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Queen of the Underworld
Here at last is the eagerly awaited new novel from New York Times bestselling author Gail Godwin. Queen of the Underworld is sweeping and sultry literary fiction, featuring a memorable young heroine and engaging characters whose intimate dramas interconnect with hers.
In the summer of 1959, as Castro clamps down on Cuba and its first wave of exiles flees to the States to wait out what they hope to be his short-lived reign, Emma Gant, fresh out of college, begins her career as a reporter. Her fierce ambition and belief in herself are set against the stories swirling around her, both at the newspaper office and in her downtown Miami hotel, which is filling up with refugees.
Emma's avid curiosity about life thrives amid the tropical charms and intrigues of Miami. While toiling at the news desk, she plans the fictional stories she will write in her spare time. She spends her nights getting to know the Cuban families in her hotel-and rendezvousing with her married lover, Paul Nightingale, owner of a private Miami Beach club.
As Emma experiences the historical events enveloping the city, she trains her perceptive eye on the people surrounding her: a newfound Cuban friend who joins the covert anti-Castro training brigade, a gambling racketeer who poses a grave threat to Paul, and a former madam, still in her twenties, who becomes both Emma's obsession and her alter ego. Emma's life, like a complicated dance that keeps sweeping her off her balance, is suddenly filled with divided loyalties, shady dealings, romantic and professional setbacks, and, throughout, her adamant determination to avoid "usurpation" by others and remain the protagonist of her own quest. "From the Hardcover edition."
In the summer of 1959, as Castro clamps down on Cuba and its first wave of exiles flees to the States to wait out what they hope to be his short-lived reign, Emma Gant, fresh out of college, begins her career as a reporter. Her fierce ambition and belief in herself are set against the stories swirling around her, both at the newspaper office and in her downtown Miami hotel, which is filling up with refugees.
Emma's avid curiosity about life thrives amid the tropical charms and intrigues of Miami. While toiling at the news desk, she plans the fictional stories she will write in her spare time. She spends her nights getting to know the Cuban families in her hotel-and rendezvousing with her married lover, Paul Nightingale, owner of a private Miami Beach club.
As Emma experiences the historical events enveloping the city, she trains her perceptive eye on the people surrounding her: a newfound Cuban friend who joins the covert anti-Castro training brigade, a gambling racketeer who poses a grave threat to Paul, and a former madam, still in her twenties, who becomes both Emma's obsession and her alter ego. Emma's life, like a complicated dance that keeps sweeping her off her balance, is suddenly filled with divided loyalties, shady dealings, romantic and professional setbacks, and, throughout, her adamant determination to avoid "usurpation" by others and remain the protagonist of her own quest. "From the Hardcover edition."
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Gail Godwin
60 books396 followersGail Kathleen Godwin is an American novelist and short story writer. She has published one non-fiction work, two collections of short stories, and eleven novels, three of which have been nominated for the National Book Award and five of which have made the New York Times Bestseller List.
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times best seller list.
Godwin lives and writes in Woodstock, New York.
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times best seller list.
Godwin lives and writes in Woodstock, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
June 28, 2020
3.5 stars. Budding reporter Emma Gant has gumption. Her professor taught her well. She had her own column in the campus newspaper. She is a quick study and self-motivated. She has a lively imagination but thinks the world revolves around her. Fresh from graduating from college with a degree in journalism, she arrives in Miami in 1959. Her ambition is to be a Pulitzer winning journalist and write a novel. Staying at a Cuban-run hotel, socializing with her Aunt Tess, and having an affair with Paul Nightingale, her former employer, she does not let the dust settle. Over ten days, she quickly becomes intrigued with Ginevra Brown, the Queen of the Underworld (the former teenaged madam from Georgia); jealous of her fellow journalists who got to write the stores she should have narrated (even if she was still in high school), encounters the Miami Beach Mafia, and socializes with the newly arrived Cuban refugees fleeing from Castro. There is a strong sense of time and place in Miami and Miami Beach during this time. However, I didn’t like the ending and found her a little too self-absorbed.
