The Group
by Mary McCarthy
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Read in April, 2008
Mary McCarthy's "The Group" is both a story of friendship and an exploration of the social mores among the "privileged" in Prohibition-era America. The book explores the lives of a group of seven Vassar graduates, who had "grouped together" in a college dormitory and whose lives occasionally intersected throughout the story. The girls come and go in New York; some of them remain close and some drift apart as they leave Vassar behind and enter into love affairs, ca...more
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Read in November, 2007
I just started and I love it. i'm only 40 pages in and had to re-read the first chapter b/c there are so many characters to sort out. I picked it up because I'm a fan of AO scott's ny times movie reviews and contributions to the book page and he's a big fan of McCarthy. I think I read somewhere (though it might be wikipedia) that this is one of his top picks for 20th century novels.
I just finished and I still love it, though somewhere in the middle, I had to remind myself to read it in cont...more
I just finished and I still love it, though somewhere in the middle, I had to remind myself to read it in cont...more
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Read in November, 2007
what a horrorshow! terrifyingly accurate writing, about moral character and insipid motivations and woolfian (not dickensian) bleakness.
i could barely take the levels of stress and striving that came through these young women, even 75 years later than the time they (fictionally) lived. the desire to fix the world! the sense of a revolution happening! the need to make money somehow in some not-too-seedy way! it's just so current.
as Ester notes, there is a lot of (unconscious? parodied?) Jew-b...more
i could barely take the levels of stress and striving that came through these young women, even 75 years later than the time they (fictionally) lived. the desire to fix the world! the sense of a revolution happening! the need to make money somehow in some not-too-seedy way! it's just so current.
as Ester notes, there is a lot of (unconscious? parodied?) Jew-b...more
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Read in May, 2008
Take THAT Candace Bushnell. Every woman who moves to NYC after becoming obsessed with Sex and the City should be compelled to read this book. Even though this book takes place between the WWI and WWII -- they'd probably be shocked to discover that the more things change, the more they stay the same. If anything, this is probably the most realistic picture of the dynamics of female friendships and their impact on male/female relations that I've ever read.
Frank discussion of pre-marital sex, b...more
Frank discussion of pre-marital sex, b...more
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smashing social history. a portrait of a loosely-defined group of women who graduate from Vassar in '31 and proceed, over the next seven years, to make the choices that will define their lives politically, romantically, socially and professionally.
apparently this book was shocking when it first came out for its frank depictions and discussions of sex; i was a little shocked myself, in a great way. when was the last time i was shocked by a book? the insights into how (upper middle class,...more
apparently this book was shocking when it first came out for its frank depictions and discussions of sex; i was a little shocked myself, in a great way. when was the last time i was shocked by a book? the insights into how (upper middle class,...more
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Read in April, 2008
There wasn't a whole lot of story in this book, just a group of women living life after college. The last 50 pages were fairly "scandalous" and enjoyable, but the thing that kept me reading throughout was that the thoughts and language of the 1930s and 1940s were done so well (at least it seems that way to me) that I didn't want to stop. This is the perfect book for anybody looking to read historical fiction about elite women in the early half of this century. I've not read anything li
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Read in December, 2007
The book narrates the life of 8 American girls that graduated in 1933. The story focuses on each of them at turns, showing the changes in their lives and the disappointments and sorrows each of them encounters. The book is well written, ironical and probably realistic at the same time, but the main impression I had was of a pessimistic view of the life and a great sadness. I don't like being depressed by books, and that's why I didn't like it very much.
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What this novel (set in the US pre-WW2) has to say about feminism, social justice, unions, class warfare, intellectual elitism, breastfeeding & childrearing, lesbianism, marriage & divorce, is exceptionally relevant, sharp, witty, & smart. Its depiction of an over-educated upper-middleclass group of friends post-college is hilarious, unforgiving and sad. Guilt-free summer reading.
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Read in November, 2007
College-educated women across the middle class trying to get things right in 1930s NYC. Love it! Sex, birth control, parents, mental health, rape, affairs, jobs, money, hired help, European lesbians, weddings, funerals, and breastfeeding, it's scandalous! I'd recommend Peyton Place if you liked this book, although that one is a little more disturbing.
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Read in January, 1994
recommends it for:
women. or men who are curious about kooky women.
A bunch of women right out of Vassar in the 30s and 40s learn about sex, love, and birth control. Apparently it caused a big stir among actual Vassar grads of that era--they maybe weren't flattered by the portrayals they were reading? Maybe they didn't want it publicized that they were all learning about love, sex, and birth control? Hmm.
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone over 15
Recommended! It held my flighty attention. It has juicy bits. It's kind of amazing how many things in New York Liberal Arts Grad Land have stayed the same. And sometimes jaw-dropping to see how they're different. Imagine buying a douchebag to use after sex to keep at your boyfriend's house because you can't have it seen by other gals.
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Satire of upper-crust New England society.
The novel follows the lives of eight friends and Vassar grads. The Group meets in New York to attend the wedding of one of the members, and reconvenes years later at a funeral. The story touches on the lives of each of them, describing awakenings, triumphs and travails.
The novel follows the lives of eight friends and Vassar grads. The Group meets in New York to attend the wedding of one of the members, and reconvenes years later at a funeral. The story touches on the lives of each of them, describing awakenings, triumphs and travails.
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Read in January, 1996
recommends it for:
women who like women's stories, fans of margaret sanger
i loved this book so much when i first read it that i bought if for my mom. such a great story of the elastic nature of women's relationships with one another. the men in this book are very 2-dimensional, but when you consider its era, it's still pretty racy. i love that mary mccarthy is really a writer's writer, too.
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Read in July, 2005
I read this around the time I read Savage Beauty, the biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay (who went to Vassar). It was a great companion piece, providing some fictional (but, I think fairly accurate) info on being a Vassar woman in the early part of the 20th c. It's a very enjoyable book.
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i wish there was a book like this about women today - tells the tale of a group of Vassar graduates in the 1930s - intelligent, funny, politically-conscious women who are trying to navigate life after college. seems like something like that should exist now, right?
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Read in July, 2007
This book was excellent. When I finished it I had the urge to read it again right away.
"You got what you wanted, in other words, as soon as you could do without it, which meant, if Polly reasoned right, that you NEVER got what you wanted."
"You got what you wanted, in other words, as soon as you could do without it, which meant, if Polly reasoned right, that you NEVER got what you wanted."
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I liked it because it's a really well done social history of America, which sounds dry, but for anyone even slightly interested in history or sociology, it's a great read. (I'm looking at you Ganahl--we did take US History together way back.)
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Read in July, 2006
i really enjoyed this book, mostly because i over-identified with the character helena (read: "registered for vassar at birth"). if your motivation is literature rather than amusing vassar history, it'll be a slow read.
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Read in January, 1988
This was one of the first books I read after college. It really spoke to me then because all of the characters are also recent college grads. I think I should reread it soon to see if it still resonates with me.
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
snarky hipsters
This is one of my favorite books ever. It is such a stunning commentary on womanhood during the 20th century. Even though I didn't go to an all women's college, this book certainly made me wish I had.
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