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drippingchiffon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Ableism
Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Classism, Alcoholism, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Forced institutionalization
alisylvi's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Classism, Racial slurs, and Racism
spectacledbear's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This is a sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs, which I've loved for a long time, but for some reason I didn't even know this book existed. It's longer than DLL, and is made up of letters written by Sallie McBride, mostly to her friend Judy Pendleton (nee Abbott, the main character/narrator of DLL), who has persuaded Sallie to take on the temporary leadership of the orphanage where Judy grew up. Unlike DLL, Dear Enemy includes letters to more than one person - Sallie also writes to her boyfriend and to the orphanage's doctor (the 'enemy' of the title).
That's about as spoilery as I'm going to get. It's a lovely book - Sallie's voice is honest and amusing, and her development throughout the book is subtle and enjoyable. I wouldn't describe it as funny, but it did make me laugh a few times, and it is very affecting in places.
That's about as spoilery as I'm going to get. It's a lovely book - Sallie's voice is honest and amusing, and her development throughout the book is subtle and enjoyable. I wouldn't describe it as funny, but it did make me laugh a few times, and it is very affecting in places.
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Racial slurs
I've ticked a lot of minor warnings for this book, but mostly because a) it was written in 1915 so, you know, different times, and b) it's set in an orphanage where children have been sent for a variety of reasons. The doctor, who is a main character, is very interested in mental illness and heredity and there is a brief discussion of eugenics. I don't think it's triggering or particularly offensive, but everyone's mileage varies.rosemaryfay's review
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
This book is an infuriating sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs. It features Sally McBride who is by turns amusingly likeable and astonishingly racist and ableist. While Jean Webster continues to be an engaging and amusing author, and I love a slow burn romance as next as the next person, I simply cannot get over the absolutely abominable way Sally talks about some of the children and other disabled people.
This pervasive eugenics discussion honestly ruined the book for me. I finished it out of spite, but at 40% in, my note just says "I'm done." And it's true! Despite Webster's talent for developing proto-feminist characters in both her narrators and side characters (Betsy and Helen in this book particularly), the supposedly likeable narrator joking about the murder of a child under her care (BY ARSENIC. FROM THE DOCTOR.) because she is disabled is simply unforgivable. She...doesn't seem to grow much out of these beliefs as the book progresses, leaving me constantly worried about any child in her care who wasn't perfectly "normal," to use Sally's own horrible phrasing.
Also the love interest locking his wife who probably had a postpartum syndrome of some sort in an asylum is not cute or funny and I did not find find the ending satisfying at all.
I finished it, but i would strongly suggest that you look for your nineteen-teens literature elsewhere.
This pervasive eugenics discussion honestly ruined the book for me. I finished it out of spite, but at 40% in, my note just says "I'm done." And it's true! Despite Webster's talent for developing proto-feminist characters in both her narrators and side characters (Betsy and Helen in this book particularly), the supposedly likeable narrator joking about the murder of a child under her care (BY ARSENIC. FROM THE DOCTOR.) because she is disabled is simply unforgivable. She...doesn't seem to grow much out of these beliefs as the book progresses, leaving me constantly worried about any child in her care who wasn't perfectly "normal," to use Sally's own horrible phrasing.
I finished it, but i would strongly suggest that you look for your nineteen-teens literature elsewhere.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Mental illness
There isn't a trigger tag for eugenics but I cannot emphasize enough the major role that eugenics plays in this book. Several pages are devoted to explaining why not allowing disabled people to have children is a good thing, and that is the milder of examples.
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