January 21, 2017
'Queen of the Underworld' never pulls together, never condenses into a single focus. The book seems like a cross between a diary with pages torn out at the end and a coming-of-age story that loses that thread mid-way and meanders off in dead ends.
On top of those puzzling plot cutoffs, the author Gail Godwin inserted bizarre pointless Mitty-like imaginings of what might have happened to people that the main character Emma Gant indulges in, daydreams which I kept waiting for to have some kind of reason for being there but never did. Plus I began to dislike this young woman as the novel went on. Her ambition and overcoming childhood difficulties initially won me, but then she reveals herself to be an idiot 23 year old, whose ambition appears to swamp every part of her life. She also appears to be stuck in her thinking at ten years of age.
What is so sad is there was at least the beginning and middle of two or three great books here. The various plot threads of the Cuban revolution and refugees flooding Florida, the young college graduate with her new newspaper reporter job in 1959, the affair with a married Jewish hotel owner, the character Queen of the Underworld, who the reporter feels an affinity with (WHY???), the Cuban Mafia invading Florida - all excellent possible avenues for terrific novels but none of them followed up on to a conclusion in this book. If this was a first in a trilogy it was pretty awful as a lead-in. Why was this unfinished mess released?
On top of those puzzling plot cutoffs, the author Gail Godwin inserted bizarre pointless Mitty-like imaginings of what might have happened to people that the main character Emma Gant indulges in, daydreams which I kept waiting for to have some kind of reason for being there but never did. Plus I began to dislike this young woman as the novel went on. Her ambition and overcoming childhood difficulties initially won me, but then she reveals herself to be an idiot 23 year old, whose ambition appears to swamp every part of her life. She also appears to be stuck in her thinking at ten years of age.
What is so sad is there was at least the beginning and middle of two or three great books here. The various plot threads of the Cuban revolution and refugees flooding Florida, the young college graduate with her new newspaper reporter job in 1959, the affair with a married Jewish hotel owner, the character Queen of the Underworld, who the reporter feels an affinity with (WHY???), the Cuban Mafia invading Florida - all excellent possible avenues for terrific novels but none of them followed up on to a conclusion in this book. If this was a first in a trilogy it was pretty awful as a lead-in. Why was this unfinished mess released?
July 12, 2012
I see why people feel that this book lacks focus in terms of a central story line. But that's exactly why I loved it. Emma Gant is the storyline and her growth and exploration are what pulls the reader along. The many different facets of the plot, including the Cuban revolution provide a perfect backdrop for a rich, lively, and unpretentious young heroine. If you are looking for a detailed historical fiction, a suspenseful scandal story, or a profound romance, then you may be disappointed - but only because this book contains all three, and therefore cannot fulfill any subplot with the completeness some readers may expect. However this did not bother me. I do not mind that the story feels unresolved at the end, because Emma's story is just unfolding and that is the essence of this book.
The effortless flow of Godwin's prose made this an easy joy of a read, and every aspect of the characters and story was rich in it's unbiased simplicity. Simply put: lovely.
The effortless flow of Godwin's prose made this an easy joy of a read, and every aspect of the characters and story was rich in it's unbiased simplicity. Simply put: lovely.
June 30, 2007
I had high hopes for this, since I'd really enjoyed Gail Godwin's Father Melancholy's Daughter, but I was not at all impressed. The narrator is not particularly sympathetic or believable (you're complaining about what assignments you're given on your first day working at a newspaper after graduating from college? whatever) and pretty much none of the plot lines are resolved in the slightest by the end of the book.
March 24, 2010
Normally I like Gail Godwin. Not this time. This one felt both unedited and pointless. There was a lot of repetition, giving information about something that we'd all ready read--- and given in the identical way, as if the passage had been cut and pasted from one section of the book to the other. And no resolution to particular story lines. Too bad. A disappointment from an otherwise fine writer.
February 26, 2013
I have loved many of Gail Godwin's other books, but this one somehow isn't in the same league as "A Southern Family" and "Father Melancholy's Daughter." Nevertheless, it was a very interesting portrait of life in Miami in 1959 when the heroine, fresh from Chapel Hill, arrives in Miami to start a job as a reporter. Her aunt finds her a place to stay in a residential hotel on Miami Beach that happens to be a magnet for wealthy Cuban refugees from Castro.
