Mary McCarthy's most celebrated novel portrays the lives of eight Vassar graduates, known simply to their classmates as "the group." An eclectic mi...
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Feb 04, 2011
Wayne
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I can remember my Dad's married sisters discussing this book (they were voracious readers always) in the 1960's. I was determined to read it and finally got hold of it in 1967 when I was studying to be a Catholic priest. My Student Director immediately confiscated it, so I knew its reputation was still going strong.(He didn't see my two volumes of Nietzsche I'd also bought with money my Mum had given me for my 20th birthday - I'd only bought them because I'd already seen him confiscate a Nietzs
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(9 people liked it)
May 25, 2008
Michaela
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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-marita More...
Frank discussion of pre-marita More...
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Dec 14, 2010
Chelsea
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I was surprised by many, many things in The Group (my first book picked by a book club I joined in Brooklyn):
1. I was surprised I'd never heard of it. This is apparently common among my generation, though. Still, my mom was shocked- it's one of her favorite books, and I hadn't known.
2. In further embarrassment, I was surprised it wasn't written so long ago. I'd read a good few chapters thinking it was contemporary historical fiction.
3. I was then surprised by how much I liked it, More...
1. I was surprised I'd never heard of it. This is apparently common among my generation, though. Still, my mom was shocked- it's one of her favorite books, and I hadn't known.
2. In further embarrassment, I was surprised it wasn't written so long ago. I'd read a good few chapters thinking it was contemporary historical fiction.
3. I was then surprised by how much I liked it, More...
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(6 people liked it)
Oct 28, 2008
Sarah
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This is pretty much my ideal novel. It's set in 1930s New York and follows the lives of several Vassar graduates. There has been only a few truly slow portions of this novel. I laughed aloud in several parts of the novel. All of the talk of New York high-society, 1930s politics, Freudian psychotherapy, and modernism generally was like candy to me. All of these characters were pretty darn interesting to me and I was sad when the novel ended.
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Apr 10, 2009
Jon
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Written at least a generation before my time, and from the point of view of women, The Group portrays struggles that every generation faces after graduating from college, though they are resolved with the distinctive flavor of each generation. The book starts with a wedding and ends with a funeral, and in each case there is the search for just the right way of handling the occasion, not too formal and not too Bohemian, with second-guessing from everyone. How will the parents be involved? Is t
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Dec 29, 2010
Keirstan
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I truly loved reading Mary McCarthy’s best known work, THE GROUP. THE GROUP follows the lives of eight Vassar graduates, class of ’33, as they encounter adulthood. The women, while divergent in personality, are essentially upper middle class women with one similar stain: they all wish to live a modern life, different from the lives of their mothers and fathers. The novel, however, centers around Kay Strong, the vibrant leader of the group and is artfully bookended with Kay’s wedding and funer
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(5 people liked it)
Apr 08, 2008
Jaclyn
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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
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(2 people liked it)
May 03, 2011
Aneesa
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The Great Gatsby meets Valley of the Dolls meets Emma.
After tearing through the surprise ending, I would have given this book five stars, if not for the nagging remembrance of some of the long, plodding chapters from the points of views of complete ninnies. It takes some patience to get through these, but it's worth it. McCarthy is a master of satire and social criticism, and writing from each girl's perspective she manages to show the real motives, feelings, intentions, delusions, and More...
After tearing through the surprise ending, I would have given this book five stars, if not for the nagging remembrance of some of the long, plodding chapters from the points of views of complete ninnies. It takes some patience to get through these, but it's worth it. McCarthy is a master of satire and social criticism, and writing from each girl's perspective she manages to show the real motives, feelings, intentions, delusions, and More...
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Aug 03, 2011
“The Group” tell us the live stories for each one of eight Vassar’33 graduates. First time we meet all of them at the wedding of Kay. She now “made it in New York” and is getting married to a promising theater actor. All other women are wondering about their own lives, and that’s what the book further shows us.
It is an excellent story about the society’s changes in the United States in 30s and beginning of 40s. This is the time when, as one of these women points out, “the society is aiming at n More...
It is an excellent story about the society’s changes in the United States in 30s and beginning of 40s. This is the time when, as one of these women points out, “the society is aiming at n More...
May 03, 2011
Project
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I'd read somewhere that i should read this book, and so when it happenstantially landed on the table at Book Club i snatched it up eagerly.[return][return]"Oh, yes," a colleague who was around in the days of feminism said, observing my grip on the novel, "That was the book that i learned about lesbians from..."[return][return]Apparently everyone in her Girls College had taken a turn at furtively reading the book and passing it on, and they had shown their solidarity with its
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Aug 15, 2011
Christine
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You know when you're in the middle of a good book and you have to put it down, you still think about the characters and the story? Well, that was NOT the case with this book! I never connected and never felt anything about it. Apparently, this book first came out in 1954 & 1963 and I think the reason it was popular was because it had very taboo content - at least for the 1950's. I could see young girls back then giggling and hiding their copies of it. Other than that, it's filled with flaws. No
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Oct 26, 2009
Catherine
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I adored this book. It's witty, intelligent, and droll; the prose is light and incredibly clever; the social commentary is absolutely scathing.
