more by Fowler.
• 
  Victoria (Eve's Alexandria)

  Given my recent reading drought the fact that I finished this in two days is a testament to how readable and enjoyable I found it. Karen Jay Fowler is a slick clean kind of writer, who gets the historical pitch right with an occasional rye touch that makes the novel also seem fresh and modern. I’m surprised by the poor ratings it’s got on here. I was intrigued by the 1890s San Francisco setting and the full bodied female characters at its heart: the elusive Mary Ellen Pleasant and the romantically minded Lizzie Hayes. I appreciated the way the novel played with gothic and sensationalist tropes while never losing sight of the underlying social commentary. Maybe it’s because it’s not as brash as We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves? Dare I admit I liked this more.
• 
  Morgan Bell

  Mysterious and compelling, an examination of gossip and casual racism in 1890s San Francisco. The best book I have read this year.
• 
  Liz

  I was going to give this book 4 stars until I read the 2 and a half pages that Karen Joy Fowler wrote on her writing if sister noon. It explained a lot and made me realise why she wrote it like she did. I think that she is such an amazing author. The research that goes into her work and the way the reader is completely transported to a different time and place. I really, really enjoyed this book with all its strangeness and ambiguity. Fantastic!!
• 
  Lizzie

  3.5 I chose to read this, out of interest, as it has the lowest goodreads rating of all the unread books I own. As someone who tends to pick books with 4+ star ratings, Sister Noon turned out to be a pleasant reminder that reviews aren't everything :) It was a quiet book looking at societal norms, gossip/rumours, reputation, racism and women's place in society all in the setting of 1890s San Francisco. I loved the setting- it was so different to anything I've read before, and the nuances and contradictions of the city were described beautifully. It took me a while to get into the novel, and at first it was just okay. I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn't listened to a lot of it on audio- this took it from being a drag to a joy! I had read reviews saying there was no plot- and sure nothing massive happens, but there was certainly enough to keep me interested in the day to day small lives and society gossip of the city. I had also read in reviews that the ending was really disappointing and didn't tie together the loose ends. Since I knew this going in, the ending didn't bother me at all. In fact I felt it did tie together the book, just subtlety. Having then read the author's notes on her writing of the book, I see that it did exactly what it set out to do. This isn't a favourite, but one that I'll look back fondly on, and doesn't deserve such a low average rating.
• 
  Becka

  I did enjoy this, but couldn't help feeling that it was a story told from the wrong perspective, in that Lizzie's life only really goes anywhere in the last few pages and Mrs Pleasant's character is far and away the most interesting one in the book. I felt like the book was only just getting started right up until around 85% - every subplot and relationship felt on the brink of developing into something significant when I realised it couldn't, because it was ending. I think you can still detect Fowler's gift for characterisation even in a book so flawed, and it's not that I didn't enjoy reading it, but I think she might have written it too early, and it could have been a much better novel for being longer and better developed.
• 
  Danceswithwords

  Sister Noon is just a lovely novel from start to finish, a story of growing pains, both Lizzie Hayes's and the city of San Francisco's. Fowler has a wonderful way of drawing characters who aren't larger than life, but are instead every bit as frail and small as everyday, while still being moving and compelling. Lizzie Hayes doesn't start stretching herself until half her life has passed her by, and only has a limited reach, but it's a brave struggle.
• 
  Shirley

  I found it a little confusing regarding some of the characters. Each time I picked up the book I found myself reviewing what I read previously. I love the references to San Francisco in the 1800's, but a difficult book to follow due to the character development.
• 
  Eli Brooke

  Wonderful writer, but somehow her endings always leave me dissatisfied. I liked this best of the 3 I've read (Sarah Canary years ago and Wit's End very recently).
• 
  Kim

  I just couldn't get into this one.
• 
  Rodrigo Acuna

  "An interesting woman that may have existed."
  
  The description of San Francisco in 1890 is fascinating and so is all the information on the period, but I found the plot to be disappointing as so much of the book is based on rumors and innuendo that it feels slippery and forced to stay together.
  
  Ellen Pleasant.is the main character in the soul of the book, but she also is the mistery almost and amalgamation of a mithical woman; black, white, married, rich, poor, servant, mistres, murderer all of this are posibilities that Lizzie Hayes, a spinster is created to try and descover but in the end it all fades in the fog of time.
  
  It is not a bad book but the fascination with the mystery of Ellen Pleasant.is never enough of a coherent plot, more of a device to explore and interesting character that time and the period she lived in have render but a rumor a phantasm that never becomes solid or alive..
  