I probably could give it 4 stars for engaging subject matter; it just doesn't have the same amount of character development that I've come to expect from her.
I probably could give it 4 stars for engaging subject matter; it just doesn't have the same amount of character development that I've come to expect from her.
May 31, 2018
I enjoyed this but found the ending severely disappointing. Emma, the narrator, sets out on a career as a journalist in Miami at the time of the Cuban crisis, ending up in a hotel full of Cuban exiles. The characters are deftly outlined and the newspaper background seems authentic. Emma has an unlikely first week, with several successes, making a strong impression on the paper's staff but at the end is shunted off to a satellite paper away from the action and the story tails off with various plot ends waving in the breeze. Too much dialogue in Spanish and some oddly repetitive passages also marred my overall enjoyment.
December 25, 2008
Utterly disappointing. The central character was white bread vanilla, though she made noises about amounting to something. all the interesting characters swirled around her, but with not enough face time in the story. I was left hanging as to what happened to everyone. Feh.
A couple of good points about the book though: It filled me in on Miami history and the Cuban revolution at the time it was happening and I learned a lot about perfume making (though not so much about newspaper writing.)
A couple of good points about the book though: It filled me in on Miami history and the Cuban revolution at the time it was happening and I learned a lot about perfume making (though not so much about newspaper writing.)
April 5, 2010
I know that Gail Godwin's name is on the cover but I'm struggling to believe she wrote this. My Gail Goodwin can spin phrases that stop me in my tracks. The depth of her characters blows me away. That's why I can't believe she wrote this book. The only thing positive is that she used a straight forward newspaper style. The style works in this context because the heroine is a new college grad in her first week as reporter. It's appropriate but not engaging. I don't have to be afraid of spoilers because nothing of note happens in this book.
June 24, 2014
I love Gail Godwin, but this is not my favorite. I loved what I learned about Miami and the way it was being affected by the Cuban Revolution in real time. The repetition was annoying--a couple reminiscing about how they met, followed a few chapters later by a flashback to how they met which gives the same information--or information we already knew then written in a letter. Also, too much of the story's information is conveyed through dialogue--in fact, almost all of the action takes place through dialogue, which is a cheat on the show-don't-tell maxim. It's a way of telling us without actually making something happen. I thought one line of dialogue followed by a summary, such as "I told him how this that and the other thing happened," would have been more graceful. Vs. people talking in entire paragraphs, recounting their whole life story. I suppose you could make a case that she's a reporter, and quotes are important, as are multiple sources, but meh. Didn't work, IMO.
The unresolved story--I could have dealt with that except I couldn't tell whether she was going to pull out of things or not.
But the descriptions are vivid, I learned a bunch of stuff I didn't know, and I liked the main character very much--someone who has been through a lot to get where she is, and is very ambitious and impatient.
It was also interesting to get this snapshot of life in the late 50s. Apparently people didn't have to get to work till about 9:30, which gave them lots of time to make themselves look perfect, they took real lunch breaks, and they mostly left work at a reasonable time.
Huh.
The unresolved story--I could have dealt with that except I couldn't tell whether she was going to pull out of things or not.
But the descriptions are vivid, I learned a bunch of stuff I didn't know, and I liked the main character very much--someone who has been through a lot to get where she is, and is very ambitious and impatient.
It was also interesting to get this snapshot of life in the late 50s. Apparently people didn't have to get to work till about 9:30, which gave them lots of time to make themselves look perfect, they took real lunch breaks, and they mostly left work at a reasonable time.
Huh.
Read
January 9, 2014I had the audio version of this book, so my inability to finish had as much, or more, to do with problems with the format than with the qualities of the book, itself. When changing from disk to disk (even though it was an electronic download rather than actual disks) it seemed to skip entire sections of the story. There was enough revisiting of previously detailed scenes that I was never quite sure whether there was actual skipping, or whether the author was using sudden stops in the action, and skipping to entirely different scenes as a stylistic point, given that there was some suggestion that the narrator was journaling her experiences, an activity that sometimes does involve suddenly stopping writing, and picking up at a different place later on.