Published in 1963, but set in the 1930s, The Group follows the fortunes of eight classmates from Vassar's graduating class of 1933. As she tells their intertwined stories McCarthy pokes fun at, analyzes, and explores their ideas about sex and sexuality, birth control, mental illness, marriage, divorce, childbirth, nursing, raising children, More...
Published in 1963, but set in the 1930s, The Group follows the fortunes of eight classmates from Vassar's graduating class of 1933. As she tells their intertwined stories McCarthy pokes fun at, analyzes, and explores their ideas about sex and sexuality, birth control, mental illness, marriage, divorce, childbirth, nursing, raising children, More...
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Jan 13, 2011
Kevin
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Who knew this was so… explicit? What kind of reaction did this get in 1963? I don’t think I’ve read such explicit sex scenes in ages--not there's anything wrong with that! And frank (but very outdated) discussion of lesbianism. And communism and atheism. This must have been banned. But, after all the juicy bits, it was just another pot boiler about a group of college friends and their lives after graduation from 1933-40. It turns out that they really didn’t have that much in common, excep
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Aug 16, 2009
Debbie (Readerbuzz)
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It’s important to know that the copyright on this book is 1954. Also, I should share that the story takes place during America’s Great Depression.
If you didn’t know these two facts, you might think this is just another book of contemporary women’s fiction.
The Group is the story of seven college friends and what happens to them over a ten year period. (See what I told you…Does that sound like a contemporary women’s fiction novel, or what?)
But this book was mu More...
If you didn’t know these two facts, you might think this is just another book of contemporary women’s fiction.
The Group is the story of seven college friends and what happens to them over a ten year period. (See what I told you…Does that sound like a contemporary women’s fiction novel, or what?)
But this book was mu More...
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 07, 2010
Caitlin
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Reading this book is like drinking a very dry gin martini (shaken, not stirred). Closely observed, carefully described, always acerbic - this was a real pleasure.
I remember skimming through this at my Seattle grandmother's house when I was in high school. At that point I was mostly shocked that someone had written so frankly about sex during the 1930's ("They had SEX in the 1930's? Really?") - teenagers are always a bit surprised to discover a whole world out there that More...
I remember skimming through this at my Seattle grandmother's house when I was in high school. At that point I was mostly shocked that someone had written so frankly about sex during the 1930's ("They had SEX in the 1930's? Really?") - teenagers are always a bit surprised to discover a whole world out there that More...
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 19, 2011
Ann
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I confess that I vaguely remember ever hearing about The Group by Mary McCarthy when I was growing up. I say this, because I got my love of reading from perusing my mother's bookshelves. I can't remember if I ever saw it there, but I never thought of it again until I saw recently a review of it in The Guardian (UK newspaper) for a re-release. It sounded interesting from what the article said and since I liked The Women's Room by Marilyn French, I decided to give this book a read. I'm glad I did.
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Aug 04, 2011
Cathartic.
A work of pure brilliance which I imagine must have caused quite a stir when it was first published.
The female characters, whilst not always likeable, were beleivable - I found myself getting annoyed at times with one or two of them when they allowed themselves to be treated as second class citizens simply because they are women. However, this was not weak characters on the part of the writer, more a realistic portrayal of the submissive women at the time.
The male characters, however, More...
A work of pure brilliance which I imagine must have caused quite a stir when it was first published.
The female characters, whilst not always likeable, were beleivable - I found myself getting annoyed at times with one or two of them when they allowed themselves to be treated as second class citizens simply because they are women. However, this was not weak characters on the part of the writer, more a realistic portrayal of the submissive women at the time.
The male characters, however, More...
Apr 11, 2011
Scarlett.speaks
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This book follows a group of girls from graduation at Vassar through seven years when they all gather together for the funeral of one of their own. Each girl is different in her own way and each girl is devoted to the idea that they're not going to be stuffy like "mom and dad". It was a big deal back when it was written because one of the girls was a Sapphist (which is a nice way of saying lesbian) who was in love with one of the other girls in the group, even if she never said so. Thi
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Jun 24, 2011
Kevin
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It's been about twenty years since I read the novel, but I found it interesting. The prose was journalistic and sometimes verbose but in hindsight, when you finish the novel, you realize that the book was employing the ordinary surface of life to "disguise" with gentle irony the unconscious underside in the lives of the characters. This was the book that made all-women colleges go co-ed, since it presented with great subtlety, the thesis that such colleges indoctrinated women, unconsci
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Dec 07, 2011
Roberta
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Quando la McCarthy pubblicò questo romanzo nel 1963, si stupì dell'enorme scalpore che suscitò. Ci furono molte critiche (e per lo meno una recensione al vetriolo scritta da Norman Mailer) ma ci fu anche l'ingresso nella New York Times Best Seller list. A dispetto della sua ambientazione vent'anni prima, nel 1933, nel pieno della Depressione e del New Deal, e a dispetto delle sue borghesissime eroine, il romanzo della McCarthy riesce ad essere una fonte di ispirazione e di immedesimazione per ge
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May 16, 2010
Jessica
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Everyone talks about how forward-thinking and ahead of its time The Group was, but no one seems to agree on when it appeared, variously citing dates in the 1950s and 1960s. It seems the book was largely published as short stories in various magazines, with the first - "Dottie Makes and Honest Woman of Herself" - appearing in 1954, and the book itself being published as a whole in 1963.
