What do you think?
Rate this book
The Magnificent Esme Wells
From the nationally bestselling author of The True Memoirs of Little K, a deeply felt and historically detailed tale of family, loss, and love, told by an irrepressible young girl—the daughter of a two-bit gangster and a movie showgirl—growing up in golden-age Hollywood and Las Vegas in its early days
Esme Silver has always taken care of her charming ne’er do well father, Ike Silver, a small-time crook with dreams of making it big with Bugsy Siegel. Devoted to her daddy, Esme is often his “date” at the racetrack, where she amiably fetches the hot dogs while keeping an eye to the ground for any cast-off tickets that might be a winner. In awe of her mother, Dina Wells, Esme is more than happy to be the foil that gets the beautiful Dina into meetings and screen tests with some of Hollywood’s greats.
When Ike gets an opportunity to move to Vegas—and what could at last be his big break, to help the man she knows as “Benny” open the Flamingo hotel—life takes an unexpected turn for Esme. A stunner like her mother, the young girl catches the attention of Nate Silver, one of the Strip’s most powerful men.
Narrated by the twenty-year-old Esme, The Magnificent Esme Wells moves between pre-WWII Hollywood and post-war Las Vegas—a golden age when Jewish gangsters and movie moguls are often indistinguishable in looks and behavior. Esme’s voice—sharp, observant, with a quiet, mordant wit—chronicles the rise and fall and further fall of her complicated parents, as well as her own painful reckoning with love and life. A coming of age story with a tinge of noir, and a tale that illuminates the promise and perils of the American dream and its dreamers, The Magnificent Esme Wells is immersive, moving, and compelling.
Esme Silver has always taken care of her charming ne’er do well father, Ike Silver, a small-time crook with dreams of making it big with Bugsy Siegel. Devoted to her daddy, Esme is often his “date” at the racetrack, where she amiably fetches the hot dogs while keeping an eye to the ground for any cast-off tickets that might be a winner. In awe of her mother, Dina Wells, Esme is more than happy to be the foil that gets the beautiful Dina into meetings and screen tests with some of Hollywood’s greats.
When Ike gets an opportunity to move to Vegas—and what could at last be his big break, to help the man she knows as “Benny” open the Flamingo hotel—life takes an unexpected turn for Esme. A stunner like her mother, the young girl catches the attention of Nate Silver, one of the Strip’s most powerful men.
Narrated by the twenty-year-old Esme, The Magnificent Esme Wells moves between pre-WWII Hollywood and post-war Las Vegas—a golden age when Jewish gangsters and movie moguls are often indistinguishable in looks and behavior. Esme’s voice—sharp, observant, with a quiet, mordant wit—chronicles the rise and fall and further fall of her complicated parents, as well as her own painful reckoning with love and life. A coming of age story with a tinge of noir, and a tale that illuminates the promise and perils of the American dream and its dreamers, The Magnificent Esme Wells is immersive, moving, and compelling.
341 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2018
61 people are currently reading
1422 people want to read
About the author
Adrienne Sharp
9 books65 followersAdrienne Sharp entered the world of ballet at age seven and trained at the prestigious Harkness Ballet in New York. She received her M.A. with honors from the Writing Seminars at the Johns Hopkins University and was awarded a Henry Hoyns Fellowship at the University of Virginia. She has been a fiction fellow at MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Squaw Valley Writer’s Conference. She is the author of "White Swan, Black Swan," "The Sleeping Beauty," "The True Memoirs of Little K," and the forthcoming "The Magnificent Esme Wells."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
April 27, 2018
This is Esmes story, a story full of glitz and glamour, but also sorrow and heartache. A mother who is a show girl in B films and a father who is an inveterate gambler and risk taker. Not a stable childhood, moving from place to place, not stable but definitely interesting. Enter sorrow and Esme and her father end up in Las Vegas. Last Zvegas in the fifties was just rmerging, the strip becoming a gamblers paradise. Huge hotels bigger than life shows, men who own it all, some resl, dome not. Bugsy Siegal, Mickey Cohen, these Jewish big money men who own it all. It is here that Esme will finish growing up, where her father will work in the money cages in the casinos.
I loved this, it was a fantastic mix of the best and worst of Vegas. Where people dream big and make or break a fortune. Where Esme will become larger than life until.........The writing is wonderful, descriptive, visual and honest. We meet future stars, a young Judy Garland and other headliners. Because when big money beckons, they will come. I adored Esme, she is truly magnificent, she manuevers through this life style, gives in to it when she has too, but adores her father, and manages not to become jaded. She has regrets, finds trouble or trouble finds her, because once Vegas has you, it is not easy to get out. Remember, one way or another, the house always wins.
ARC from Edelweiss.
I loved this, it was a fantastic mix of the best and worst of Vegas. Where people dream big and make or break a fortune. Where Esme will become larger than life until.........The writing is wonderful, descriptive, visual and honest. We meet future stars, a young Judy Garland and other headliners. Because when big money beckons, they will come. I adored Esme, she is truly magnificent, she manuevers through this life style, gives in to it when she has too, but adores her father, and manages not to become jaded. She has regrets, finds trouble or trouble finds her, because once Vegas has you, it is not easy to get out. Remember, one way or another, the house always wins.
