I agree with another reader's review, Selena Higgins. I had just got through reading Devil in the White City, so this seemed extremely interesting to me. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The writer, in my opinion, puts too much of her own life and her critique into the book. I would just start to be really immersed in the story and then be ripped back to the 21st century to hear what the author thought of May. It also seemed to me that the author was very harsh in her judgment of this very poor and unfortunate woman of the 19th century. I would love to see what some other author could do with this story. As Selena said, it has a lot of potential.

Ce n'est pas mal écrit, mais l'autrice nous "vend" l'histoire comme celle d'un destin extraordinaire, et je m'attendais à rencontrer un personnage, sinon aimable, du moins qui pousse à l'admiration. Mais l'impression générale qui en ressort est celle d'une tristesse et d'un gâchis humain.
Au-delà de ces considérations, j'ai été agacée par l'oeuvre en tant que telle. Ni biographie exhaustive, ni biographie romancée qui aurait sans doute apporté davantage de rythme, l'autrice se sert du prétexte de Chicago May pour livrer ses propres réflexions sur l'Irlande, l'exil et la déchéance. Pas inintéressant en soi, mais ce n'était pas ce que j'attendais et je me suis sentie un peu flouée.

I feel this book was a waste of my time. I didn't come away with any sort of clear picture about who Chicago May really was. The author spent too much of the book speculating about May's life and providing the reader with her interpretation of the autobiography written by Chicago May, which begs the question — why did O'Faolain even bother to write this story? Every other sentence begins with, "I imagine..." or "Perhaps..." or "Maybe..." The book makes me feel like there really wasn't anything special about Chicago May. She definitely wasn't a woman anyone could look up to, not that that's what I was expecting prior to reading this book. Most of the time, I mostly felt sorry for her and her pathetic life choices. I think the author wants to make Chicago May into an empowered, tough rebel woman, but May's actions, I believe, tell a whole different story.

The author also, every so often, writes herself and her family and some of their background into the story, which to me seems inappropriate and unnecessary.

Probably not too many people know about Chicago May--a beautiful young woman from Ireland who comes to America in 1893. She ends up on the wrong path and with the wrong people but being high spirited and strong, she endures much to survive. One moment she is wealthy and the next in prison. This is an excellent biography written by a wonderful writer who knows how to make her subject come to life.

Chicago May doesn't start out as a character that is easy to like, but by the end I felt sorry for her. Interesting perspective, particularly because we can't know for sure what her motivation was to do some of the things she did.

Couldn't get into this book even though I gave it a chance by reading through two thirds. I didn't like the author's style of imagining May's thoughts and behaviour. Very wishy washy!

This was one of the more frustrating non-fiction works I've read. One thing that became apparent as the story unfolded was how much research and thought was put into the book, and the more we get to know the subject, the more interesting the idea of the story becomes. When the writer turns her attention to the topic at hand the reader feels the anticipatory excitement of a good yarn to come. But alas! Whenever it threatens to get good, the writer gets inserted into the narrative. The writing is also, at times, poor. This is a wasted potential of a book.

Very interesting read. One hears alot about May, it was interesting to see her "come to life" and here the story behind the legend.

When am I going to learn? I have made a point in the last few years, to stop reading when I don't care for a book. There are just too many good ones. But I continued to read and waited for this book to get good. It was a waste of time, though. I don't wish to speak ill of the dead (Chicago May or Nuala O'Faolain) the book was like reading a really long email...information on Chicago May with interjections of Ms.O'Faolain's life experience. It turns out May was just a bad girl who came to a bad end.

I was fascinated by the choice of a prostitute, gangster, liar, etc. for the subject of a biograpy. O'Faolain pieces together the history of May, interspersing it with bits of her own life, and especially her alcoholic brother. She manages to shed light on an Irish experience that probably is not unlike many women at the turn of the century. I, personally, am a bit put off by the intrusion of the author into so much, but that is not the opinion of many others. It is an interesting read.

I really feel like I should've just read the autobiography of Chicago May, as this book is either quoting it or ruminating on it. Felt like reading a book report.

Nuala O’ Faolan followed the path of her subject, May Duignan, from Ireland to NY City. The Big Apple is where the author tracked down the rare autobiography of Chicago May. Ms. Duignan wrote of her well to do family back in the old country. In reality, her father was a simple farmer who May stole from in order to run away to America in the 1890’s at the age of nineteen. When money ran low, May moved to Nebraska and married a crook named Dal Churchill. They became partners in crime and banks became their main source of income. Dal was lynched by a mob in Phoenix, leaving May a young widow. It was on to Chicago and life as a prostitute at a seedy hotel. May learned quickly the art of fleecing her clients. The lives of the working girls who averaged fifteen to twenty johns a day were indescribably tragic. After some world travel, the happy hooker ended up in NY City. The time and place inspired Stephen Crane’s “A Girl of the Streets.” The sadness and desperation of the girls is overwhelming. Suicides were quite frequent, as were back alley abortions. It is a soul destroying way of life. May’s first arrest was in 1899. Charged with theft, the twenty-eight year-old was rescued by Jim Sharp. They married at the Little Church of the Transfiguration in Manhattan. After a year of marriage, May left her husband and ventured off to London, and it was back to whoring and thieving. She met Eddie Guerin, a fellow life long criminal, and they teamed up with another crook, Gus Miller in Paris and robbed the American Express building in Paris. They were caught within a few days. May was moved from prison to prison for a year while awaiting trial. One of the jails was run by nuns. Once again, crime does not pay for our thirty year-old heroine. Four years later, the prodigal daughter returned to Ireland. It was a land of strident Irish Catholicism; one which did not forgive the sins of the flesh. May’s reputation preceded her arrival and so there would be no celebration. May left Ireland after a brief stay and London was where her old lover Eddie Guerin caught up with her. The troubled woman’s new lover, Charlie, shot Eddie and was charged with attempted murder with May as his accomplice. He got life and his partner was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor. This book is downright Dickensian, but it is mostly the worst of times. The isolation drove many prisoners insane. May read voraciously and classic novels (including Dickens) allowed her to escape her woeful surroundings. After ten years, she was released and deported to America. She was taken to a hospital on Ellis Island and treated for malnutrition. She worked for a few days as a nurse on Governors Island but a real job was not her style and whoring and stealing from johns was much more lucrative. It’s all about the Benjamin’s, baby. In our modern era, May would be picking up her “dates” on the internet. By 1920, NY City finally forced the now forty-nine year-old repeat offender to leave the Empire State. The motor city was next with more of the same, an old street walker struggling to survive. In August of 1926, the aging whore was sentenced to sixty days at the Detroit House of Detention. August Vollmer was the father of the modern American police force and a reformer who believed in redemption. He met May at the prison hospital and encouraged her to write a memoir. It was published in 1928. Philadelphia would be her final stop. Alone and with a body worn out by countless thousands of men, May Duignan died at fifty-eight.