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This was a very beloved book in its time. and I can see why. For me, it was like watching a high budget black and white movie where the Men are suave and talk fast and the women sophisticated enough to catch their man by talking backwards while wearing high heels (all hail Ginger Rogers).
Originally written in the 1950s, this is set in the Upper Middle-Class Society of Jewish families living in 1930’s New York. Here parties are lavish, religious practices range from the most orthodox to the downright bacon-eating not kosher, and young teenage girls are dated by a mixture of University boys, Professionals, and Cads. Meanwhile, Europe is tumbling into a War, Hitler is going to invade Czechoslovakia and Nazis have just begun to be more proactive in their hatred of the Jewish populace.
Amongst all of this Majorie Morgenstein (Morningstar) has ambitions to become an actress, a fatal attraction for selfish but pretty Men who like to talk about themselves and their wants for paragraphs, pages, chapters, possibly 3/4 of this book? By the end, Majorie will eventually grow up and make her decision but she will not have an easy journey getting there.
This is a surprisingly well-written characterisation of the social dilemmas of a young woman growing up in a time when freedoms were just being allowed to women to pursue careers and other life paths and yet they were still expected to marry respectable Jews of their own class and settle down. This is probably why the novel became so beloved by Women of past generations as it incapsulates their own dilemmas and growth pains under similar societal pressures. It is perhaps going to date this book as younger generations will perhaps never quite understand how difficult this was.
However, my absolute favourite characters remain the secondary characters that do not quite fit within the sophisticated 1930s New York Society. I especially loved Uncle and Marsha, both are tragically drawn and highlight the sheer shallowness of the more “respectable” people around them and portray what it means to be human and not just playing your societal role.
I also really enjoyed and was surprised by a lot of the social commentary in this book, especially considering it was written in the 1950s and by a male writer. We have an exploration of the double standard of sex before marriage for men and women, there is a lot thought of the importance of religion (in this case Judaism) and it’s meaning in peoples lives, and there is the generational story of children rebelling against their parents' values only to circle around and embrace the same values themselves.
I really enjoyed reading about this slice of 1930’s Jewish America and Majorie brave attempt to circumnavigate it. It’s not a perfect novel but I think Majorie’s world will be with me for a few years to come.
Originally written in the 1950s, this is set in the Upper Middle-Class Society of Jewish families living in 1930’s New York. Here parties are lavish, religious practices range from the most orthodox to the downright bacon-eating not kosher, and young teenage girls are dated by a mixture of University boys, Professionals, and Cads. Meanwhile, Europe is tumbling into a War, Hitler is going to invade Czechoslovakia and Nazis have just begun to be more proactive in their hatred of the Jewish populace.
Amongst all of this Majorie Morgenstein (Morningstar) has ambitions to become an actress, a fatal attraction for selfish but pretty Men who like to talk about themselves and their wants for paragraphs, pages, chapters, possibly 3/4 of this book? By the end, Majorie will eventually grow up and make her decision but she will not have an easy journey getting there.
This is a surprisingly well-written characterisation of the social dilemmas of a young woman growing up in a time when freedoms were just being allowed to women to pursue careers and other life paths and yet they were still expected to marry respectable Jews of their own class and settle down. This is probably why the novel became so beloved by Women of past generations as it incapsulates their own dilemmas and growth pains under similar societal pressures. It is perhaps going to date this book as younger generations will perhaps never quite understand how difficult this was.
However, my absolute favourite characters remain the secondary characters that do not quite fit within the sophisticated 1930s New York Society. I especially loved Uncle and Marsha, both are tragically drawn and highlight the sheer shallowness of the more “respectable” people around them and portray what it means to be human and not just playing your societal role.
I also really enjoyed and was surprised by a lot of the social commentary in this book, especially considering it was written in the 1950s and by a male writer. We have an exploration of the double standard of sex before marriage for men and women, there is a lot thought of the importance of religion (in this case Judaism) and it’s meaning in peoples lives, and there is the generational story of children rebelling against their parents' values only to circle around and embrace the same values themselves.
I really enjoyed reading about this slice of 1930’s Jewish America and Majorie brave attempt to circumnavigate it. It’s not a perfect novel but I think Majorie’s world will be with me for a few years to come.
I finished this book seven days ago and it is still haunting me. People quietly going about their lives waiting for the world to end in a few month's time. Going to work, raising their families, going to the club for lunch, planting next year's garden, etc. That is basically the whole premise of the book.