ARC from Edelweiss.
April 28, 2018
There are characters who come to life because you feel their loneliness or their desire for riches or fame, or you know that moment of reckoning when they know that a single, crucial decision is the one that will seal their fate. This is historical fiction with a fabulous sense of time and place that takes the reader to Hollywood of the late 1930’s and the beginnings of Las Vegas as the gambling mecca in the 1940’s and early 1950’s . Adrienne Sharp brings all of this to us with fantastic descriptive writing. In 1939 California, Esme is 6 and her parents have big dreams . She’s caught up in them, living a vagabond life as they move from place to place, while her father tries to make his fortune at the racetrack and her mother as a dancer with dreams of bigger roles in a movie .
This is negligent parenting for sure as Esme follows her mother from movie set to movie set or as she picks up tickets off the ground for her father at the racetrack. Esme is a lonely little girl pulled along into her parents’ empty dreams, kept out of school, getting her education on the movie set, at the racetrack and later in the casinos of Las Vegas. The narrative alternates between these years as we learn what happened in Hollywood that bring Esme and her father to Las Vegas. At 15, she becomes a showgirl armed only with her beauty, her savvy, and her instinctual ability to read this place and the people who work there. Her coming of age is heartbreaking at times.
This is a fantastic depiction of old Hollywood and a history lesson in how Vegas grew out of the desert on the strings of organized crime. It is also about this one family, probably like so many others who hitched their dreams of fame and money to the Vegas lights. But it is also about loss, about unconditional love and for me an unforgettable character.
I received an advanced copy of this book from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.
This is negligent parenting for sure as Esme follows her mother from movie set to movie set or as she picks up tickets off the ground for her father at the racetrack. Esme is a lonely little girl pulled along into her parents’ empty dreams, kept out of school, getting her education on the movie set, at the racetrack and later in the casinos of Las Vegas. The narrative alternates between these years as we learn what happened in Hollywood that bring Esme and her father to Las Vegas. At 15, she becomes a showgirl armed only with her beauty, her savvy, and her instinctual ability to read this place and the people who work there. Her coming of age is heartbreaking at times.
This is a fantastic depiction of old Hollywood and a history lesson in how Vegas grew out of the desert on the strings of organized crime. It is also about this one family, probably like so many others who hitched their dreams of fame and money to the Vegas lights. But it is also about loss, about unconditional love and for me an unforgettable character.
I received an advanced copy of this book from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.
March 29, 2018
I’m an easy mark for historical fiction set in Las Vegas or Hollywood, and “The Magnificent Esme Wells” expertly explores both locales during the 1930’s and 40’s. As Esme Wells comes of age with a father who is a small time gangster and gambler, and a mother who is determined to be a movie star, she channels her own ambitions into becoming a star in Las Vegas stage shows. Along with her parents, young Esme suffers tragic consequences from their ruthless pursuit of success and her own success comes at a high cost. My heart broke for Esme and the sorrow and hardships she endured, but she was a survivor and I loved her indomitable and irrepressible spirit. This well researched book with marvelous period and location detail, superb character development, and a moving plot make this a recommended read.
July 4, 2018
The Magnificent Esme Wells was anything but magnificent. Reading the book jacket, I thought this historical fiction novel would be right up my alley. Set in 1939 during the golden age of Hollywood and post World War II Las Vegas, the book is narrated by Esme Wells as six year-old and eighteen year-old respectively. While the content could have been good, the writing was completely lacking and distracting and Sharp therefore ultimately faltered in her delivery of this story. Adrienne Sharp tried too hard to be lyrical and without looking into her biography, I knew she must have gotten a graduate degree in creative writing (yes, I then checked, she got her masters at Johns Hopkins). Her prose is full of terrible metaphors, similes, and ubiquitous lists. I wondered first, how a publisher agreed to print this and second, how an editor didn't make her change this terrible writing style.
Want some examples? A six year-old Esme Wells (six!) says, "My mother was transformed by her quaff at the flask of possibility." If this sentence doesn't say that she's trying too hard, what does?
An eighteen year-old Esme, who is losing her virginity to a fifty-three year-old Jewish mobster boss, says that: "Intercourse felt like being impaled with a thick object, his phallus both hard and soft at the same time, an invasion that made me recoil even as I welcomed it." Huh???? Oh my, the ongoing dialectic of sex.
And finally, here is an example of her endless listing, which she must think really sets the scene for the reader but I found completely aggravating and pointless. "I passed tumbleweed after tumbleweed, each of which always seemed to find some edifice, however small - a post, a wire, a plank, a creosote bush, a cactus - to halt its otherwise endless journey....sand and grit, cacti and creosote, concrete and lawn chairs, cinder-block motels and blue-painted swimming pools, some of these pools, like the El Rancho's, right by the highway."
Readers, steer clear of this book. At first, "The Magnificent Esme Wells" reminded me of Mona Simpson, but very quickly Sharp revealed herself to be nothing compared to the talented Simpson.
Want some examples? A six year-old Esme Wells (six!) says, "My mother was transformed by her quaff at the flask of possibility." If this sentence doesn't say that she's trying too hard, what does?
