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I have no recollection of how The Group by Mary McCarthy ended up on my reading shelf, but I decided to give it a try, as a change from all the fantasy and sci-fi I've been reading lately.
It was written in the 1960s but set in the 1930s, following eight recent graduates from the all-female college, Vassar, and how they try to find their way in the world in post-depression New York.
As a product of its own time, and also a depiction of a past era, it's interesting from an anthropological standpoint. The young women are considered to be unusual, having been to college, and are progressive in their views and the way they talk and behave. There are frank and explicit discussions and portrayals of sex, difficult marriages, abuse, the stresses and pressures of motherhood, mental illness and same sex relationships.
But the characters are still stuck in the expected gender roles of their time. They know just enough to be dissatisfied with their lot, but not enough to be able to act to change their circumstances, which is painfully sad.
It took me a while to get into the book, despite the excellent writing and the fascinating subject matter, because it doesn't really hang together as a cohesive story. It's really multiple deep character studies, with lots of background information laid out and only a few direct action scenes or connecting plot points. It becomes more like a proper story towards the end, but still focuses for long periods on only one character at a time.
Overall, it is cleverly circular, starting with a wedding and ending with a funeral, and I was interested in all the characters. The later ones held my attention more - Libby trying to break into publishing, Priss struggling with conflicting advice about how to raise her baby, Polly questioning her own mental state after her lover reveals he is seeing a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, the one who caught my interest most in the opening chapter was Lakey, who then disappears until right at the end, which was a shame.
So, well written and engaging, if not really a novel in the traditional sense, with a very great deal to say about women's place in society and the beginnings of social change.
It was written in the 1960s but set in the 1930s, following eight recent graduates from the all-female college, Vassar, and how they try to find their way in the world in post-depression New York.
As a product of its own time, and also a depiction of a past era, it's interesting from an anthropological standpoint. The young women are considered to be unusual, having been to college, and are progressive in their views and the way they talk and behave. There are frank and explicit discussions and portrayals of sex, difficult marriages, abuse, the stresses and pressures of motherhood, mental illness and same sex relationships.
But the characters are still stuck in the expected gender roles of their time. They know just enough to be dissatisfied with their lot, but not enough to be able to act to change their circumstances, which is painfully sad.
It took me a while to get into the book, despite the excellent writing and the fascinating subject matter, because it doesn't really hang together as a cohesive story. It's really multiple deep character studies, with lots of background information laid out and only a few direct action scenes or connecting plot points. It becomes more like a proper story towards the end, but still focuses for long periods on only one character at a time.
Overall, it is cleverly circular, starting with a wedding and ending with a funeral, and I was interested in all the characters. The later ones held my attention more - Libby trying to break into publishing, Priss struggling with conflicting advice about how to raise her baby, Polly questioning her own mental state after her lover reveals he is seeing a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, the one who caught my interest most in the opening chapter was Lakey, who then disappears until right at the end, which was a shame.
So, well written and engaging, if not really a novel in the traditional sense, with a very great deal to say about women's place in society and the beginnings of social change.
