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gwalt118's review against another edition
I was required to read this book for a graduate-level gender and literature course. I may be forever indebted to my professor for finding my new favorite character in Victorian literature -- Beth. Watching her grow and evolve as a character and as a woman was fascinating for me. I enjoyed seeing her negotiate relationships with various people - her mother, Dan, Arthur, various other women - in spite of and through society's conventional class and gender roles. One can certainly learn much about these standard conventions and how they were being questioned and changing during the fin de siècle through this text. I would highly recommend it if that time period of literature and concepts of gender roles are of interest to you.
annabelws23's review against another edition
3.0
As most Victorian books are wont to, this would have benefited from being 150/200 pages shorter. There is a great deal of the minutiae of Beth's childhood given in great detail that could have been lost - but as it is semi-autobiographical, I can see why Sarah Grand waxed lyrical.
That being said, I kept picking it up for Beth's precious nature, humour and feisty give-no-inches to the dreadful men she is surrounded by (all of whom conspire to keep her in a place she won't be boxed into). The New Freewoman is certainly in no short supply here. The book is a study of the ways women's intelligence and identities were suppressed in favour of men and interrogates gender in a way that feels ahead of its time. I appreciated the fact that Beth is allowed to succeed, and does not succumb to the conditions of her life as the wife of an abusive doctor.
Not my favourite Victorian Woman's novel or my favourite VMC, but an interesting read nonetheless.
That being said, I kept picking it up for Beth's precious nature, humour and feisty give-no-inches to the dreadful men she is surrounded by (all of whom conspire to keep her in a place she won't be boxed into). The New Freewoman is certainly in no short supply here. The book is a study of the ways women's intelligence and identities were suppressed in favour of men and interrogates gender in a way that feels ahead of its time. I appreciated the fact that Beth is allowed to succeed, and does not succumb to the conditions of her life as the wife of an abusive doctor.
Not my favourite Victorian Woman's novel or my favourite VMC, but an interesting read nonetheless.
sreepurna's review against another edition
3.0
This book could have been at least 300 pages shorter if it stopped repeating things (read: what a genius Beth is) so many times.
That being said, I really enjoyed certain parts of the novel.
That being said, I really enjoyed certain parts of the novel.
blankgarden's review against another edition
4.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2019/04/05/review-the-beth-book-sarah-grand/
blankgarden's review against another edition
4.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2019/04/05/review-the-beth-book-sarah-grand/
blankgarden's review
4.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2019/04/05/review-the-beth-book-sarah-grand/
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