Part of me could not believe that people would continue on with their own lives, making future plans when nobody and no animal will be alive on the planet next year. Then again I had a friend who thought she could postpone our 26th April 2020 class reunion plans by as little as a week during Covid-19 lockdown. Incidentally, at the time of writing the earliest, the pubs are not predicted to open again in Ireland on the 10th August 2020 and no night clubs this year if ever. So I guess that really does exist as a phenomenon of people really misunderstanding the reality of their situation.
I best describe the character sthat Nevil Shute writes as typically post WWII stiff upper lipped English people who use the occasional Australian or American slang word to demonstrate their actual nationality in the novel. They literally keep calm and carry on. We have no insight into most of their thoughts or any of their feelings. How somebody feels about their situation must be interpreted by their actions only. At one point a leading character even points out that women want to know what it feels like to live in a submarine for weeks whereas men want to know its technical specs. I don’t believe it is just people identifying as female who wants this knowledge, . They're points in the story where people return to their home towns that have been destroyed by nuclear war. We have no insights at all as to how they felt about this, no conversations between colleagues, no descriptions of the mood of the crew, we have only the actions of one crew member. This either makes the novel quietly impactful or frustrating as hell. I haven’t made my mind up about it yet.
I would recommend this to people young enough not to remember growing up with the fear of nuclear war. This book was written in 1957 and perfectly describes what would happen if those red buttons around the globe found themselves pushed.
This is my second vintage paperback from Prudence and the Crow https://www.prudenceandthecrow.com/ and one I would not have read if not for this subscription service despite it being a best seller of its time. Definitely dark Sci-Fi as I requested!
Part of me could not believe that people would continue on with their own lives, making future plans when nobody and no animal will be alive on the planet next year. Then again I had a friend who thought she could postpone our 26th April 2020 class reunion plans by as little as a week during Covid-19 lockdown. Incidentally, at the time of writing the earliest, the pubs are not predicted to open again in Ireland on the 10th August 2020 and no night clubs this year if ever. So I guess that really does exist as a phenomenon of people really misunderstanding the reality of their situation.
I best describe the character sthat Nevil Shute writes as typically post WWII stiff upper lipped English people who use the occasional Australian or American slang word to demonstrate their actual nationality in the novel. They literally keep calm and carry on. We have no insight into most of their thoughts or any of their feelings. How somebody feels about their situation must be interpreted by their actions only. At one point a leading character even points out that women want to know what it feels like to live in a submarine for weeks whereas men want to know its technical specs. I don’t believe it is just people identifying as female who wants this knowledge, . They're points in the story where people return to their home towns that have been destroyed by nuclear war. We have no insights at all as to how they felt about this, no conversations between colleagues, no descriptions of the mood of the crew, we have only the actions of one crew member. This either makes the novel quietly impactful or frustrating as hell. I haven’t made my mind up about it yet.
I would recommend this to people young enough not to remember growing up with the fear of nuclear war. This book was written in 1957 and perfectly describes what would happen if those red buttons around the globe found themselves pushed.
This is my second vintage paperback from Prudence and the Crow https://www.prudenceandthecrow.com/ and one I would not have read if not for this subscription service despite it being a best seller of its time. Definitely dark Sci-Fi as I requested!
So I was offered this book for free in return for a review and for the first time in a very long time I accepted. Why ? Well, the premise intrigued me. Frankie Meyers, has a sad history, and one day while trying to Escape it in the Temple Bar (Dublin, Ireland) she is pulled into a magical world that she may be the saviour of or its destructor.
This is the basic premise of most epic fantasy adventures? Right? Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time and even Harry Potter. It is explored again and again – so what could Beth Doyle bring to the page that others haven’t?
1. A Wonderful prose style that I simply could not get enough of:
“But the rain stutters, spits, and stops; the wind staggers and
slows; the lightning falters and the thunder chokes. The world
becomes like a candle snuffed, and she is left pinned in a time and
landscape that has slipped between the cracks. She isn’t dead –
neither sea, wind, nor fire would let her go so easily – but she isn’t
some breathing thing either, she is the very beginning and the very
end, and the collapsing world has fallen silent in her reckoning.”
