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Comments (33)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 33 items
Oct 12, 2023
Although I have read most of Donoghue's books, sadly I could not get into this one. Gave up after the first 100 pages.
Jul 24, 2023bonnieoesch rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
It was okay. I was expecting a lot more because I loved Room, The Wonder, and The Pull of the Stars. This one just didn't have the same impact. The "big reveal" wasn't all that impactful. I didn't figure it out but it was just like…
Jul 01, 2023CareyMacaulay rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I haven't read a story about this type of character, that I recall, ever. From the cover, to the story, to the characters, to San Francisco during a heat wave/smallpox epidemic (coincidentally, we were going through a heat wave ourselves…
Jan 08, 2020
Frog Music is a gritty, fast-paced novel that does not sugarcoat the time period and the hardships that were tackled by many at the time. This historical mystery transports the reader into the unforgiving landscape of 1876 San Francisco.…
Dec 18, 2017gchrisman rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
Truly terrible. The worst example of historical research I've read in years, relying exclusively on stereotypes and ridiculous assumptions. Plus, the characters are thoroughly flat and downright uninteresting. I didn't finish it, which…
Sep 21, 2017SaraPettigrew rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this one. Jenny and Blanche are both wonderful characters. For all their flaws, I still found them very likeable, and I enjoyed how the author kept peeling back layers of the onion so we found out more about them. I got…
Sep 18, 2017spiderfelt_0 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I went to San Francisco this weekend with Frog Music for company. It was a great book to provide some sense of the city as I walked around. While Chinatown appears to be a caricature of itself today, it wasn't difficult to imagine the…
Feb 19, 2017sanspeur rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Though some have described this book as a whodunit or crime novel, to me it's more a historical novel. I enjoyed the setting in the rough and tumble San Fransisco of the late 1800's in the midst of a heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. But…
Jun 06, 2016colettecase rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
A very interesting story, but difficult to get through. The writing style didn't really hold my attention. Paints a very vivid picture of San Francisco during that time.
Nov 22, 2015haileyj rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
This is the second time I've tried to read this story and I just can't get interested enough in Blanche to keep reading. The historical back and forth device of the writing style makes the story more complicated to read than necessary.
Oct 20, 2015freefem rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This was the choice of a book club and was already on my To Read list, so I was happy to read it.... though it starts out slow, but somewhere around the middle it just gets better and better. And it becomes apparent that the jumping back…
athompson10
Oct 19, 2015athompson10 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Well researched and an interesting story about a fascinating time in American history. I got a little annoyed with the back-and-forth timeline, as it got hard to keep track of what was done when and to whom. This story would have benefited…
Mar 05, 2015niceauntie rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Not awful but didn't meet my expectations. The story jumped around to the point where I found it confusing and irritating.
brianreynolds
Feb 06, 2015brianreynolds rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
It’s hardly my place to tell Emma Donoghue she should change this or that in what has to be one the most readable, most entertaining, most horrifying, most delicious historical novels I’ve read: <i>Frog Music</i>. But I so wished it could…
Feb 04, 2015jmikesmith rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I'm torn on this one. This is an engaging and fascinating fictionalized version of a true story about a murder in 1876 San Francisco. But... there were a few things about the style and structure of the story that seemed like gimmicks and…
Jan 21, 2015LPL_ShirleyB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Donoghue focuses on the true story of a 19th century cross-dressing frog catcher.
Jan 17, 2015gerimark rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
set in SF. Parisian burlesque dancer and free-spirited friend who winds up dead. smallpox/heatwave factor in.
Nov 30, 2014libraryrachelf rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Frog Music was an interesting and engaging story, based on historical events. Emma Donoghue writes the story of 2 woman who become friends in the late 1870's in San Francisco. The women are both fascinating characters who are based on…
671books
Oct 19, 2014671books rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
Meh. I thought this book was ok, but the writing style was difficult and choppy. I felt there was no flow to the story. Full review here: http://671books.net/fiction/frog-music/
Sep 06, 2014Roxannigan rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
Amateurish and superficially written. Too bad, could have been an interestingly told tale
Aug 25, 2014
Found it a little tedious and hard to keep reading as it wasn't really engaging though by the time you get to the last 20 pages of the book, everything picks up...that is, if you can bear the first three quarters of the book! Jenny's…
Aug 06, 2014
It’s the 1870's in San Francisco, a small pox epidemic and heat wave are the backdrop around the lives of two rather unconventional and very independent women. Not surprisingly, women of the day had few options – our heroines have a lot…
Jul 11, 2014marinka rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Such a tedious read I gave up half way through - page after page seemed to comprise of dull, endless filler. I didn't care about the characters and the inane decisions they made. Blanche strikes me as a cliche and not a bright one at that.…
Jul 10, 2014yvox rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed Room so much and its images remain in my mind still. Probably it was that same writing skill which made Frog Music so difficult for me to stick with in some parts. Some of the passages describing sexual activity made me mad,…
May 14, 2014jeanie123 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A very interesting but sad story. I found the flipping back and forth between the days before and after the murder a bit confusing. It is employed as a method to trickle out the facts and events, but I find that style kind of annoying. I…