An eighteen year-old Esme, who is losing her virginity to a fifty-three year-old Jewish mobster boss, says that: "Intercourse felt like being impaled with a thick object, his phallus both hard and soft at the same time, an invasion that made me recoil even as I welcomed it." Huh???? Oh my, the ongoing dialectic of sex.
And finally, here is an example of her endless listing, which she must think really sets the scene for the reader but I found completely aggravating and pointless. "I passed tumbleweed after tumbleweed, each of which always seemed to find some edifice, however small - a post, a wire, a plank, a creosote bush, a cactus - to halt its otherwise endless journey....sand and grit, cacti and creosote, concrete and lawn chairs, cinder-block motels and blue-painted swimming pools, some of these pools, like the El Rancho's, right by the highway."
Readers, steer clear of this book. At first, "The Magnificent Esme Wells" reminded me of Mona Simpson, but very quickly Sharp revealed herself to be nothing compared to the talented Simpson.
November 21, 2017
I received a free ARC from the publisher, via Amazon's Vine program.
This is a tragic fairy tale of the Jewish Mob in Los Angeles and Las Vegas from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Esme Wells, the daughter of a beautiful would-be actress mother and a Bugsy Siegel go-fer father, is an adolescent as the mob moves into Las Vegas. Esme’s ambition is to become a headliner showgirl and she makes choices to gain her prize that her father knows will lead to disaster.
This is an ambitious historical novel that tries to capture so much of the immigrant Jewish experience in Hollywood, Los Angeles generally, and in the mafia. There is a vivid scene of Mickey Cohen and his Jewish associates breaking up a meeting of Nazi sympathizers, and another of a Senate hearing on mob activities. Using a young woman guide us through all this as part of her coming of age is an interesting narrative device and it should have worked.
Somehow, though, the potential of this novel is never quite achieved. The author doesn’t breathe full life into her characters, and her descriptions often lack emotional punch, even in cases of very dramatic scenes. It makes this an interesting enough read, but one that I expect to forget all about quickly.
This is a tragic fairy tale of the Jewish Mob in Los Angeles and Las Vegas from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Esme Wells, the daughter of a beautiful would-be actress mother and a Bugsy Siegel go-fer father, is an adolescent as the mob moves into Las Vegas. Esme’s ambition is to become a headliner showgirl and she makes choices to gain her prize that her father knows will lead to disaster.
This is an ambitious historical novel that tries to capture so much of the immigrant Jewish experience in Hollywood, Los Angeles generally, and in the mafia. There is a vivid scene of Mickey Cohen and his Jewish associates breaking up a meeting of Nazi sympathizers, and another of a Senate hearing on mob activities. Using a young woman guide us through all this as part of her coming of age is an interesting narrative device and it should have worked.
Somehow, though, the potential of this novel is never quite achieved. The author doesn’t breathe full life into her characters, and her descriptions often lack emotional punch, even in cases of very dramatic scenes. It makes this an interesting enough read, but one that I expect to forget all about quickly.
July 28, 2018
I didn't think that Esme Wells was all that magnificent. It was interesting to read about the golden age of Hollywood and the creation of Las Vegas, but I didn't find Esme to be a compelling or sympathetic heroine. She just ping-ponged between the powerful men in her life. Also, the writing style of the book was distracting and took something away from the storytelling. Instead of contributing to the setting or sense of place, it felt like the author was trying to cram all her knowledge about this era in wherever she could.
October 26, 2018
1.5*
This book had its highs and lows but overall I found it to be both depressing and boring.
I had such a hard time getting through it that I am actually surprised I finally did.
I am sure it is realistic to a degree but I guess I was expecting and wanting something a little more lighthearted and fun.
This book had its highs and lows but overall I found it to be both depressing and boring.
I had such a hard time getting through it that I am actually surprised I finally did.
I am sure it is realistic to a degree but I guess I was expecting and wanting something a little more lighthearted and fun.
June 25, 2018
I needed a departure from the heavy refugee and immigrant stories I’ve been reading and I chose extremely well with Esme Wells. This is the kind of historic fiction I love, strewn with real people and places, but with a terrific story and a complex protagonist. I love the early Hollywood and Vegas settings and the storytelling which alternated between Esme’s childhood and her present-day Vegas rise. A little dirty, a lot of gangsters, plenty of atmosphere. Light, but not frothy or dumb. Such a great summer read.
March 31, 2018
I just loved this coming of age story about Esme. Her family may not have been a conventional one but it was her family. Her father was a strong presence in her life. Again, he may not have won any "best father of the year" awards but he still loved Esme.
Esme got her beauty from her mother. This proved to be both a good thing and a bad thing. It attracted men like Nate. He had the whole mobster/gangster vibe about him. He is the type that could eat Esme up and spit her out but Esme showed strength until the end.
I was vibing with all of the characters. They really brought to life the story. Thus making it such an easy and enjoyable time reading this book. The Magnificent Esme Wells is a memorable book filled with engaging characters that will stick with you even after the last page has been read!
