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claire_michelle18's review against another edition
4.0
A really interesting book - I'd only heard of two of the women featured before reading it which is kind of a travesty, am determined to get hold of some of Eileen Power's work now. I probably don't know enough about Virginia Woolf (have never read A Room of One's Own - or any of her other writing) to get as much out of this as intended but a really interesting read on the lives of a group of women challenging gender norms between the wars.
I also found some of the quotes about the experience of living through the experience of war profoundly helpful in the light of our current global crisis. The situtations aren't directly comparable but it's interesting to see some of the feelings I'm currently having mirrored in the writings of women living through their own time of terrible crisis.
I also found some of the quotes about the experience of living through the experience of war profoundly helpful in the light of our current global crisis. The situtations aren't directly comparable but it's interesting to see some of the feelings I'm currently having mirrored in the writings of women living through their own time of terrible crisis.
gpapp's review against another edition
5.0
"Square Haunting takes up [Virginia] Woolf's call for a different sort of history: it is a biography of five great women, about feelings and drawing rooms, but also about work, politics, literature and community. And, indeed, about war, which affected each of these lives deeply."
This group portrait of "five great women" who lived in Mecklenburg Square, London between the wars is history told by a fantastic storyteller. These women, and their time, come alive in vivid detail. The famous men who often get the limelight appear here as decidedly supporting cast. I alternated between outrage at the ridiculous obstacles put in these women's way by a thoroughly sexist culture and pride that women do manage, despite all that, to be great. I can't wait to see what Wade writes next.
This group portrait of "five great women" who lived in Mecklenburg Square, London between the wars is history told by a fantastic storyteller. These women, and their time, come alive in vivid detail. The famous men who often get the limelight appear here as decidedly supporting cast. I alternated between outrage at the ridiculous obstacles put in these women's way by a thoroughly sexist culture and pride that women do manage, despite all that, to be great. I can't wait to see what Wade writes next.
drannieg's review
5.0
Clever conceit, well-written and very well-researched (the endnotes are also excellent, even though the have done that pissy thing where a word is quoted in lieu of a superscript number JUST DON'T DO IT). Anyway, it made me want to go rampant with a machete on the goolies of men in general, and Oxbridge types in particular (Somerville fellows had to give up their fellowships on marriage until 1993. 1993 I MEAN FFS), but one of the best books I've read for a while.
actualspinster's review
3.25
there is something vaguely & almost profoundly lesbophobic about this book, but it is interesting nontheless. the silence it holds around intimate potentially [i mean... obviously..] sexual relationships between women is really deep and i dont think it once calls h.d [or woolf if i remember correctly] for example queer & goes on to question if jane ellen harrison's relationship with hope mirrlees could have been sexual bc it hasnt been 'documented' and then to ensure that we know that woolf never left her husband 'despite' her relationships with women which ofc means their marriage is the most important relationship... like why would she leave her husband lol if she can fuck women, publish her novels & benefit from his care simultaneously, .... and doesnt have to have sex with him ?!? lmao sounds like a great scenario !!
francesca wade is aware & writes of the misogynistic norms of biography around many of the women in the book but she then still repeats those narratives & frames herself but just ~slightly less...
& class is ofc not really taken up in any meaningful way in this....
it's so foolish to spend time trying to convince urself + ur reader that woolf wasnt a snob when undoubtedly she was and i'm sure many if not all of the women in the book were too... altho eileen power had the most intentional approach to working class liberation it seems ? but i only learnt about her and her work in this !
okay also how does the whole chapter w h.d repeatedly mention ezra pound but never once say he's a fascist?! i think that's so fucking irresponsible !!
but i still did learn a lot especially about the 3 women i hadn't heard much about before reading this ....
francesca wade is aware & writes of the misogynistic norms of biography around many of the women in the book but she then still repeats those narratives & frames herself but just ~slightly less...
& class is ofc not really taken up in any meaningful way in this....
it's so foolish to spend time trying to convince urself + ur reader that woolf wasnt a snob when undoubtedly she was and i'm sure many if not all of the women in the book were too... altho eileen power had the most intentional approach to working class liberation it seems ? but i only learnt about her and her work in this !
okay also how does the whole chapter w h.d repeatedly mention ezra pound but never once say he's a fascist?! i think that's so fucking irresponsible !!
but i still did learn a lot especially about the 3 women i hadn't heard much about before reading this ....
burntout_bookworm's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
ellesbelles94's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Perhaps the best non-fiction read of this year. It inspired me to reassess my priorities and ambitions by removing the lens I had previously been viewing it through, which had been clouded by sacrifices and compromises made for my partner. Incredible women, excellent writing and exactly what I needed to read.