That said, I found the narrator annoying and, to some extent, unbelievable. Whether I would have found her so if I had been reading from a book rather than listening to the audio, I can't say. I think I will have to get the book and try reading it to myself and find out, as the story about what was going on in Miami in the wake of the Cuban Revolution promises to be interesting, regardless of whether I like the person telling the story.
That said, I found the narrator annoying and, to some extent, unbelievable. Whether I would have found her so if I had been reading from a book rather than listening to the audio, I can't say. I think I will have to get the book and try reading it to myself and find out, as the story about what was going on in Miami in the wake of the Cuban Revolution promises to be interesting, regardless of whether I like the person telling the story.
September 14, 2011
“Queen of the Underworld” is Gail Godwin’s highly anticipated novel that centers on a female protagonist with naïve tendencies. As a Florida Native and Gail Godwin enthusiast, I was very jazzed about reading this. However I had a hard time connecting to the characters and plots. Emma Gant a flighty young southern author who makes her way to the debauchery that is Miami to spend time working for pennies as a newspaper reporter. Her dream of becoming a writer is quickly overshadowed with her Jane Austen tendencies. Hence the cleverly chosen name, “Emma”; she is naïve, easily persuaded, and always in the wrong kind of business. She is incredible hard to love although remarkably likeable or at least has the ability to insight sympathy. Straight out of college and chasing a forty-year-old married man essentially lands her in Miami with no money, living in a Cuban refugee hotel, befriending ex madams with the nickname “Queen of the Underworld”. It is an interesting novel written by a fabulous writer, however it needs some finishing. The main character is questionable and plot has a hard time coming full circle.
Read
July 26, 2021I didn't give this book much of a chance. Life's too short to read fiction that doesn't grab you. I accidentally bought it at a used book store because I mixed up the author with Gail Caldwell, whom I like a lot.
Since Queen of the Underworld is billed as being all about an ambitious young female reporter and how much the reader will love her, when I found myself disliking her, I knew it was time to move on. She's not endearing, she's obnoxious. IMHO. :-) I didn't have the patience to wade through page after page of a torrid love affair with a married man and petty workplace jealousies to get to the promised tales of corruption, Cuban politics, and the Miami mafia. I won't rate the book, that's not fair.
Since Queen of the Underworld is billed as being all about an ambitious young female reporter and how much the reader will love her, when I found myself disliking her, I knew it was time to move on. She's not endearing, she's obnoxious. IMHO. :-) I didn't have the patience to wade through page after page of a torrid love affair with a married man and petty workplace jealousies to get to the promised tales of corruption, Cuban politics, and the Miami mafia. I won't rate the book, that's not fair.
April 3, 2020
Under normal circumstances I probably would not have finished this book or written a review. But these are not normal times. I enjoyed both Grief Cottage and Flora, but this book left me cold. A trite story line (the Queen of the Underworld was hardly the main focus of the book) and a main character that tried hard but was hardly sympathetic. I’d skip this novel unless you have nothing else to read.
June 29, 2019
Didn't get it at all. At first I thought it was supposed to be satire about a young woman who is full of herself and insecure and how she responds to life being thrown at her. I don't think it was supposed to be funny but there was not much plot and the characters all seemed shallow and uninteresting.
February 26, 2013
Very boring and I hated the voice of the narrator. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen and more than half way through nothing had and I couldn't think of why I wanted to keep reading so I stopped.
June 21, 2018
I couldn't even finish this, and that's rare for me. I WANTED to like it since the main character is a journalist, but I just couldn't. I spent the entire time rolling my eyes at her so hard that I thought they'd get stuck. After a while I decided life was too short to keep that up.
