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A review by alarra
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak
2.0
Picked this up cheap at the Book Basement on Saturday (part of a 12 book buying binge, hee). Into the first chapter at the moment, kind of interesting to see Nancy regarded as a feminist icon, always thought it a little odd in retrospect. Interested to see what insights, if any, the author has on this issue.
It was really more of a decently paced biography of the two women who had the most say over how Nancy was drawn through the original series. I found it frustratingly 'surface' - we are told of tensions between Harriet Stratmeyer and Mildred Wirt over the language and actions of Nancy, how Mildred wanted to make her more ballsy and authoritative while Harriet wanted her a bit more feminine, kind of reflective of the two women themselves, but there's no critique of either woman's life. Both were uncommonly active in the workplace that was male-dominated, and yet managed full lives of looking after husbands and children and families; I wanted more depth in these areas, like how did their husbands feel about these tenacious women? We're told they were excellent mothers *and* workers, but we're not shown evidence of the former.
I know the book is focussed on the development of the Nancy Drew empire, and it retells the progressive history well with an eye for the changes in society happening around it, but at the same time if you want to draw parallels between Nancy and the women who shaped her in supporting the view that Nancy is a feminist icon, then there should be more explicit evidence that a) these women can be seen in comparison to each other and to Nancy, and b) that Nancy, and these two women in extension, actually deserve the title of feminist icon!
It was really more of a decently paced biography of the two women who had the most say over how Nancy was drawn through the original series. I found it frustratingly 'surface' - we are told of tensions between Harriet Stratmeyer and Mildred Wirt over the language and actions of Nancy, how Mildred wanted to make her more ballsy and authoritative while Harriet wanted her a bit more feminine, kind of reflective of the two women themselves, but there's no critique of either woman's life. Both were uncommonly active in the workplace that was male-dominated, and yet managed full lives of looking after husbands and children and families; I wanted more depth in these areas, like how did their husbands feel about these tenacious women? We're told they were excellent mothers *and* workers, but we're not shown evidence of the former.
I know the book is focussed on the development of the Nancy Drew empire, and it retells the progressive history well with an eye for the changes in society happening around it, but at the same time if you want to draw parallels between Nancy and the women who shaped her in supporting the view that Nancy is a feminist icon, then there should be more explicit evidence that a) these women can be seen in comparison to each other and to Nancy, and b) that Nancy, and these two women in extension, actually deserve the title of feminist icon!