• 
  AFMasten

  I love this woman's writing and the stories she chooses to tell! Like "Sarah Canary," this novel gives the historian in me lots to think about. It offers the perspective of the outsiders in history. It says that to know about the past we must take the word of people long dead, people we cannot question. People say contradictory things about other people, especially a person who does not fit the mold. "The truth might look like a story. A lie might outlast a fact." Things that were never proved are passed along and become history. All this is told in a story that made me laugh and cry. What a wonderful author!
• 
  Rob Adey

  Some really exceptional writing, but as a whole this didn't come into focus for me (which to be honest could be because a lot of it depends on remembering a bunch of people who might or might not have had children and who also have changed their names and I'm not sure I have the bit of your brain that tracks that kind of thing).
• 
  Jasmine

  My favorite of Fowler's books so far. I'm usually much more of a plot person, but her words are just fun to read. The way she writes makes the littlest thing seem interesting.
• 
  Carol

  A real genre buster! Interesting characters and some great descriptions of San Francisco 1850-1900, complete with prostitutes and the gold rush population. But, not straightforward historical fiction. It's also supernatural, full of social comment and satirical. But...too 'clever' and at times, bewildering; unforgivable really to confuse your reader.
• 
  Becca

  Really enjoyed this. It's historical fiction and based on real people. It's part mystery/part historic and it's beautifully written. It jumps about a little but an utter joy.
• 
  Desirée Boom

  It was a lovely, nothing really happens story. I really liked Lizzie and could identify with her.
• 
  Suzanne

  I really enjoyed the writing but was sort of confused by the story. I almost gave up at page 136, when nothing much had happened yet, and the "magical juncture" seemed really strange. I'm glad I stuck with it, but I wished I had read the author's note in the back before actually starting the book. It made SO much more sense. If you know San Francisco at all, you'll recognize a lot of the city in these pages. Not sure I'd recommend this book, but I *will* try other titles by this author.
• 
  Grace

  Unlike any other book I’ve read before
• 
  Lisa Eckstein

  In 1890 San Francisco, Lizzie is a member of the wealthy class, though her choice to remain a spinster makes her vaguely suspect in fashionable society. Through her volunteer work at a home for women and children in need, Lizzie crosses paths with the mysterious Mary Ellen Pleasant. Mrs. Pleasant asks the home to take in a small girl whose origins are also shrouded in rumor, and Lizzie grows curious about both of them. As Lizzie investigates, she keeps running up against strange events, disturbing questions, and the tiresome forces of so-called polite society.
  
  Several characters in this novel are real figures, including
  Mary Ellen Pleasant, who gained prominence in early San Francisco while passing as a white woman but later revealed herself to be black. Fowler embraces the wild, contradictory histories of Pleasant and the others, telling different versions throughout the novel in entertaining detail. Lizzie and the rest of the fictional characters are just as richly, delightfully drawn, with Fowler's wry humor frequently on display. There's a mystery at the heart of this novel, and some exciting antics drive the plot forward, but much of the story focuses on the nuances of how people treat each other in the name of propriety. It might be accurate to call SISTER NOON a comedy of manners, and I'd definitely call it one of Fowler's best.
• 
  Jean

  It is said that a good book is one where the reader feels an involvement with the characters in the story, Karen Joy Fowler does just that in this novel set in San Francisco in the late 19th century . I am not a fan of period or historical novels but really enjoyed this portrayal of life in which San Francisco plays as big a role as the two main characters, Lizzie Hayes, a spinster in her early forties and Mary Ellen Pleasant. The latter being of dubious parentage – a coloured woman claiming to be white – that alone is enough to make the story interesting . Lizzie is the treasurer and fundraiser at a children’s home with a threat of having her income stopped if she ever marries – a stipulation of her father’s will.
  From the time that Mrs Pleasant leaves Jenny , a small dark haired, dark eyed child, to be cared for at the home , Lizzie feels things becoming a bit out of control.
  K J Fowler is a difficult writer to review , I love her lyrical descriptive prose but this book is very short on plot. I am also ambivalent about the ending because I thought there would be more.
  
• 
  Carla

  Set in San Francisco, this novel held some historical fascination for me. I thought that Karen Fowler, the author, did an excellent job calling out the prejudices and expectations women rarely face today. Known as a liberal city today, it is hard to imagine SF as a place where intolerance is commonplace.
  
  There were some holes left in the story, such as what happens to Mrs. Pleasant and what her story really is. But I could relate to Lizzie's disconnection from a changing society in which a single woman in her 30's is an "old maid" and ambition and curiosity in social circles must be tread upon lightly or endure being outcast.
  