Esme got her beauty from her mother. This proved to be both a good thing and a bad thing. It attracted men like Nate. He had the whole mobster/gangster vibe about him. He is the type that could eat Esme up and spit her out but Esme showed strength until the end.
I was vibing with all of the characters. They really brought to life the story. Thus making it such an easy and enjoyable time reading this book. The Magnificent Esme Wells is a memorable book filled with engaging characters that will stick with you even after the last page has been read!
March 28, 2018
I was provided a galley from Harper Books in exchange for an honest review.
The Magnificent Esme Wells by Adrienne Sharp was a very enjoyable jaunt into historical fiction. For me personally, this had all of the right ingredients for a strong historical fiction read. The Golden Age of Hollywood. Gangsters. The creation and rise of Las Vegas. Showgirls. It was all morphed into a great fictional account of the time featuring an honest, witty, and intriguing narrator in Esme Wells.
Esme takes the reader between Hollywood and Las Vegas so the story alternates in time. I really liked this feature of the story because part of what Sharp is trying to do is compare the power and crookedness of Hollywood and Vegas; primarily through Hollywood moguls like Louis B. Mayer and casino bosses/gangsters. As much reading as I have done on both of those subjects the comparison, while it seems obvious, did not entirely occur to me until now. They were all immigrants, most were Jewish and they are responsible for their own fortunes. They also, ultimately, experienced sad downfalls of their power.
Along with a fascinating account of Hollywood and Las Vegas, this novel is also a story of dreamers. Esme's parents have dreams. They are lofty dreams that consume them. Dina Wells wants to be one of Louis B. Mayers MGM stars. She is not satisfied with being just another dancer on the lot. She wants her name at the top of the marquee. Ike Silver is looking for money and power. However, he cannot stay away from the race track and his next big win. Both of her parents are desperate to achieve their dreams so much so that they let it consume them. I am not giving away much when I admit that neither of them are huge successes. Despite being along for the ride of constant failure, Esme has her own goals; which involve becoming a Las Vegas star.
I enjoyed this one. I had not really read a historical fiction like this in awhile. I had some heavier topic driven reads before picking this one up so it was nice to follow up with this. However, much to my dismay, Esme's story ends on a sad one. I will not give specifics but I will end by saying that in Vegas...the house always wins.
I will give it a 3.5.
The Magnificent Esme Wells by Adrienne Sharp was a very enjoyable jaunt into historical fiction. For me personally, this had all of the right ingredients for a strong historical fiction read. The Golden Age of Hollywood. Gangsters. The creation and rise of Las Vegas. Showgirls. It was all morphed into a great fictional account of the time featuring an honest, witty, and intriguing narrator in Esme Wells.
Esme takes the reader between Hollywood and Las Vegas so the story alternates in time. I really liked this feature of the story because part of what Sharp is trying to do is compare the power and crookedness of Hollywood and Vegas; primarily through Hollywood moguls like Louis B. Mayer and casino bosses/gangsters. As much reading as I have done on both of those subjects the comparison, while it seems obvious, did not entirely occur to me until now. They were all immigrants, most were Jewish and they are responsible for their own fortunes. They also, ultimately, experienced sad downfalls of their power.
Along with a fascinating account of Hollywood and Las Vegas, this novel is also a story of dreamers. Esme's parents have dreams. They are lofty dreams that consume them. Dina Wells wants to be one of Louis B. Mayers MGM stars. She is not satisfied with being just another dancer on the lot. She wants her name at the top of the marquee. Ike Silver is looking for money and power. However, he cannot stay away from the race track and his next big win. Both of her parents are desperate to achieve their dreams so much so that they let it consume them. I am not giving away much when I admit that neither of them are huge successes. Despite being along for the ride of constant failure, Esme has her own goals; which involve becoming a Las Vegas star.
I enjoyed this one. I had not really read a historical fiction like this in awhile. I had some heavier topic driven reads before picking this one up so it was nice to follow up with this. However, much to my dismay, Esme's story ends on a sad one. I will not give specifics but I will end by saying that in Vegas...the house always wins.
I will give it a 3.5.
November 5, 2025
Ike Wells: Bookie. Gambling addiction.
Dina Wells: Las Vegas Dancer
Esme Wells: Ike & Dina's daughter.
Nate Stein: "Crooked" casino owner. In love with
a much younger Esme.
Had to push myself to get through this book. I hate to DNF any book. Skimmed some parts.
Dina Wells: Las Vegas Dancer
Esme Wells: Ike & Dina's daughter.
Nate Stein: "Crooked" casino owner. In love with
a much younger Esme.
Had to push myself to get through this book. I hate to DNF any book. Skimmed some parts.
September 15, 2019
I'm never actually going to finish this one. I loved the premise and at first I was into Esme and her life but after getting through half of it, I'm bored. I don't feel like Esme ever does anything of her own doing, instead everything just sort of happens to her but not in a fun Forrest Gump way. Halfway through and I don't really know her personality or what the point of this book is.
May 26, 2018
DNF. About five chapters in and Esme's character was screaming total MarySue to me. There was also a lot of famous name-dropping that got old fast. And there wasn't a lot of emotion in Esme's narrative, despite it being told in first person.
