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A review by ingridostby
The Group by Mary McCarthy
4.0
This brilliant social document (to paraphrase the quote on the book cover) tells the stories of several savvy Vassar grads with varying and dynamic personalities, careers, political persuasions, and personal affairs--who all interact in and around New York City. It's filled with satire and historical imagery and taught me tons about the political atmosphere in the 1930s (it was written around 1960). McCarthy is wonderful--she was a frequent New Yorker contributor and wrote these full-bodied characters astutely and intelligently and lovingly.
It's unfortunate that time has not already proven this novel a classic. Besides when I saw Betty Draper read it on Mad Men (Weiner loves those time stamps, y'all) and when an older man saw my copy and said he "hadn't seen anyone reading that in over 35 years," I've never encountered another person who's heard of it. It was the #1 best seller in 1964 and apparently every woman had her nose in it that year. Wish more men would read this. But, with a cast full of ladies, it's been pegged as a woman's novel ever since publication.
It's unfortunate that time has not already proven this novel a classic. Besides when I saw Betty Draper read it on Mad Men (Weiner loves those time stamps, y'all) and when an older man saw my copy and said he "hadn't seen anyone reading that in over 35 years," I've never encountered another person who's heard of it. It was the #1 best seller in 1964 and apparently every woman had her nose in it that year. Wish more men would read this. But, with a cast full of ladies, it's been pegged as a woman's novel ever since publication.