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A review by libs
The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby
4.0
Reading this book was such a relief. Isn't it a wonderful thing about books, that they can take place 100 years ago and yet still feel like a strangely comforting answer to questions you're struggling with today?
The Crowded Street covers 20 years of Muriel's life, from 9 to 29. We meet her first as a shy young girl, nervous but excited to go away to school and learn maths and astronomy. But - it's the 1900s, and that's not the reality. Whilst one girl in her village, Delia, goes away to Cambridge University, all the other girls are expected to stay and find a nice boy to marry. Muriel's plagued by the lack of love in her life - she loses her ambitions and her drive through a series of events. World War One happens here at some point, barely noticeable,coming 'to Marshington with the bewildering irrelevance of all great catastrophes'. By the end, Muriel is vaguely involved in something political, is mostly indepedent - and has rejected a proposal!
And it's weird, because 100 years later, I feel like things should have changed - and they have, a little. No one's expecting me to get married, but everyone is expecting me to have a serious boyfriend, and to consider limiting myself in some capacities for this hypothetical boyfriend. ("Don't study so far away, what if you meet a nice boy this year and you have to go long distance, or break things up?") It's a comfort, to read stories like this. It's a largely autobiographical novel based on Holtby's experiences, and it's not exactly a joy to read. The last line is so depressing. It takes Muriel almost the entire book to get her arse in gear. But it's still so lovely to see women who become independent - and remain single.
It still feels so weirdly uncommon in literature, even though it's everywhere in life.
The Crowded Street covers 20 years of Muriel's life, from 9 to 29. We meet her first as a shy young girl, nervous but excited to go away to school and learn maths and astronomy. But - it's the 1900s, and that's not the reality. Whilst one girl in her village, Delia, goes away to Cambridge University, all the other girls are expected to stay and find a nice boy to marry. Muriel's plagued by the lack of love in her life - she loses her ambitions and her drive through a series of events. World War One happens here at some point, barely noticeable,coming 'to Marshington with the bewildering irrelevance of all great catastrophes'. By the end, Muriel is vaguely involved in something political, is mostly indepedent - and has rejected a proposal!
And it's weird, because 100 years later, I feel like things should have changed - and they have, a little. No one's expecting me to get married, but everyone is expecting me to have a serious boyfriend, and to consider limiting myself in some capacities for this hypothetical boyfriend. ("Don't study so far away, what if you meet a nice boy this year and you have to go long distance, or break things up?") It's a comfort, to read stories like this. It's a largely autobiographical novel based on Holtby's experiences, and it's not exactly a joy to read. The last line is so depressing. It takes Muriel almost the entire book to get her arse in gear. But it's still so lovely to see women who become independent - and remain single.
It still feels so weirdly uncommon in literature, even though it's everywhere in life.