Book Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

Synopsis from Goodreads:

SOMETHING DARK AND EVIL HAS AWAKENED… Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho is hiding a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened…

Review:

I first read this several years ago for a book club discussion, and at the time I wasn’t too keen on the idea of a mystery/fantasy twist to a historical fiction novel. When I learned that the main character was a 17 year old who was being sent from Ohio to New York to live with her uncle because of her behavior, I was even more skeptical. Evie O’Neill initially struck me as a stuck-up spoiled brat. I somehow managed to finish the book, but certainly not in time for the book club’s discussion unfortunately.

Fast forward to December 2020 and I have a completely different take on the book because I pos-i-tute-ly loved it! Somehow, Evie wasn’t quite as annoying as I thought she was when I first read the book. I seemed to capture more details than I had and was able to focus more on the details of the other world and the relationships she developed than her attitude and constant need for being the center of attention.