Read
September 23, 2018At six, Esme Wells has never attended school, but she has already learned how to take care of her father: accompany him to the racetrack, load up on hot dogs when asked, and keep an eye open for stray tickets that may turn out to be winning bets. When not watching the horses or accompanying her father to pawnshops to pay for his habit, more than once with his wife’s wedding ring, Esme hangs around the Hollywood back lots where her mother, Dina, seeks a screen test and stardom while dancing in Busby Berkeley musicals.
But Esme has dreams of her own. After her father’s criminal ties take them both to Las Vegas, still little more than a blip on the map, and she makes the acquaintance of the gangster Bugsy Siegel, Esme uses her talents as a performer and her considerable female charms to catapult her into a career as a showgirl, gangster’s moll, and burlesque dancer.
In this amoral universe, where the only unforgivable crime is to steal from the bosses, Esme struggles to find happiness while protecting her father from the consequences of his own shortsightedness. In The Magnificent Esme Wells Adrienne Sharp’s richly evocative prose pulls us into the sun-drenched, money-hungry world of Hollywood and Las Vegas in the 1930s and 1940s, with all its heroes, villains, and people just trying to get by. The consequences of the resulting clashes of personalities and ambitions will haunt you for days.
Interview with Adrienne Sharp at New Books in Historical Fiction.
But Esme has dreams of her own. After her father’s criminal ties take them both to Las Vegas, still little more than a blip on the map, and she makes the acquaintance of the gangster Bugsy Siegel, Esme uses her talents as a performer and her considerable female charms to catapult her into a career as a showgirl, gangster’s moll, and burlesque dancer.
In this amoral universe, where the only unforgivable crime is to steal from the bosses, Esme struggles to find happiness while protecting her father from the consequences of his own shortsightedness. In The Magnificent Esme Wells Adrienne Sharp’s richly evocative prose pulls us into the sun-drenched, money-hungry world of Hollywood and Las Vegas in the 1930s and 1940s, with all its heroes, villains, and people just trying to get by. The consequences of the resulting clashes of personalities and ambitions will haunt you for days.
Interview with Adrienne Sharp at New Books in Historical Fiction.
October 6, 2019
This book was...not good. Unfortunately. I received it for free as part of a prize pack, so I can't be too bummed. The founding of Las Vegas seemed like an interesting topic, and one I didn't know much about, so I thought I couldn't go wrong. But man, this was dull as dirt.
I don't think it served the story well to alternate between two time periods. There wasn't enough suspense in either one of them for me to care or get excited when we flipped back to one time period or the other. The scene with the mother's death was awful, but the mom was such a mean, selfish character, I didn't feel it too much, other than the abject horror/cringe factor.
The book picks up in the last 1/4 or so, but even then, it's too much name dropping of random mobsters and too much unnecessary description that doesn't serve to either move the plot along or further develop the characters.
The ending is lackluster. It's vague and you don't even feel like rooting for Esme by then. You're just like, "Oh, it's over? Phew."
I don't think it served the story well to alternate between two time periods. There wasn't enough suspense in either one of them for me to care or get excited when we flipped back to one time period or the other. The scene with the mother's death was awful, but the mom was such a mean, selfish character, I didn't feel it too much, other than the abject horror/cringe factor.
The book picks up in the last 1/4 or so, but even then, it's too much name dropping of random mobsters and too much unnecessary description that doesn't serve to either move the plot along or further develop the characters.
The ending is lackluster. It's vague and you don't even feel like rooting for Esme by then. You're just like, "Oh, it's over? Phew."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2018
A dark coming of age story set in Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the 1940's and 1950's. Esme Wells is the young daughter of feckless parents - a mother who dreams of being a movie star, but never emerges from a Busby Berkley chorus line and a father who is a small time failed gambler and gangster wannabe. Uneducated and not very well cared for, Esme is also ambitious, but it's a warped ambition of the bright lights of the movie studios and the neon glitter of Vegas.
After her mother dies of a botch abortion, Esme and her father hook up with Bugsy Siegel and move to Las Vegas and into his famous Flamingo hotel. There Esme, now as beautiful as her mother one was attracts the attention of one of the most powerful (and dangerous) men on the strip. When Bugsy is killed, this man holds the key to Esme's success.
But is it worth it? Jaded at 21, and confronted with one more brutal death, she finally (maybe) finds the strength to walk away. Well written, but depressing.
After her mother dies of a botch abortion, Esme and her father hook up with Bugsy Siegel and move to Las Vegas and into his famous Flamingo hotel. There Esme, now as beautiful as her mother one was attracts the attention of one of the most powerful (and dangerous) men on the strip. When Bugsy is killed, this man holds the key to Esme's success.
But is it worth it? Jaded at 21, and confronted with one more brutal death, she finally (maybe) finds the strength to walk away. Well written, but depressing.
March 31, 2018
Esme Wells grew up with scam artists for parents, especially her father. Her mother suffered from various mental issues, so often she was with her dad.
Her dad took her to the race tracks and then to Vegas when he was to help build the Flamingo Club. Of course things don’t go as planned and Esme has to help bail her dad out multiple times. Esme falls in with the wrong man herself which has consequences even she couldn’t imagine.
