The Way of Beauty by Camille Di Maio is a story of several generations of young women figuring out love, their passions, their place in the world in 1900 – 1963 Manhattan. The once beautiful Penn Station playes a major role in their lives, many landmark moments taking place inside of, or in the shadows of, the amazing building.
The story is presented in two parts: Vera and Alice, but it reads much like two separate books – the original and the sequal. Regardless, it works as the stories weave together in all the needed places.
Although I enjoyed the book very much, it covers quite a bit of adventure and many years in a short span and I admit I had to stop a couple times to make sure I hadn’t missed something.
I also noticed a couple characters, incidents through out the story that seemed to be leading somewhere but never did, and I was a little disappointed in the conclusion. But this is more about my personal preference – someone else may be perfectly content with it all.
Despite these things I really did enjoy the story, came to love many of the characters, and was sad to reach the end. I recommend to anyone interested in early 20th century New York or the suffragette and women’s rights movements of that time.
