Euphoria in Retro Chapter Chicks

May 11, 2015 Candi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction

Loosely based on the experiences of real-life anthropologists Margaret Mead, Reo Fortune, and Gregory Bateson, Euphoria is a captivating work of historical fiction. Set in the 1930’s Territory of New Guinea, the setting is exotic and the various cultures in the region are intriguing. I became immediately interested in learning about the tribes living along the Sepik River right along with the fictionalized characters Nell Stone and her husband Fen, and the depressed and isolated Andrew Bankson. Loosely based on the experiences of real-life anthropologists Margaret Mead, Reo Fortune, and Gregory Bateson, Euphoria is a captivating work of historical fiction. Set in the 1930’s Territory of New Guinea, the setting is exotic and the various cultures in the region are intriguing. I became immediately interested in learning about the tribes living along the Sepik River right along with the fictionalized characters Nell Stone and her husband Fen, and the depressed and isolated Andrew Bankson. These three are drawn to one another; and their interactions, both professionally and romantically, are well developed and quite irresistible. I admired Nell and could feel such empathy for her at times as she struggled not just to understand the people of New Guinea, but humanity itself. “I think above all else it is freedom I search for in my work, in these far-flung places, to find a group of people who give each other the room to be in whatever way they need to be. And maybe I will never find it all in one culture but maybe I find parts of it in several cultures, maybe I can piece it together like a mosaic and unveil it to the world.” The novel is told from Bankson’s point of view, which I found very appealing as his character was more approachable to me and lent an air of nostalgia to the story. Snippets of Nell Stone’s diary entries are also interspersed throughout and add additional perspective to the narrative.

Jealousy festers and eventually erupts, violence ensues, and the safety of the threesome becomes threatened and their work halted. I can’t help but think that while we try to penetrate the mysteries of those persons and customs unknown to us, we don’t always understand those that are closest to us either. “I've always been able to see the savageness beneath the veneer of society. It's not so very far beneath the surface, no matter where you go.” This as well as many other penetrating insights provided for a very thought-provoking read. Beautiful prose, tension, haunting atmosphere, and poignant conclusion, make this book stand out in my mind and I believe it will do so for some time to come. My only complaint is that the ending seemed to arrive a bit too quickly. I highly recommend this book. 4.5 stars which I have rounded up to 5 stars.
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Apr 15, 2021 Maureen rated it really liked it

This novel was inspired by the life of anthropologist Margaret Mead, Reo Fortune and Gregory Bateson The threesome did research of tribes in New Guinea in 1933.
Nell and Fen are a married couple and meet Andrew Bankson at Christmas Party. Bankson agrees to accompany them to the Sepik River where there are known tribes so that they can do their research.
Bankson is in a very depressed state and has already tried to commit suicide.
Nell is a successful author, her husband Fen is very jealous of her a ...more

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Jul 24, 2023 Brina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

My book club friends have been lauding the work of Lily King for awhile now. She has a new book out and a group has planned to read it together. Being behind the times in fiction reading, I had not read any of her books yet, being critical of all but the best historical fiction. For me historical fiction has to focus on a time period with the protagonists being fictional characters, the author inserting real events into the prose so that readers still get a sense of time and place. Otherwise, I My book club friends have been lauding the work of Lily King for awhile now. She has a new book out and a group has planned to read it together. Being behind the times in fiction reading, I had not read any of her books yet, being critical of all but the best historical fiction. For me historical fiction has to focus on a time period with the protagonists being fictional characters, the author inserting real events into the prose so that readers still get a sense of time and place. Otherwise, I am happier reading the nonfiction account of history which I am drawn into easier than a prose attempting to fictionalize the same events. I had noticed King’s Euphoria many times at the library. The cover stands out and is historical fiction, a departure from her regular literary fiction approach. Knowing that at least the novel would have quality prose, I decided to give Euphoria a try.

King writes about anthropologists in the 1930s who originally learned from the famed Franz Boas who believed that the study of human society is a social rather than a biological one. His student who would go on to have the most illustrious career was Margaret Mead who spent years in the South Pacific studying native tribes. Her Child Rearing in Samoa (1928) gained international fame and put Mead on course for a long career as an anthropologist. She challenged the western view of child rearing, family structure, and sexual conventions, and became a sought after speaker among the American Council of Anthropologists during her life. When raising her own child, her pediatrician was Dr. Benjamin Spock, and the two bounced ideas off of each other, coming up with new hypotheses on how to raise a child in postwar America. Toward the end of her life, Mead was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 1976, celebrating her life body of work in relatively young field of study.

Had King stuck to the general timeline of Mead’s life and fictionalized it, I would have been stimulated by her writing. Unfortunately, for me, King decided to completely fictionalize Mead’s life to the point that I had to read the anthropologist’s biography after finishing the book. Nell Stone (Mead) and her husband Schuyler Fenwick (Fen) are celebrating Christmas 1932 in the Australian outpost of Angoram, taking a short respite from their research on Papua New Guinea. They had been studying the Mumbanyo people and wanted their field work to take them in a new direction. Also at this party was Andrew Blankston (George Bakeston) who had been studying the Kiona tribe. Blankston is immediately smitten with Nell and desires that she is in close proximity to him, who has worked in the field alone for over two years. Blankston sets up that Nell and Fen study the Tam tribe, mere hours away from him thanks to his motorized canoe. Nell had already been a published author and is internationally acclaimed, and Fen is jealous of his wife. In the presence of Blankston, he is even more skeptical, setting the scenes for more conflict than is necessary.

