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james1star's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I did really enjoy this book and for many MANY reasons. Nicholls’s writing style, world building and storyline are easy to read, understand and I warmed to it fast. This is particularly true with the characters in ‘things a bright girl can do’ where we predominantly follow Evelyn, May and Nell - their lives, families, relationships, dreams - in the fight for suffrage and during WW1 in the years 1914-1918. They do have some unlovable aspects but for the most part are very lovely people and you for sure root for all of them. They’re also portrayed as very real.
Evelyn’s story is that she wants equal opportunities for women, specifically to go to university and not settle for a life of marriage, kids, housework and so forth. She yearns for more to life. Her character definitely has the biggest development and has to deal with many things which she handles in a very real way. Also Teddy just seems such a cute and loveable character doing things he doesn’t want to do for Evelyn and Yhh I dunno he’s portrayed very cutely - I get a sense he’d give good hugs if you know what I mean. May was bought up a pacifist Quaker by her mother and throughout her life has been a suffragist ‘fighting’ for the vote via peaceful means. She meets Nell who has had a very different life to hers but they form a relationship which is portrayed very well - certainly some irritating bits that make you want to shake the characters but overall is good. During the war, May has an anti-war outlook which is contented from the outside and within but mostly from Nell’s POV. I did really like her character however she is very very stubborn which gets in the way a lot but she does come to realise she isn’t always right and that’s okay. Nell has the hardest life of all the characters coming from a poor working class family in the east end, a family of eight in two rooms and not only physical pressure but mental as well. ‘She’ is shown to have some gender dysphoria I believe or at least a sense of not belonging in the sphere of ‘womanhood’ but this outlook is varied. She may be on some part of the transgender spectrum as dresses in her brother’s used clothes, acts, talks and in some respects wants to be a boy. Her method of getting the vote fits with the suffragettes using physical means which butts-heads with May’s approach. This follows when war breaks out having soldiers in her family. During the war, her family struggles intensely which is very hard to read and you definitely long for things to get better.
This book is so great for its discussion and exploration of the ways different types of women came at the route for suffrage and the war - most importantly class but also topics like economics, religion, family background, education, sexuality and gender and many more. This is very insightful and informative too. Additionally the historical references are great with many many real life events, people and groups being included which help to make sense of the period.
What I didn’t quite like was some of the actions and way the main characters spoke was a little modern, specifically against their parents where it seems more leniency is awarded then you’d think but is minor. Also I think it is a bit too long with some repetitiveness but it’s not bloated and is easy enough to get though due to the writing style and lovableness of the characters. My main grovel was the anti-climaticness of the ending. We all know what happened in the 1918 (although the biggie was in 1928) where women over 30 who owned property got the vote but the storylines could have came to more. However, it is ended well with some ambiguity but certainly hope for the future which is amazing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, Homophobia, War, and Racism
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