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A review by kristinana
The Odd Women by George Gissing
4.0
This novel was surprisingly good. I was expecting something more like a polemic, something in which the Issues were more important than the story. But what I got instead was surprisingly readable, well-written, and even quite suspenseful. (Okay, not in a thriller kind of way, but in a Victorian marriage plot kind of way.)
Unlike an Issue novel like Ruth (oh, Elizabeth Gaskell, I like you, but that novel has some problems!), where the protagonist is primarily a bland vehicle for making a point, The Odd Women has interesting, flawed, complex characters who sometimes make poor choices. It also has some characters that verge on being one-dimensional -- such as Mr. Widdowson -- but even he has moments in which you sympathize with him. Almost all of the characters appear as though they'll be one-dimensional, but then they surprise you -- particularly the two main female characters, Rhoda and Monica. Although each one is designed to demonstrate a "type" of unmarried woman -- one with an intellectual disdain for the institution and the other who sees it as her only real option for an easy life -- Gissing takes both of them in unexpected directions. In the process, he makes one of the strongest cases for female equality that I've read in a Victorian novel, openly criticizing Ruskin's idea of separate spheres and arguing for female education and intellectual development as well as personal freedom and employment opportunities. He may not have all the answers or be able to envision a strong alternative to marriage, but Gissing never -- not even in the ending, where critics often complain Victorian novels become conservative -- backs away from his conviction that without true, mutual understanding and belief in equality, love cannot exist.
Unlike an Issue novel like Ruth (oh, Elizabeth Gaskell, I like you, but that novel has some problems!), where the protagonist is primarily a bland vehicle for making a point, The Odd Women has interesting, flawed, complex characters who sometimes make poor choices. It also has some characters that verge on being one-dimensional -- such as Mr. Widdowson -- but even he has moments in which you sympathize with him. Almost all of the characters appear as though they'll be one-dimensional, but then they surprise you -- particularly the two main female characters, Rhoda and Monica. Although each one is designed to demonstrate a "type" of unmarried woman -- one with an intellectual disdain for the institution and the other who sees it as her only real option for an easy life -- Gissing takes both of them in unexpected directions. In the process, he makes one of the strongest cases for female equality that I've read in a Victorian novel, openly criticizing Ruskin's idea of separate spheres and arguing for female education and intellectual development as well as personal freedom and employment opportunities. He may not have all the answers or be able to envision a strong alternative to marriage, but Gissing never -- not even in the ending, where critics often complain Victorian novels become conservative -- backs away from his conviction that without true, mutual understanding and belief in equality, love cannot exist.