Nell Stone appears to be married to her work and might have had a spark of emotion upon meeting Fen but nothing more. It seems that their marriage was out of convenience only because Nell states that her place is with the Tam. She is a much more gifted anthropologist than either Fen or Blankston and it shows in King’s description. Although the love triangle that emerges is too far fetched for my taste as a historical reader, her descriptions of the Tam and Kiona people are fascinating. Their views on sexuality are diametrically opposed to those of the west, with the women welcoming Nell into their tribe far more easily than the men give Fen access. Perhaps it is Nell’s research style, which is stimulating, whereas Fen is out for glory and only interviews the men in order to gain personal notoriety, growing more jealous of his wife on a daily basis. Margaret Mead was only married to Reo Fortune (Fen) for eight years, the two going their separate ways when it was apparent that their research was diametrically opposed. Her longest marriage was to George Bakeston (Blankston) and the two stayed on amicable terms for the rest of their lives, perhaps out of love for their daughter Mary Katherine, who also became an anthropologist, but most likely because Bakeston was the love of Mead’s life. This is something that King only scratches the surface of, tying up ends a little to neatly for my tastes. The real life George Bakeston did go on to have a celebrated career, and in actual history Margaret Mead was along for a good portion of it.

Euphoria is mentioned in passing when Blankston asks Stone what her favorite part of research is. She answers that it is at that two month mark when she feels that she first understands a tribe and becomes completely immersed in their culture. One can see from the writing that Lily King is a gifted literary fiction author. Perhaps had I read one of her books that was strictly literary fiction, I would have come away with a stronger feeling about the actual story at hand. In historical fiction, I appreciate it when the author sticks to the actual facts because the story can then tell itself. Margaret Mead was a fascinating person, and I wish that Euphoria had given more justice to her life.

3 stars ...more

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Oct 04, 2023 Theresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: friends-recommended, historical-fiction, buddy-reads, science-climate, z-pop-sugar-2023-reading-challenge, z-dragon-hop

Lily King provides here a love triangle among young anthropoligists who found themselves studying in the same area in New Guinea for a few months in 1932. Nell already has reached academic success, plus popular fame and fortune, with the publication of a book based on her studies of a Solomon Islands tribe. Fen, her husband, has also published a report of his year with a tribe of sorcerers that brought him some academic acknowledgments but nothing compared to Nell's. There marriage is not smooth Lily King provides here a love triangle among young anthropoligists who found themselves studying in the same area in New Guinea for a few months in 1932. Nell already has reached academic success, plus popular fame and fortune, with the publication of a book based on her studies of a Solomon Islands tribe. Fen, her husband, has also published a report of his year with a tribe of sorcerers that brought him some academic acknowledgments but nothing compared to Nell's. There marriage is not smooth or completely happy , and the strain shows in their working partnership, with Fen[s jealousy and feelings of powerlessness tied to his lack of success compared to Nell's. The third member of this triangle, and the primary narrator, Bankson has achieved some respect due to his extended time spent with a tribe in New Guinea but struggles with depression, loneliness, and a sense of inadequacy, even failure, as an anthropologiest. For him, meeting Nell and Fen is life- and career- saving, especially Nell. All of course does not go smoothly for them.

King was inspired to write this by Margaret Mead and her time in New Guinea with two other noted anthropolgists, one her then husband and the other the man who became her third husband. It also clearly led to a great deal of research into cultural anthropology and its methodologies. I loved how King wove that into this story by having each main character represent a different methodology and theory. It added great depth and tension to the relationships.

I did enjoy the story here, but something just doesn't sit well for me, primarily with the first 25% or so of the book. That may have been my own fault though. Despoite knowing what this was about, and knowing it was fiction, I somehow had it in mind this was a retelling of Margaret Mead's life and relationships at that time, not a work of historical fiction. It took me too long to sort my head out when reading it, and I even went back at one point and re-read the first couple of chapters because I sure had not taken them in. My other issue is with the ending -- as being too quick and pat, though in truth I think I expected it. I basically give this 3.5 but rounded up to 4 as I really liked that it was primarily told by Bankson in the first person, and that the only other occasional narrator is Nell via a few diary entries here and there. ...more

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Jul 26, 2019 Celia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: not-translate, historical-fiction-read, reading-the-wrld, kindle-list, elyse, reading-the-world-read, 2022-read, ten-year-challenge, 2022-kindle-counted, pittsburgh

Lily King’s novel Euphoria is inspired by the life and fieldwork of eminent American anthropologist Margaret Mead. Specifically, King looked at the time in 1933 when Mead, the woman whom protagonist Nell Stone is based on, went to what was then known as the Territory of New Guinea with anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Reo Fortune. In the Acknowledgements at the end of the book, King writes that she has “borrowed from the lives and experiences of these three people” but has “told a different s ...more

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May 25, 2015 Tasha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-2015

This book creeps up on you and leaves with a powerful punch. I enjoyed it while reading but the ending really got me. The writing was so good, sparse yet so full. It felt almost like reading a classic. I'll be getting a copy of this one for my shelves. ...more

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May 10, 2015 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, tbrhchallenge, themechallenge2015

Wow! What can I say about this book. There are some very powerful passages that moved me; I even stopped my reading to take some time to reflect. I took a few notes on these passages so I can revisit them again and again. Here are a few that I greatly enjoyed:

"Do you have a favorite part of all this?' she asked.
'All what?' I said.
'This work.'
Favorite part? There was little at this point that
didn't make me want to run with stones straight back
to the river. I shook my head. 'You first.'
She looked ...more

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