Knowing that the book was published in short stories goes a long way toward understanding More...
Knowing that the book was published in short stories goes a long way toward understanding More...
Jan 02, 2012
Carin
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I can’t remember where I first heard about The Group. It was one of those things that I thought I’d remember to look for and then promptly forgot all about it. It wasn’t until I was exploring a bookshop on holidays that I saw this book, saw the ‘introduced by Candace Bushnell’ and remembered that I was told that this was a book I simply had to read. Because face it, after the mess that was Sex and the City 2, every woman of a certain age is looking for a replacement SATC, aren’t they?
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Mar 03, 2011
Mary McCarthy was born in 1912 to Seattle natives, Tess and Roy McCarthy, a loving mother and somewhat of an alcoholic father. Mary started school when she was young at Sacred Heart Convent in Fort Ridge Seattle where nearly a week or two after she was removed and all the schools in Seattle shut down due to an influenza pandemic. Mary, along with her immediate family and her aunt and uncle left to move to Minneapolis by train while on their way they all became ill with influenza. Mary’s pare
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Jun 10, 2010
Barbara VA
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I have had this in my TBR pile for years. I grew up near Vasser and even knew girls who went there. They were Not this Group! I enjoy "friendship" stories and love Hf. I am not sure how I feel about this. I did not LIKE anybody in the book, and I am not even sure that Ms McCarthy did. I can see that the book was a sensation, puts Sex and The City to shame, but at least with Ms Bushnell I can understand why the girls are and have stayed friends for so long. Each of them has a rel
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Jun 14, 2009
Federica
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First of all I want to thank Vanessa who sent me the book directly from Los Angeles, California.
The book is undoubtedly meant to be a satire of the New York upper-class society in the years before the Second World War.. The main characters are eight Vassar graduates, class of '33. The personalities and stories of these eight women introduces the reader to the big change the women faced to gain their independence in society. Some of them find their own collocation in society: Libby w More...
The book is undoubtedly meant to be a satire of the New York upper-class society in the years before the Second World War.. The main characters are eight Vassar graduates, class of '33. The personalities and stories of these eight women introduces the reader to the big change the women faced to gain their independence in society. Some of them find their own collocation in society: Libby w More...
Nov 25, 2009
Terry
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Read this book for purely historical/sociological reasons only. It's a critique of so many situations that simply don't exist any more (well, I don't know--maybe Walter Lost in the Meritocracy Kirn would disagree); it is really a critique of the 1950s in disguise.
It also has a LOT to do with social and economic class and the physical signifiers of each--if you're interested in that kind of thing, you'll love this book. If you find that completely boring or enraging, you'll hate this More...
It also has a LOT to do with social and economic class and the physical signifiers of each--if you're interested in that kind of thing, you'll love this book. If you find that completely boring or enraging, you'll hate this More...
Nov 17, 2009
Tiffany
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I had never even heard of this book but it was briefly featured on an episode of 'Mad Men.' The character Betty Draper was reading this in the bed and they showed the title. I love when they show what characters are reading on TV shows because it makes things seem realistic. This is a sure change from the contemporary fiction that I have been reading lately as this book is set in the period of 1930s to 1950s. We'll see.....
This book blew my mind. It was truly a glimpse into a li More...
This book blew my mind. It was truly a glimpse into a li More...
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Mar 06, 2011
Nikki
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I read this book for feminist book club and since it's a historical novel about women in the 1930s, I had doubts about whether it would provide enough topics for useful, relevant conversation other than "well, that sucked back then." It was a fun read plot-wise and there was a lot of stuff going on (from attempted rape to women acquiring birth control back when it was shameful) that is sadly very similar to how things are today so that was enjoyable to identify with. But it went a bit
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Jun 29, 2011
John
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Delightful, even if the whole "let's put multiple quotes and topics in one paragraph!" idea is right up there on the Stupidity Chart with the Cormac McCarthy's "we don't need no stinking quotation marks!" plan. I'm fascinated by people/reviewers that talk about how contemporary the novel feels. Personally, after my Mom and Grandma gave me an idea of what they and their friends were like when they were younger, nothing comes as much of a surprise to me. But I still like the
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May 29, 2009
Lori
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This book was first published in 1963. Mary McCarthy mined some ground breaking territory in this exploration of the post collegiate lives of a group of upper class women in the New York/New England milieu. Besides daring to address premarital sex, lesbians and the urban bohemian lifestyle, McCarthy also tells a juicy and page turning story. This would be pure guilty pleasure if not for the book's historic context of being so ahead of it's time. Mary McCarthy had a lot to say about the stat
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