Lives of Girls and Women in Reading with Style

May 16, 2020 Connie G rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, coming-of-age, canada, fiction

"Her concern about my life, which I needed and took for granted, I could not bear to have expressed. . . . Advice that assumed being female made you damageable, that a certain amount of carefulness and solemn fuss and self-protection were called for, whereas men were supposed to be able to go out and take on all kinds of experiences and shuck off what they didn't want and come back proud. Without even thinking about it, I had decided to do the same."

In "Lives of Girls and Women" Del Jordan tells ...more

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Jan 01, 2017 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: xx-2017-reps, 1001-books, library, 5-star-reads, late-20th-century, xx-2017-can, xx-20th-c-women-read, xx-2017-women, women

The GR members who have shelved this as "coming of age" knew more about this novel than did I and it is a perfect description. I don't usually like such stories - are they usually about boys? This is the story of a girl, about 10 or so when the story opens. In high school, she is nerdy and awkward. She longs to know about boys, to know what it is to be admired, to know about sex.

Del's mother, for the times especially (by now post-war), is an enlightened woman.

"There is a change coming I think

...more

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Feb 18, 2021 Bucket rated it it was amazing

Shelves: culture, sex, 1001-read-all-editions, friendship, literary, love, life-and-death, bildungsroman, identity, reviewed

SO GOOD. The first few chapters almost read like self-contained short stories (though they do still build on each other) but about a third of the way in, Munro finds the novel groove.

Del's coming-of-age story is about trying to fit in while trying to stand out. She feels both shame and pride in the women around her for the ways they do both. Her relationship with her mother, in particular, is fascinating.

She falls into many of the traps of adolescence, including one relationship with a man towa ...more

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