Her dad took her to the race tracks and then to Vegas when he was to help build the Flamingo Club. Of course things don’t go as planned and Esme has to help bail her dad out multiple times. Esme falls in with the wrong man herself which has consequences even she couldn’t imagine.
July 27, 2018
Gritty historical fiction about the early years in Las Vegas as told by Esme, daughter of an LA/La Vegas wannabe mobster and a Hollywood movie extra/songstress. The plot certainly pounds the idea that you have to go-along to get-along as fortunes rise and fall with the success and failure of hotels, housing subdivisions, and more. The history is interesting but the characters are pretty darn tragic.
August 4, 2025
I'm not sure how I feel about that ending... incomplete? a little dissatisfied? Otherwise, a good book. I like the mix of real events with fiction which made visualizing the story that much easier. But man, that ending just needed more.
April 5, 2018
I received an uncorrected proof copy of this novel from HarperCollins.
In this novel, Esme Wells tells her story of growing up in golden-age Hollywood in the 1930s and Las Vegas in its early days in the late 1940s and 1950s. Told in alternating chapters between Hollywood, where Esme spent her young childhood and Las Vegas, where she came of age, Esme describes her family's scrappy existence: her mother constantly seeking Hollywood fame that alluded her and her father always hoping to make it rich through gambling and serving as a gopher to more powerful mobsters. Esme's coming of age story is one of constant pursuit of the American dream, as well as the dark underbelly of the search for fame and fortune.
It was an interesting choice to have Esme narrate her own story in two narrative threads rather than chronologically. Not only did this allow Sharp to build momentum in the two separate periods of Esme's life, but it also makes it starkly clear how distinctly Esme's life is broken into separate periods. When Esme and her father leave Hollywood, in many ways Esme leaves behind her childhood and enters a new phase of heightened subterfuge, of fudging on her age to serve cocktails and dance in shows, of interacting with powerful men who kill those that have displeased them.
Sharp did a great job of crafting a narration that generates sympathy for Esme without the character herself exuding self-pity. It's very clear that her childhood was overwhelmed by a mother who had motherhood foisted upon her and that Esme was largely neglected, a reality that is revealed through details such as Esme sharing that the lady who sold hotdogs at the racetrack "even washed my face with a soapy dish towel" (36). Despite her parents' overwhelming attention being on their own individual pursuits, Esme comes across as a devoted girl who delights in making her family happy. In comparison to her life in Vegas, where Esme must use her face and body to survive, this early and troubled childhood comes across as a fantasy time.
This novel was well researched and covers an interesting time in history with the rise of Las Vegas and the Jewish mafia. And yet, there was something missing from this novel for me. The characters lacked depth and emotional complexity, especially her parents who loom large in the novel and should feel well fleshed out. Esme feels very passive and relays her story and her choices without a real sense of emotional response to any of it. Overall the novel was well written and well researched, just missing more vivid characterization
In this novel, Esme Wells tells her story of growing up in golden-age Hollywood in the 1930s and Las Vegas in its early days in the late 1940s and 1950s. Told in alternating chapters between Hollywood, where Esme spent her young childhood and Las Vegas, where she came of age, Esme describes her family's scrappy existence: her mother constantly seeking Hollywood fame that alluded her and her father always hoping to make it rich through gambling and serving as a gopher to more powerful mobsters. Esme's coming of age story is one of constant pursuit of the American dream, as well as the dark underbelly of the search for fame and fortune.
It was an interesting choice to have Esme narrate her own story in two narrative threads rather than chronologically. Not only did this allow Sharp to build momentum in the two separate periods of Esme's life, but it also makes it starkly clear how distinctly Esme's life is broken into separate periods. When Esme and her father leave Hollywood, in many ways Esme leaves behind her childhood and enters a new phase of heightened subterfuge, of fudging on her age to serve cocktails and dance in shows, of interacting with powerful men who kill those that have displeased them.
Sharp did a great job of crafting a narration that generates sympathy for Esme without the character herself exuding self-pity. It's very clear that her childhood was overwhelmed by a mother who had motherhood foisted upon her and that Esme was largely neglected, a reality that is revealed through details such as Esme sharing that the lady who sold hotdogs at the racetrack "even washed my face with a soapy dish towel" (36). Despite her parents' overwhelming attention being on their own individual pursuits, Esme comes across as a devoted girl who delights in making her family happy. In comparison to her life in Vegas, where Esme must use her face and body to survive, this early and troubled childhood comes across as a fantasy time.
This novel was well researched and covers an interesting time in history with the rise of Las Vegas and the Jewish mafia. And yet, there was something missing from this novel for me. The characters lacked depth and emotional complexity, especially her parents who loom large in the novel and should feel well fleshed out. Esme feels very passive and relays her story and her choices without a real sense of emotional response to any of it. Overall the novel was well written and well researched, just missing more vivid characterization
dnf
March 1, 2021DNF @21%
2018; Harper/HarperCollins
I could not get into this book, even trying on audio, so I have decided not to force one. I think I was just expecting a bit more to the writing and plot.
