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chicamakina's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
talucas24's review against another edition
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jjena13's review against another edition
3.0
This is actually a very good book - very thought provoking. Some books are not read for fun, but rather for discussion, dissection...deciding what you believe about the subject at hand. Do you identify with the character or not? etc. This is one of those. Worth reading. Just not a "fun for an afternoon" sort of read.
heartsneedle's review against another edition
5.0
4.5/5
βIt was like the set of one of those movies where The Bomb has gone off, and the narrator of the movie is the only survivor left on earth. I stood there, bewildered, wondering if some terrible calamity had occurred, when I heard the faint oompah of drums and squee of trumpets floating, ghostly, on the wind. Swinging around, I saw the balloon figures hobbling, building-high, blocks down, and burst out laughing.β
Feminism, Materialism, Chauvinism
Mental Illness, Affair, Middle Class
The diary is a clever portrayal of late-twentieth-century marriage set in domesticity. I loved how the loose, substance writing and ironic-stylistic elements allowed the characters and story to unfold parallel. While the ending left me dissatisfied, it speaks to the era and the culture; Kaufman wrote it in and for.
βIt was like the set of one of those movies where The Bomb has gone off, and the narrator of the movie is the only survivor left on earth. I stood there, bewildered, wondering if some terrible calamity had occurred, when I heard the faint oompah of drums and squee of trumpets floating, ghostly, on the wind. Swinging around, I saw the balloon figures hobbling, building-high, blocks down, and burst out laughing.β
Feminism, Materialism, Chauvinism
Mental Illness, Affair, Middle Class
The diary is a clever portrayal of late-twentieth-century marriage set in domesticity. I loved how the loose, substance writing and ironic-stylistic elements allowed the characters and story to unfold parallel. While the ending left me dissatisfied, it speaks to the era and the culture; Kaufman wrote it in and for.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
I can see why this was considered a contriversial feminist novel in its time. A lot of truth in the storyline that still holds together today though it pulls back on the ending dissapointingly.
vanessakm's review against another edition
4.0
Touchy and disorganized he thinks I am. Jumpy and irritable. What I really am and have been since midsummer is paralyzed. What I am is paranoid as a coot. What I am at times is so depressed I can't talk, so low I have to lock myself in the bathroom and run all the faucets to cover the sound of my crying. What I am at other times is so jazzed up with nerves I can't stand still and everything shakes, and I end up either having to take a pill or a quick sneaky shot of vodka-it depends which is available. What I am is suddenly afraid of most everything you could name.
Earlier this year, my GR friend Julie and I tried to read the feminist roman a clef [b:Fear of Flying|9654|Fear of Flying|Erica Jong|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388190180s/9654.jpg|2164933] and I think it's fair to say we both found it to be punishment. That book was written in 1973; this one, written in 1967, covers similar ground but SO much better.
Tina Balser is a 1960's Manhattan housewife--privileged, the kids would call her today. She has the Mad Men lifestyle: a full-time maid, an apartment on Central Park, a fussy white collar husband who comes home expecting a home-cooked gourmet dinner and an always stocked mini-bar. She has a degree from Smith College and two daughters who can be quite spoiled and condescending (that's dad's influence.) And having given up on life as an artist and spending her post-college single youth working as a secretary, she's expected to become a housewife and hostess until the end of her days. And this, along with her husband who has become quite the elitist starfucker over the last few years, is killing her. So she quietly rebels by writing, by keeping this diary from September to February--and also by having an affair with a handsome, successful playwright who is a shit heel of a different cut.
(At least the sex is good and his feet are clean, unlike in Erica Jong's book. But never trust a man who refers to women as "broads,β ladies.)
If you've seen the great movie adaptation of this (which I watched originally in college because my love Frank Langella was in it as the above-mentioned shit heel), you'll see this book was faithfully adapted. Some things are explained in more detail, mostly her relationship and history with her husband, Jonathan, who is so accurately and repulsively played by Richard Benjamin that it's not clear how they ever got together in the first place. And I found it easier to root for Tina in the book--she's neurotic, but wryly aware of it. And she's not the doormat that she sometimes is in the movie.
When we talk about micro-aggressions today, some immediately roll their eyes and I'll admit the conversation can get a little ridiculous at times. But reading this book...I mean, God bless the women of the 1960's. The condescending male biosphere is thick: if only Tina would just comply with her husband on all matters because he obviously knows best, if only Tina would just agree with her analyst's diagnosis that she just needs a good husband to cure her willful neuroses and this delusion of using that degree for something, if only Tina would just not bristle when her boyfriend (more like a side piece, really) didn't follow a compliment to her with a volley of insults to keep her in her place because he's not misogynous as fuck, he's just a strong male figure and she's a ditzy broad.
(Seriously, "broad" is a red flag!!)
I think this is a split between 3 and 4 stars, and I feel like rounding up instead of angsting about it. Also pretty sure I'll be semi-unironically wearing my "Feminist Icon" t-shirt to work tomorrow because you know what's real?
Earlier this year, my GR friend Julie and I tried to read the feminist roman a clef [b:Fear of Flying|9654|Fear of Flying|Erica Jong|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388190180s/9654.jpg|2164933] and I think it's fair to say we both found it to be punishment. That book was written in 1973; this one, written in 1967, covers similar ground but SO much better.
Tina Balser is a 1960's Manhattan housewife--privileged, the kids would call her today. She has the Mad Men lifestyle: a full-time maid, an apartment on Central Park, a fussy white collar husband who comes home expecting a home-cooked gourmet dinner and an always stocked mini-bar. She has a degree from Smith College and two daughters who can be quite spoiled and condescending (that's dad's influence.) And having given up on life as an artist and spending her post-college single youth working as a secretary, she's expected to become a housewife and hostess until the end of her days. And this, along with her husband who has become quite the elitist starfucker over the last few years, is killing her. So she quietly rebels by writing, by keeping this diary from September to February--and also by having an affair with a handsome, successful playwright who is a shit heel of a different cut.
(At least the sex is good and his feet are clean, unlike in Erica Jong's book. But never trust a man who refers to women as "broads,β ladies.)
If you've seen the great movie adaptation of this (which I watched originally in college because my love Frank Langella was in it as the above-mentioned shit heel), you'll see this book was faithfully adapted. Some things are explained in more detail, mostly her relationship and history with her husband, Jonathan, who is so accurately and repulsively played by Richard Benjamin that it's not clear how they ever got together in the first place. And I found it easier to root for Tina in the book--she's neurotic, but wryly aware of it. And she's not the doormat that she sometimes is in the movie.
When we talk about micro-aggressions today, some immediately roll their eyes and I'll admit the conversation can get a little ridiculous at times. But reading this book...I mean, God bless the women of the 1960's. The condescending male biosphere is thick: if only Tina would just comply with her husband on all matters because he obviously knows best, if only Tina would just agree with her analyst's diagnosis that she just needs a good husband to cure her willful neuroses and this delusion of using that degree for something, if only Tina would just not bristle when her boyfriend (more like a side piece, really) didn't follow a compliment to her with a volley of insults to keep her in her place because he's not misogynous as fuck, he's just a strong male figure and she's a ditzy broad.
(Seriously, "broad" is a red flag!!)
I think this is a split between 3 and 4 stars, and I feel like rounding up instead of angsting about it. Also pretty sure I'll be semi-unironically wearing my "Feminist Icon" t-shirt to work tomorrow because you know what's real?
britney4librarian's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It is exactly what it sets out to be.
tendercreatures's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character