Abby's review
The Group by Mary McCarthy
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 context. It is easy, with all that wit and politics, to forget that it was written in the 50s and is set in in the 30s and 40s. So there's this scene where one character has sex for the first time and it is spot on. Brave even now, 50 years later. And then there's a whole chapter on breast feeding or a whole plot twist where a character gets rescued by a prince (or a handsome young doctor). And those parts feel dusty and old. So you just have to remind yourself when it was written to get through tho...more
I just finished and I still love it, though somewhere in the middle, I had to remind myself to read it in context. It is easy, with all that wit and politics, to forget that it was written in the 50s and is set in in the 30s and 40s. So there's this scene where one character has sex for the first time and it is spot on. Brave even now, 50 years later. And then there's a whole chapter on breast feeding or a whole plot twist where a character gets rescued by a prince (or a handsome young doctor). And those parts feel dusty and old. So you just have to remind yourself when it was written to get through tho...more
abby >heart< nance
abby >heart< nance