September 24, 2018
I have read several of Godwin's books over the years and found this one in my Little Free Library so thought I'd give it a try. Well, I have to say, it wasn't one of her best. It might have been close to the first book she wrote but I'm not sure. She's a pretty good writer - all feels "real" - but I was surprised that she repeated herself several times in the book, going over things she had already written, like maybe the reader forgot those parts and had to be reminded. The only thing that did was confuse me as I would think, "I've already read this. Did I inadvertently put my bookmark in the wrong place?" She also loved the word usurp so used it in many forms throughout the book. That can be forgiven. But when she used a word to describe a character's temperment (termagant) and used it 4 more times in the same paragraph, describing her daughters as so like her, I thought that was going too far. The main reason I finished the book (a book has to be pretty bad for me to give up on it but I find myself doing that more and more as I grow older) is because I wanted to discover if Emma, the main character, gave up on her affair with a married man 20 years older than she was, because she knew it was wrong and most likely would never work out, as if he divorced/married her, he could do the same thing to her. However, the end was wrapped up very neatly w/o ever going in that direction so that part was left up to the readers.
May 6, 2024
I picked up a book of Gail Godwin's early journals about her writing at the library and then I decided to take out one of her books. I started reading the journals and decided they weren't worth the time and set that aside to read this book. Because I recognized her name as an author, I expected this to be a good read, and I was disappointed. It is a story of a young reporter starting out at a newspaper in Miami during the Cuban crisis in the sixties. Some of the story was interesting, especially about wealthy Cubans living in hotels waiting out Castro so they could return to Cuba and resume their lives. As time went on, many had to resort to menial jobs in order to stay afloat. The story of the young reporter, however, struck me as contrived and overall, I did not think the book was very well written. There were too many characters and back stories and it was not all that engaging.
June 9, 2020
I’ve just read the final page of “Queen of the Underworld” and want to shout, “Is that it?” It’s been a real joy following the innermost thoughts and new discoveries of the fine creation Emma Gant as she settles into life as a new journo on the Miami Star. There’s a sharp sense of time and place, well described by Gail Godwin. The other characters are full of life too. And there’s a strong narrative - just what will happen? All thwarted by the fourth and final part of the novel. I’m left totally flat....
July 7, 2022
So this book read quickly. I quite enjoyed reading about the newspaper business. I did NOT enjoy Emma's relationship with Paul. I thought she was being really dumb to engage in that and limiting herself. I like to think that Emma in the future would end it and find someone else.
The story of the Cuban refugees was really compelling and I didn't want it to end, even though we know what happens to them. I also really want to know how life ended up for Genevra.
I liked this book in spite of myself.
The story of the Cuban refugees was really compelling and I didn't want it to end, even though we know what happens to them. I also really want to know how life ended up for Genevra.
I liked this book in spite of myself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2022
About 30 years ago, I had back surgery. I had taken "A Mother and Two Daughters" by Gail Godwin out of the library to get me through a few days in bed. I don't remember the story, but I remember thinking I needed to read every book by this fabulous author. So what a disappointment this book turned out to be. The story was all over the place and nothing really seemed to get tied up in the end. It seemed like she didn't know how to bring closure to any of the subplots. I found it boring and I just plowed through to get done.
July 21, 2017
Really I would give it two and a half stars. It starts out good and the peak into an old newsroom is really interesting. But in the latter part of the book the storyline gets repetitive and just sort of meanders until reaching the end page.
January 29, 2018
I really enjoyed reading about this time period in Miami, and really admire Gail Godwin as a writer. Very well written and full of interesting characters. My only complaint is that in the end, it just sort of fizzles out.
May 19, 2018
I wanted to like this book but the story wandered all over to the point I quit much caring about the characters. It's not awful, but it's not great either. Disappointed because I usually enjoy her books.
August 12, 2021
Have enjoyed Gail Godwin in the past. Was really loving the first half, but then things were spiraling downhill and then it just ended. Strange. I wanted to like it but the abrupt ending makes me feel like the story is unfinished. Why publish a novel in this condition?
October 1, 2021
Character Studies
Definitely neither action-adventure nor mystery story, this volume offers a snapshot of a unique time (1950s), and place (Florida:) during the period leading up to. The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Definitely neither action-adventure nor mystery story, this volume offers a snapshot of a unique time (1950s), and place (Florida:) during the period leading up to. The Cuban Missile Crisis.
April 10, 2018
Lack luster for action
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2019
I really liked the story and the characters, but the end was a little blah.
April 9, 2020
Liked it but why did it end in the middle? What happened next?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews