Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The focus of this book is the writing, which is good but at times self indulgently repetitive. The main character bemoans the fact that she didn’t get to live the life she would have chosen because marriage and motherhood, her husband’s career, all meant that she put duty before pleasure. That is, until she is 87 and she decides to please herself. How wonderful that she can do that because without her marriage she would not be able to.
She is so ungrateful for what she has that she is ignorant of what life is like for most people. What about those without her privilege? She doesn’t really care. Even giving away money was an act of preservation for herself, not of generosity.
She has a brief realisation that she never, in 70 years, asked her maid about her own life but still she didn’t connect the dots. Her maid had been in service to others since childhood, most of those years in her service. Hard, physical labour, wearing brown paper to keep warm (oh how quaint the lower classes are) and putting the needs of this spoilt woman and her greedy family before her own. Losing her own family to take her position. None of that was used as a comparison, which is a pity. It is just mentioned in passing and taken for granted that this woman should rustle when she walks, rather than be furnished with warm clothing by her employer.
The author mentions certain injustices and inequalities but seems to have no self awareness, as a woman of higher class and privilege, writing about a woman like herself with great sympathy and indignation. I’m afraid I cannot forgive that enough to warm to this book in the way I was probably supposed to. That said, I didn’t hate it, I just found it self indulgent where I think it was supposed to connect with women who feel they have missed out on life.
She is so ungrateful for what she has that she is ignorant of what life is like for most people. What about those without her privilege? She doesn’t really care. Even giving away money was an act of preservation for herself, not of generosity.
She has a brief realisation that she never, in 70 years, asked her maid about her own life but still she didn’t connect the dots. Her maid had been in service to others since childhood, most of those years in her service. Hard, physical labour, wearing brown paper to keep warm (oh how quaint the lower classes are) and putting the needs of this spoilt woman and her greedy family before her own. Losing her own family to take her position. None of that was used as a comparison, which is a pity. It is just mentioned in passing and taken for granted that this woman should rustle when she walks, rather than be furnished with warm clothing by her employer.
The author mentions certain injustices and inequalities but seems to have no self awareness, as a woman of higher class and privilege, writing about a woman like herself with great sympathy and indignation. I’m afraid I cannot forgive that enough to warm to this book in the way I was probably supposed to. That said, I didn’t hate it, I just found it self indulgent where I think it was supposed to connect with women who feel they have missed out on life.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes