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A review by sarahcoller
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
3.0
After reading Daddy Long Legs sometime in the last couple years, I ordered this 1915 edition of Dear Enemy from eBay. I've just now gotten round to reading it.
If anything, this is a good "time capsule" story---one of those that wouldn't be nearly as popular or innocent as it likely was in its day. Several political and social ideologies are presented without any hint of a 21st century politically correct filter---even I, who usually roll my eyes at what some call "snowflakes", found a few things to be seriously offended by.
The main character is pretty harsh on racial and intellectual minorities; even going so far to insist society would be better off if these "feeble minded" ones were segregated into concentration camps. In context, this was her way of being sarcastically humorous---but it's a horrible suggestion and nothing any decent person today would find funny in the least.
The story was also an "interesting" look at eugenics from a perspective very different from my own. I've developed no sympathies for the philosophy, but I feel like I've made an excuse for their more "primitive" understanding. These are concessions I would have a very difficult time making for people today, and in the grand scheme of things, 1915 was not that long ago. I think I must just resign myself to the fact that this author had some really yucky views on the sanctity of life (a point I later confirmed when researching her biographical info.)
I did enjoy her humor though, for the most part, and epistolary novels like these always remind me of the "summer camp" books I used to read as a kid where the campers were always writing home (ex. Yours 'Til Niagara Falls, Abby).
New to me word: clishmaclaver. She uses it twice and I've never heard that before. It's a Scottish word for gossip or silly talk.
If anything, this is a good "time capsule" story---one of those that wouldn't be nearly as popular or innocent as it likely was in its day. Several political and social ideologies are presented without any hint of a 21st century politically correct filter---even I, who usually roll my eyes at what some call "snowflakes", found a few things to be seriously offended by.
The main character is pretty harsh on racial and intellectual minorities; even going so far to insist society would be better off if these "feeble minded" ones were segregated into concentration camps. In context, this was her way of being sarcastically humorous---but it's a horrible suggestion and nothing any decent person today would find funny in the least.
The story was also an "interesting" look at eugenics from a perspective very different from my own. I've developed no sympathies for the philosophy, but I feel like I've made an excuse for their more "primitive" understanding. These are concessions I would have a very difficult time making for people today, and in the grand scheme of things, 1915 was not that long ago. I think I must just resign myself to the fact that this author had some really yucky views on the sanctity of life (a point I later confirmed when researching her biographical info.)
I did enjoy her humor though, for the most part, and epistolary novels like these always remind me of the "summer camp" books I used to read as a kid where the campers were always writing home (ex. Yours 'Til Niagara Falls, Abby).
New to me word: clishmaclaver. She uses it twice and I've never heard that before. It's a Scottish word for gossip or silly talk.