***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***
2018; Harper/HarperCollins
I could not get into this book, even trying on audio, so I have decided not to force one. I think I was just expecting a bit more to the writing and plot.
***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***
December 31, 2018
Interesting, with mishmash history of Las Vegas, which made me more interested to learn the real history...felt like I should be more sympathetic to the main character, but I never really was drawn in as much as I had hoped
March 14, 2018
Round up to 3.5 stars. Not bad, but parts were slower than I would have liked them to be. Review to come at AAR.
March 27, 2018
The subject matter was very interesting but I felt the writing and or maybe the editing was lacking.
June 21, 2018
I found it slow and boring. Kept waiting for more action.
August 1, 2018
Too much description and really lacked lovable characters.
February 21, 2019
Great book
Weird ending
Weird ending
May 30, 2019
A bit slow moving did not get interesting till 3/4 in
June 13, 2018
Parents who neglect their children might still provide them with a powerful education, as Adrienne Sharp’s new novel illustrates in stunning and heartbreaking prose. Esme Wells, the first-person narrator of The Magnificent Esme Wells, is a devoted student of her parents’ aspirations – her mother dreams as her father schemes. Her mother, Dina Wells, dreams of the screen test that will transport her from the dance line into glow of the big screen as an authentic actress. Ike Silver schemes to make it big financially – through gambling, first on horse races and then at casino tables in Las Vegas, or more legitimately, with a taxi business one day. Dina and Ike ferry Esme around with them as they grow their hopes and aspirations.
As neglectful parents, Dina and Ike fail to enroll Esme in school or give her the normal kind of routine that children thrive on. Yet the reader can’t help but absorb in her narration the intense love and devotion Esme feels for her parents as she observes them and cajoles and performs to seek their approval. In one notable scene taking place early in the narrative, Ike drives to the top of Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, where he, Dina, and Esme sometimes park and look down at the lights of the city. Esme allows herself an odd flight of fancy about the ghost of a Hollywood starlet wannabe who jumps off the “H” of the Hollywood sign, something that Esme can view out the window of the back seat of the car she sits in. But she calms herself with the view of her parents, “the two of them sitting side by side on the hood, my father’s arm about my mother’s shoulders, keeping her there and nowhere else, their bodies silhouetted against the yellow city lights that winked before them and the white stars that had begun to offer their light from above.” After a moment, Esme knocks on the windscreen, “wanting to be part of that embrace.” Her mother responds by kissing the windscreen. For that moment, Esme feels wrapped in an extension of their love, and for that moment also, she is buoyed up by the hope and possibility that have infused the life her parents seek. While she may not be the center of their universe, she makes herself effervescent in their lives and affection.
In addition to the focus on familial dynamics and the quest for success, this novel captures the pungent landscapes of Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the late 1940’s and early fifties. Sharp paints in alternately colorful and stark terms the intricacies of the period. An early scene depicts a meeting of Nazi sympathizers, a meeting which Esme stumbles into after hiding in the back seat of her father’s car to follow him on an adventure. In the chaos of the meeting, she becomes the blonde-haired, blue-eyed seeming Aryan child seized upon by audience members before the anti-Nazi protestors enter the hall, her father among them.
Throughout the novel, Esme observes at close quarters the brutalities of the Jewish mobsters who are trying to climb to the top of the Los Angeles and Las Vegas money heaps. Yet her sometimes naïve observations about the men in her father’s life and their work are juxtaposed with a spate of misfortune that threatens the stability of her own nuclear family. And the novel flashes on Jews in crisis on another continent even as it presents Jews behaving badly in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, all through the eyes of Esme, whose narration, while primarily reliable, is infused with empathy for her parents, who have engendered in her their same dreaming and scrabbling temperament.
The newly minted adult Esme begins a relationship with the powerful Nate Stein, a relationship that serves as the learning curve she must ride before she comprehends how dark the moment of a dream’s dissolution can be. With vivid settings in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and a historical look at World-War II issues resonating to the present time, The Magnificent Esme Wells provides a long, thoughtful drink about what it means to seek out hope and light in the new desert world where the rules change as often as the players, where the wolves you know may be just as dangerous as the ones outside your door.
As neglectful parents, Dina and Ike fail to enroll Esme in school or give her the normal kind of routine that children thrive on. Yet the reader can’t help but absorb in her narration the intense love and devotion Esme feels for her parents as she observes them and cajoles and performs to seek their approval. In one notable scene taking place early in the narrative, Ike drives to the top of Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, where he, Dina, and Esme sometimes park and look down at the lights of the city. Esme allows herself an odd flight of fancy about the ghost of a Hollywood starlet wannabe who jumps off the “H” of the Hollywood sign, something that Esme can view out the window of the back seat of the car she sits in. But she calms herself with the view of her parents, “the two of them sitting side by side on the hood, my father’s arm about my mother’s shoulders, keeping her there and nowhere else, their bodies silhouetted against the yellow city lights that winked before them and the white stars that had begun to offer their light from above.” After a moment, Esme knocks on the windscreen, “wanting to be part of that embrace.” Her mother responds by kissing the windscreen. For that moment, Esme feels wrapped in an extension of their love, and for that moment also, she is buoyed up by the hope and possibility that have infused the life her parents seek. While she may not be the center of their universe, she makes herself effervescent in their lives and affection.