  The title, Sister Noon, is not explained until over halfway through the novel and even then, it goes no further. It seems to spur Lizzie into making some decisions about her life but does not make her or Jenny any more compelling in the context of the story.
• 
  Tanya

  This was a difficult book to follow. Had I not met the author at a writer's retreat and known, first-hand, her fine mind, I might have given up after a few chapters. But she is so very excellent at developing her characters that gradually, very gradually, she sucked me in to the story.
  
  It is a tale of class and race set in the late 19th century in San Francisco. The heroine, Lizzie Hayes, has enough flaws to be interesting, but the truly intriguing character is the mysterious Mary Ellen Pleasant, who seems to know and control everything that goes on in the city.
  
  It's interesting that this same author penned "The Jane Austen Book Club," an entirely different book in setting and time and, even, style. But if you are interested in historical fiction, I doubt you will find a better book to give you an understanding of early San Francisco history. Even if she hadn't shared her experience in researching "Sister Noon," her study is self-evident.
• 
  Judith

  3,25 stars
• 
  Paula Dembeck

  This novel is set in 1890s San Francisco and tells the story of Lizzie Hayes, a middle-aged, short, fat and passionate reader of romance novels who has an active imagination and loves to think of herself as a character in one of the books she reads. Although Lizzie is a plain woman and not married, spinsterhood does not bother her, what she minds is that everybody knows it.
  
  Lizzie volunteers as treasurer at The Ladies’ Relief and Protection Society, a charity home for orphaned children, also known as the Brown Ark. It houses over two hundred children, some temporarily until the staff find homes for them, others for longer periods. One day, Lizzie answers the door to Mrs. Mary Ellen Pleasant who has brought her a strange little girl about five years old named Jenny Ijub. Mrs. Pleasant asks that she be accepted at the home explaining that Jenny’s mother died on a ship bound for Panama and was buried at sea. Her father is not known, but Mrs. Pleasant hints he may be wealthy. The charity is always short of funds, so Lizzie takes Jenny in, hoping she might later be able to persuade Jenny’s father for a donation.
  
  There are several characters in this story, all with complicated secretive backgrounds, especially Mrs. Pleasant who is acknowledged to be an excellent cook. There are whispers she is a voodoo queen, gossip that she at one time was white but now is black and rumors she has sold white babies to Chinamen. Some say she is the housekeeper at The House of Mystery, the home of Mr. Thomas and Teresa Bell, but everyone knows Mrs. Pleasant is too rich, too old and too famous to be a servant. Teresa Bell is also a strange character and some say she was once a prostitute, but who knows, the residents of that house are all strange with assumed names and fanciful histories. Some goes so far to suggest that the many children living under that roof may be connected with Mrs. Pleasant’s baby-farming business.
  
  There are many questions about Mrs. Pleasant who has a large role in this complex story. Some wonder how a colored woman and an ex-slave, came to have so much money and influence in San Francisco. Is it true she was a white woman in the past? Did she really outlive three husbands before she turned forty? Why were so many wealthy men fond of her? She is very generous with her money, helping charities and those in need, but where did she get that money? She is rumored to hold many secrets of the rich, well-placed people of San Francisco, does she keep their secrets in exchange for favors and cash?
  
  There are some things everyone agrees on: Mrs. Pleasant is a smooth talker, a shrewd woman and a diabolical schemer who understands how money gives her power. It is after Mrs. Pleasant’s suggests to Lizzie that she does not have to be the same person all her life, that sets Lizzie out on her path in this story.
  
  The narrative is imaginative, confusing, convoluted and disorienting. It was difficult to determine exactly where the plot was heading as the author tells her story in a complicated way, heading in several different directions, including a host of characters and all the while keeping the reader asking questions. With events traveling so many different tangents, I became frustrated and considered abandoning the book. But two things held me back, the quality of the writing and the inclusion of the many historic details of the time period. In my case they saved the book.
  
  San Francisco was on the cusp of immense change at this time, in the process of evolving away from a rough gold rush town where men greatly outnumbered the women. The city housed a large Chinese community under which was rumored to be an underground city with gambling, slave girls and plenty of opium. Revivalists and seances were popular, religion and science had begun to clash, electricity was becoming more commonplace, voting rights for woman was a topic for discussion and diphtheria epidemics took the lives of many children. These authentic details become even more prominent as the narrative advanced to its conclusion and Lizzie walked the city streets, visited the Palace hotel and enjoyed a day at the beach. Fowler cleverly weaved these touches into her narrative adding a convincing atmosphere and tone to her convoluted story.
  
  I struggled to finish the book, with its mix of reality, lies, fantasy, voodoo and misdirection; it just did not suit my taste. Having read some very positive reviews of this volume it leads me to wonder once again whether I just did not get this intricate plot. Did this book fail me or did I fail the book?