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A review by shakespeareandspice
The Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters
1.0
DNFd at pg 142 because of this nonsense:
Not only is Amelia Peabody, the supposed “feminist”, disregarding “foolish” English women by how they dress but further states that they were “willing victims” who don’t seem to understand what’s good for them. As if that wasn’t bad enough she follows it up with something as ignorant as a statement that says Indian women were “misguided” by misogyny who “fought to fling themselves into the funeral pyres of their bigamous husbands” and that their problems were resolvable only by the “enlightened British laws.” This screams to me of ignorance and white superiority complex.
I didn’t expect this kind of air of superiority coming from Amelia Peabody. I know she has strong opinions but her anti-everything-that-doesn’t-meet-my-approval attitude is shit. I expect things like this in English classics that I read. But not from a modern author. I have no tolerance for this.
I set out at a brisk stride, looking with contempt and pity at the other ladies I saw; laced into tight stays and teetering on high-heeled shoes, they were almost incapable of motion, much less a good healthy walk. Poor foolish victims of society’s dictates –but (I reminded myself) willing victims, like the misguided females of India who fought to fling themselves into the funeral pyres of their bigamous husbands. Enlightened British laws had put an official end to that ghastly custom; what a pity British opinion was so unenlightened with regard to the oppression of English women.
Not only is Amelia Peabody, the supposed “feminist”, disregarding “foolish” English women by how they dress but further states that they were “willing victims” who don’t seem to understand what’s good for them. As if that wasn’t bad enough she follows it up with something as ignorant as a statement that says Indian women were “misguided” by misogyny who “fought to fling themselves into the funeral pyres of their bigamous husbands” and that their problems were resolvable only by the “enlightened British laws.” This screams to me of ignorance and white superiority complex.
I didn’t expect this kind of air of superiority coming from Amelia Peabody. I know she has strong opinions but her anti-everything-that-doesn’t-meet-my-approval attitude is shit. I expect things like this in English classics that I read. But not from a modern author. I have no tolerance for this.