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A review by mx_malaprop
Ann Veronica by H.G. Wells
1.0
Fair warning: this is NOT a feminist novel. I don't understand why it has a reputation as one. It's more or less a tale of
Furthermore, Wells doesn't quite succeed in establishing a satisfactory basis for the romance, and once the characters confess their love, their relationship is just a little too magical. They discuss it amongst themselves in such effusive and idealistic terms that it makes the reader question what that relationship is going to be like when the characters' judgment is no longer befogged by the enchantment of infatuation.
Aside from all that, one of the salient plot points involves a debt that Ann Veronica incurs through ill-advised means and that is made much of, but then the resolution is never really addressed, which weakens the conclusion.
And look, a work of fiction doesn't have to be feminist or even non-sexist for it to be good or for me to like it. Goodness knows I've been reading enough D.H. Lawrence lately. But it was Ann Veronica's bait and switch move that exasperated me so much - after I'd gotten invested in the story of a character facing struggles I personally identified with and taking on questions that were important to me.
EDIT: Seriously, get a load of the following examples of Wells's wish-fulfillment writing of women in this book:
Exhibit A:
“'You know—I wish I could roll my little body up small and squeeze it into your hand and grip your fingers upon it. Tight. I want you to hold me and have me SO.... Everything. Everything. It’s a pure joy of giving—giving to YOU.'”
Exhibit B:
“One of the things that most surprised him in her was her capacity for blind obedience. She loved to be told to do things.”
And this after she shakes her fist at the heavens and swears that she "will not be slave to the thought of any man," and after she runs away from her familial home in revolt against being told what to do by her father.
And then there's this: "If I had never met anything of you at all but a scrap of your skin binding a book, Ann Veronica, I know I would have kept that somewhere near to me...." How very. And has Wells done enough to convince the reader that the title character is so special that a mere chunk of her leathered disembodied skin would so entrance the speaker of these words? Of course not!
Spoiler
an initially rebellious young woman ultimately deciding that the suffragists are histrionic and over the top, that her government's recognizing her full citizenship and humanity by giving her the vote wouldn't matter all that much (after spending a month in jail for the cause, no less), that what she needs to be happy is not independence but a man, and that she just loooves being told what to do by that man. Oh, and apparently setting out to spend your life with a man is "a woman's crowning experience." *weary sigh*Furthermore, Wells doesn't quite succeed in establishing a satisfactory basis for the romance, and once the characters confess their love, their relationship is just a little too magical. They discuss it amongst themselves in such effusive and idealistic terms that it makes the reader question what that relationship is going to be like when the characters' judgment is no longer befogged by the enchantment of infatuation.
Aside from all that, one of the salient plot points involves a debt that Ann Veronica incurs through ill-advised means and that is made much of, but then the resolution is never really addressed, which weakens the conclusion.
And look, a work of fiction doesn't have to be feminist or even non-sexist for it to be good or for me to like it. Goodness knows I've been reading enough D.H. Lawrence lately. But it was Ann Veronica's bait and switch move that exasperated me so much - after I'd gotten invested in the story of a character facing struggles I personally identified with and taking on questions that were important to me.
EDIT: Seriously, get a load of the following examples of Wells's wish-fulfillment writing of women in this book:
Exhibit A:
“'You know—I wish I could roll my little body up small and squeeze it into your hand and grip your fingers upon it. Tight. I want you to hold me and have me SO.... Everything. Everything. It’s a pure joy of giving—giving to YOU.'”
Exhibit B:
“One of the things that most surprised him in her was her capacity for blind obedience. She loved to be told to do things.”
And this after she shakes her fist at the heavens and swears that she "will not be slave to the thought of any man," and after she runs away from her familial home in revolt against being told what to do by her father.
And then there's this: "If I had never met anything of you at all but a scrap of your skin binding a book, Ann Veronica, I know I would have kept that somewhere near to me...." How very. And has Wells done enough to convince the reader that the title character is so special that a mere chunk of her leathered disembodied skin would so entrance the speaker of these words? Of course not!