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A review by 16nnovs
The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
simone de beauvoir is widely celebrated for her contributions to feminist literature and works revolving about womanhood. in "the woman destroyed," readers follow three novellas centered on middle-aged women facing various personal crises and psychological struggles.
while beauvoir's prose is undeniably beautiful, i found myself completely disconnected from the narrators throughout these stories. the work follows a woman dealing with her kid's life choices and her own relevance, another stuck in bitter loneliness, and finally monique, whose whole world falls apart when she finds out her husband's cheating. the characters' intense dependency on others and their overwhelming misery, while probably true to their situation, made this such a heavy and frustrating read.
as someone reading this today, i couldn't really get into this european feminist perspective. sure, the themes of aging, dependency, and betrayal are still things women deal with, but seeing these women's lives just made me think "this is exactly what i don't want to become" rather than giving me any real insights about womanhood. the second story was such a drag to get through, and even monique's part, which everyone seems to love, just didn't hit me the way i thought it would.
i can see why beauvoir's writing is considered great, and i get that this was probably groundbreaking when it came out, but this collection just didn't do anything for me. watching these women suffer through everything with barely any way out just left me wanting something more. im glad so many people found something in this, unfortunately there was not much in it for me.
while beauvoir's prose is undeniably beautiful, i found myself completely disconnected from the narrators throughout these stories. the work follows a woman dealing with her kid's life choices and her own relevance, another stuck in bitter loneliness, and finally monique, whose whole world falls apart when she finds out her husband's cheating. the characters' intense dependency on others and their overwhelming misery, while probably true to their situation, made this such a heavy and frustrating read.
as someone reading this today, i couldn't really get into this european feminist perspective. sure, the themes of aging, dependency, and betrayal are still things women deal with, but seeing these women's lives just made me think "this is exactly what i don't want to become" rather than giving me any real insights about womanhood. the second story was such a drag to get through, and even monique's part, which everyone seems to love, just didn't hit me the way i thought it would.
i can see why beauvoir's writing is considered great, and i get that this was probably groundbreaking when it came out, but this collection just didn't do anything for me. watching these women suffer through everything with barely any way out just left me wanting something more. im glad so many people found something in this, unfortunately there was not much in it for me.