The Group (picked by a poll)

[Mela]

In a poll for August 2024 won The Group by Mary McCarthy.

Who is going to read it? How do you like it?

If you have read it already, or you are reading it at another (later) time - write here what you think about the book too.

[Please keep in mind to hide spoilers in spoiler brackets.]

[Mela]

I am starting it today.

[Daniela]

I will start it next week!

[Mela]

Daniela wrote: "I will start it next week!"

👍

[Mela]

I have just finished it. I liked it while reading. I learned a lot. Yet, I think the book was popular mostly because of the controversial topics. When I think of it now, the characters were rather one dimensional and the plot flat - the book seemed to be written to show the lot of women in those (and later) times. As such, it was interesting.

[Daniela]

I started yesterday. At first I had a hard time distinguishing the nine girls who are all presented together. Now it's going better.

[Daniela]

I finished yesterday.
The lives of the eight alumnae of the group are told rather as stand-alone stories. (view spoiler)[In the book the group is reunited only once, at the initial wedding while they are almost complete at the final funeral and on the return from Europe at the outbreak of war of Lakey. (hide spoiler)]
Their shared university life is only hinted at but their similar intellectual education forms a strong bond between the eight girls.
A subtitle could be "women at the mercy of men": boyfriends, lovers, fathers, employers, husbands and ex-husbands, their lives revolve around them and depend on them. These are the first women who received a university education, many later look for a job but do not become emotionally and/or economically independent. The book tells of the path of disillusionment that many of them take. (view spoiler)[Perhaps the happiest among them in the end is Lakey who has a woman as a partner. (hide spoiler)]
Published in the 60s, this book deals with all the themes dear to the years of women's liberation and was censored in several countries for this. Today certain things are no longer scandalous and these women who take the first steps towards freedom and gender equality move us, but there is still a long way to go and on too many things we are taking steps backwards instead of forwards.

[Mela]

Daniela wrote: "I finished yesterday.
The lives of the eight alumnae of the group are told rather as stand-alone stories. [spoilers removed]
Their shared university life is only hinted at but their similar intelle..."

Nicely summarized, Daniela.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

I had another read of my review (I read this back in 2020) & what resonated with me was how well the book (set originally in the 30s) captured the sense of furtive shame I remember from the 70s.