An ever-changing identity is the centerpiece of Alexander Chee's The Queen of the Night. We're introduced to Lilliet Berne at the height of her fame as an operatic soprano in Paris in the 1870s. She's approached by a man who says he can give her the one honor that she hasn't attained so far: a role she can originate. The only snag is that the new opera is based on a novel that's clearly based on her own past, a past she thought she'd managed to escape from. There are only a handful of people who know her real life, and she determines to find out which one of them has betrayed her.

The book is a recounting of the story of her life, with one incredible circumstance leading directly into another: she grows up in frontier America and sets out to get to Switzerland, where she has relatives, once her entire family dies. In order to make it overseas, she joins a circus, from which she escapes to become a hippodrome rider, and then becomes a prostitute, and then a handmaid to the Empress of France, and finally an opera singer in training. She becomes an figure of obsession to a professional tenor and he dogs her steps, determined to possess her entirely, even while she tries to elude him and falls in love with another man. She does eventually find out who is behind the mysterious new opera and it seems for a while that she might even get a happy ending...but this is a story about opera, and operas don't usually have one of those.

If you read that plot outline and thought it sounds insane, you're right. IT'S BONKERS. But it's really good! I tend to be irritated by plots that require too many convenient contrivances, but with this book it's best to put logic aside and just enjoy the ride, because it is a fantastic, soapy trip that Chee takes us on. It's a bit on the long side, but it doesn't get bogged down anywhere...you might think that with the list of twists and turns that Lilliet's life takes, that it would feel cluttered or get hard to keep track of what was going on, but Chee is in control of his story and characters, and creates a vivid, lively world that was hard to tear myself away from.

This is one of those books that I kept promising myself I would stop at the end of the chapter to go to sleep, and was hard pressed to resist just one more after that before turning out the light. My one quibble would be that in a book full of evocative characters, Lilliet herself is a bit of a cipher. But, given the many shifts in her circumstances and role she is meant to play, too big of a personality wouldn't feel quite right either. Her most defining feature is her determination to survive...no matter what comes around the bend, she always manages to figure out a way to adapt and keep going. That's a powerful statement in and of itself. Overall, though, this is a very enjoyable read and I would heartily recommend it! ( )

I struggled to get through this book. I liked it enough to want to finish but not enough to want to read it. I gave up on it a few times, only to come back and grind through for a while longer. The writing is at times beautiful, at times so determined to be profound that it's meaningless. The setting was the best thing by far, an interesting time and place to spend some reading time, though sometimes bogged down in detailed description that detracted even from this one strength. The main character was entirely unsympathetic for me. Aside from the early scenes when she lost her family, I never felt anything for her. The tone of the whole novel is very emotionally remote, which is appropriate for this first person story about an emotionally remote woman, but it makes it difficult to enjoy reading a dense, long, convoluted book. The story itself is implausible and ridiculous at times, again appropriately for the intended parallels with opera but again making it difficult for me to enjoy. I was relieved to have finished. I'm unlikely to read anything else by this author. ( )

DNF. There are no quotations which makes it difficult to distinguish when people are speaking. This type of writing (no quotation marks) is very difficult for me but I've heard good things if that type of writing style doesn't bother you.

I would've liked it more if it wasn't written in such a distant voice. ( )

This is an absolutely epic book that spans generations of one woman's life. She begins as an orphan and winds up a opera star during the Franco
Prussian war and goes beyond that time. For as much as this book is about her, the narrative is also told through her dresses. It seems like a minor detail, until I caught on about a quarter way through, her dresses are reflective of her status. It was just a fun detail to be on the lookout for.
Opera is a big part of this narrative and since it isn't my forte, reading other reviews helped bring this aspect out for me. Opera fans will notice it quicker than I did.
I will admit there were parts that as I read, I wondered- what just happened? And I wound up a little lost toward the middle. The good news is I rebounded once again toward the end for a satisfying ending to her epic life.
If it were not for the Book of the Month club recommendation, I probably would not have given this book the time of day as it isn't really a genre I go for- historical fiction, but by the end I was glad I read it.
I honestly would only recommend this one for a few people rather than for a larger audience. The writing is fantastic, but it is a book one has to be in the mood for.
I actually would give it 3.5 stars rather than 4. It is good, but it isn't for everybody. ( )