In addition to the focus on familial dynamics and the quest for success, this novel captures the pungent landscapes of Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the late 1940’s and early fifties. Sharp paints in alternately colorful and stark terms the intricacies of the period. An early scene depicts a meeting of Nazi sympathizers, a meeting which Esme stumbles into after hiding in the back seat of her father’s car to follow him on an adventure. In the chaos of the meeting, she becomes the blonde-haired, blue-eyed seeming Aryan child seized upon by audience members before the anti-Nazi protestors enter the hall, her father among them.
Throughout the novel, Esme observes at close quarters the brutalities of the Jewish mobsters who are trying to climb to the top of the Los Angeles and Las Vegas money heaps. Yet her sometimes naïve observations about the men in her father’s life and their work are juxtaposed with a spate of misfortune that threatens the stability of her own nuclear family. And the novel flashes on Jews in crisis on another continent even as it presents Jews behaving badly in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, all through the eyes of Esme, whose narration, while primarily reliable, is infused with empathy for her parents, who have engendered in her their same dreaming and scrabbling temperament.
The newly minted adult Esme begins a relationship with the powerful Nate Stein, a relationship that serves as the learning curve she must ride before she comprehends how dark the moment of a dream’s dissolution can be. With vivid settings in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and a historical look at World-War II issues resonating to the present time, The Magnificent Esme Wells provides a long, thoughtful drink about what it means to seek out hope and light in the new desert world where the rules change as often as the players, where the wolves you know may be just as dangerous as the ones outside your door.
April 12, 2018
I feel that I should preface this review with a full disclosure that I have a great amount of love and nostalgia for Las Vegas. I first traveled there with my mom for my 21st birthday many years ago (over two decades, gah) and going once or twice a year thereafter for at least ten years. I remember visiting several of the hotels featured in the novel, most which no longer exist. It's not high on my travel priority list anymore, but I think on it fondly and love most things associated with the City of Lights.
Esme is a powerful narrator with a distinct voice. Sharp renders her with such strength and courage, while being one of the most tragic characters I've read in a long time. A dual timeline is employed to great effect, slowly gathering tension towards the conclusion of her mother's story in Hollywood during Esme's childhood, and the conclusion of her own story in Las Vegas as a young woman. I found myself more engaged with Esme as an adult in Vegas. Although I am a fan of old Hollywood historical fiction (see also: Beautiful Ruins, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and films like L.A. Confidential), the Hollywood storyline is centered around Esme's parents and upbringing which are both deplorable. The early part of the novel focuses heavily on this period, so it took awhile to warm up. Once things turn more towards her coming of age, and the crises Esme faces during the fascinating coming of age of Las Vegas, I began turning the pages in rapid succession, desperate to learn of her fate.
"I didn't know yet how these men were protective of little girls but preyed upon them when they grew up. But you couldn't stop growing up. The transition from girlhood to womanhood turned on a pivot. One day you were a child and then, all at once, you weren't."
Esme's narration feels almost as if she is an outside observer to her own life. One could take that as detachment, but I thought that it lent even more empathy towards her character because she was clearly not in control of her life for much of the novel. And many of the circumstances in which she had to bear witness were so tragic that her detachment can be seen as a defense mechanism, the most pivotal of which is disclosed near the end of the novel and it brought tears to my eyes. Overall, it was darker than I had anticipated, yet a mesmerizing read.
Many thanks to the great people at Harper Books for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
For more reviews and bookish musings visit: http://www.bornandreadinchicago.com/
Esme is a powerful narrator with a distinct voice. Sharp renders her with such strength and courage, while being one of the most tragic characters I've read in a long time. A dual timeline is employed to great effect, slowly gathering tension towards the conclusion of her mother's story in Hollywood during Esme's childhood, and the conclusion of her own story in Las Vegas as a young woman. I found myself more engaged with Esme as an adult in Vegas. Although I am a fan of old Hollywood historical fiction (see also: Beautiful Ruins, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and films like L.A. Confidential), the Hollywood storyline is centered around Esme's parents and upbringing which are both deplorable. The early part of the novel focuses heavily on this period, so it took awhile to warm up. Once things turn more towards her coming of age, and the crises Esme faces during the fascinating coming of age of Las Vegas, I began turning the pages in rapid succession, desperate to learn of her fate.
"I didn't know yet how these men were protective of little girls but preyed upon them when they grew up. But you couldn't stop growing up. The transition from girlhood to womanhood turned on a pivot. One day you were a child and then, all at once, you weren't."
Esme's narration feels almost as if she is an outside observer to her own life. One could take that as detachment, but I thought that it lent even more empathy towards her character because she was clearly not in control of her life for much of the novel. And many of the circumstances in which she had to bear witness were so tragic that her detachment can be seen as a defense mechanism, the most pivotal of which is disclosed near the end of the novel and it brought tears to my eyes. Overall, it was darker than I had anticipated, yet a mesmerizing read.
Many thanks to the great people at Harper Books for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
For more reviews and bookish musings visit: http://www.bornandreadinchicago.com/
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews