Scan barcode
A review by chirson
The Group by Mary McCarthy
4.0
(A brief glance at McCarthy's biography suggests that she was the original Taylor Swift - what with Harald being ostensibly loosely based on an ex.)
The book has its flaws - it doesn't quite come together at times, there are so many points of view that none of them get the attention one wants them to get, perhaps Hatton the Butler being the exception. I could have done without him.
But Girls has nothing on the scope and risky material (masturbation, fidelity, open relationships, sexuality and contraception, rape, lesbians), and it's downright unbelievable how accurate this novel - written in the 50s, depicting the 30s, published in 1963 - is about the mommy wars, or how scathing its social commentary is, or how interesting its analysis of homophobia. It's all pretty up to date, oddly enough.
I'm very glad I decided to read it on a whim. I laughed out loud at times, I interrupted my SO to read sections and demand reactions.
The story about Dottie waiting for her lover, armed with a douchebag and diaphragm in a manila envelope, could have been a Munro short story.
Aged well, this book did.
The book has its flaws - it doesn't quite come together at times, there are so many points of view that none of them get the attention one wants them to get, perhaps Hatton the Butler being the exception. I could have done without him.
But Girls has nothing on the scope and risky material (masturbation, fidelity, open relationships, sexuality and contraception, rape, lesbians), and it's downright unbelievable how accurate this novel - written in the 50s, depicting the 30s, published in 1963 - is about the mommy wars, or how scathing its social commentary is, or how interesting its analysis of homophobia. It's all pretty up to date, oddly enough.
I'm very glad I decided to read it on a whim. I laughed out loud at times, I interrupted my SO to read sections and demand reactions.
The story about Dottie waiting for her lover, armed with a douchebag and diaphragm in a manila envelope, could have been a Munro short story.
Aged well, this book did.