Review of Cotton Club Princess

[Lucy Vera]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Cotton Club Princess" by Karla Diggs.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Cotton Club Princess by Karla Diggs is an exciting and enjoyable read. This book brings to life a character named Nostalgia. It encompasses her trials and her goals. After reading this book, you would be left with many lessons on life generally.

Nostalgia Richardson, a young girl of 16, lived in Spivey Groove with her parents and sister. She dreams of becoming a dancer at The Cotton Club. When she learns that her father wants to give her away to the famous bootlegger in Spivey Groove, she runs off to Harlem. She decides to pursue her dream of becoming a dancer at The Cotton Club.

On getting to Harlem, she meets Mrs. Spears, who offers her a room in her boarding house. She finds out that Mitzi and Tessie, two of the residents, were performers at The Cotton Club. With their help, she auditioned in The Cotton Club. From there onwards, she experiences so many adventures, trials, and setbacks. How could she survive in a different city away from her family? Was she able to achieve her dreams?

This book has a lot of positive aspects. The language was relatively easy to understand; I didn’t have a hard time understanding the words used. I also learned a few new words from this book. For instance, I learned words like beau, molasses, uppity, gussied, stanched, bootlegger, etc. I was emotionally connected to Nostalgia to the extent that when she found her new friends and family in Harlem, I enjoyed reading about them. It was as though I was in the story. It felt like one big family with them. I felt sad when I heard about how colored folks were treated back then in the 1920s. I was happy when Nostalgia found love. I felt heartbroken when she and her newfound family suffered in the way they did because of the crash in the market. Love was invariably the most dominant theme in this book. Peter loved Tessie enough to do what he did for her. Each of the residents in the boarding house always looked out for one another. When everyone lost their money, Mr. Greer did some things in order to put food on the table. He didn’t even care for his actions. The story's plot is interesting, from running away from Spivey Groove to experiencing the market crash and losing all her money. Nostalgia, sure enough, experienced so many trials that made her, at some point, regret running away from her family. The twists and turns were just incredible; they kept me glued from the beginning to the end of this book.

This book has some negative aspects. I would have loved it if the author had developed some of the characters. There were some scenes in the book that occurred and then disappeared too promptly. For instance, I would have loved to know how Lily was able to do what she did to Noah Holdtstaff and marry her lover, Henry. Also, I would have loved it if the author had developed the characters of Constance and Loretta. I didn’t appreciate the sudden ending. I would have loved to know more about what happened when Nostalgia went back to see her parents after eight years. It just felt as if I read an incomplete story.

I found a host of errors in this book, and for this solitary reason, I would deduct a star from my rating. Therefore, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I didn’t give it a lower rating because the negative aspects I stated above did not affect the overall satisfaction I derived from this book. This is a beautiful work of historical fiction. I learned so many things from this book. The most important lesson I learned from this book is that you can achieve your dreams and aspirations if you act towards them. I recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction and lovers of fictional novels.

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Cotton Club Princess
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[Aisha Yakub]

Great to see that this was easy easy to read and the characters could be connected to. I look forward to reading this piece.

[TheGayOne12]

This one definitely sounds like something I would enjoy. Great review!

[Patty Allread]

It can be disappointing if a book ends too quickly and the story is left incomplete. Thank you for the review.

[Essy Nma]

I love reading historical fiction. Thanks for the review.