2. There is a wicked self-deprecating humour throughout and a cup of tea is not the answer it was once cracked up to be :
“A cup of tea can’t save the world,” she answers, her chest
tightening. “And if I seem a bit wound up, it’s probably because
the world needs saving and all you’re giving me is tea.”
3. Frankie has feelings for and experiences of Dublin similar to my own .
“The city, the people – brooding, brilliant, laughing, scowling,
hurrying, strolling, she had forgotten how diverse this world can
be, who has ever heard of monotony? It’s a shock of fresh air, it’s
the most familiar thing in the world – the hours bleed into one
another, and the world is tolerable, bewildering, for the first time
in a long while.”
Now take these descriptions of the real world and extend them into the descriptions of magical world that lies beneath.
“They keep running through this city where magic is a normality, through narrow alleys and down wide streets of apartment blocks, never pausing to take in the washing lines strung between buildings being used as tightropes by small children, who shriek in delight when they fall and sprout wings before they hit the ground, or the horses pulling carriages that snort small puffs of fire at the buzzing, colourful flies sparking at them like a live wire. They just run and, surrounded by confounding impossibilities and bizarre sights, nothing has ever seemed so simple.”
4. Mathew Morrow an Irregular (think Muggle in HarryPotterdom) and one of the best side kicks I have read in a while is always seems to be found either reading a book, book shopping or in the library when the action kicks off.
5. Characters are big and bold and leap of the page. I am particularly found of Tamara Catch and the ability to adopt any personality in any given situation. The pairings of the bad guys was an interesting choice to.
After 5 I have run out of fingers and I am confused as to why you are still reading this. If you decide to pick this up I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Oh and it ends on a cliff hanger ...
This is the basic premise of most epic fantasy adventures? Right? Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time and even Harry Potter. It is explored again and again – so what could Beth Doyle bring to the page that others haven’t?
1. A Wonderful prose style that I simply could not get enough of:
“But the rain stutters, spits, and stops; the wind staggers and
slows; the lightning falters and the thunder chokes. The world
becomes like a candle snuffed, and she is left pinned in a time and
landscape that has slipped between the cracks. She isn’t dead –
neither sea, wind, nor fire would let her go so easily – but she isn’t
some breathing thing either, she is the very beginning and the very
end, and the collapsing world has fallen silent in her reckoning.”
2. There is a wicked self-deprecating humour throughout and a cup of tea is not the answer it was once cracked up to be :
“A cup of tea can’t save the world,” she answers, her chest
tightening. “And if I seem a bit wound up, it’s probably because
the world needs saving and all you’re giving me is tea.”
3. Frankie has feelings for and experiences of Dublin similar to my own .
“The city, the people – brooding, brilliant, laughing, scowling,
hurrying, strolling, she had forgotten how diverse this world can
be, who has ever heard of monotony? It’s a shock of fresh air, it’s
the most familiar thing in the world – the hours bleed into one
another, and the world is tolerable, bewildering, for the first time
in a long while.”
Now take these descriptions of the real world and extend them into the descriptions of magical world that lies beneath.
“They keep running through this city where magic is a normality, through narrow alleys and down wide streets of apartment blocks, never pausing to take in the washing lines strung between buildings being used as tightropes by small children, who shriek in delight when they fall and sprout wings before they hit the ground, or the horses pulling carriages that snort small puffs of fire at the buzzing, colourful flies sparking at them like a live wire. They just run and, surrounded by confounding impossibilities and bizarre sights, nothing has ever seemed so simple.”
4. Mathew Morrow an Irregular (think Muggle in HarryPotterdom) and one of the best side kicks I have read in a while is always seems to be found either reading a book, book shopping or in the library when the action kicks off.
5. Characters are big and bold and leap of the page. I am particularly found of Tamara Catch and the ability to adopt any personality in any given situation. The pairings of the bad guys was an interesting choice to.
After 5 I have run out of fingers and I am confused as to why you are still reading this. If you decide to pick this up I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Oh and it ends on a cliff hanger ...
Well, I loved [a:Balli Kaur Jaswal|6924387|Balli Kaur Jaswal|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1475718370p2/6924387.jpg]'s [b:Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows|32075853|Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows|Balli Kaur Jaswal|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1493817315l/32075853._SY75_.jpg|51725836] and so I was always going to read this and I have to say that I loved it just as much as the previous novel.
Both books deal with the problems faced first-generation British Punjabi women, issues of cultural identity (being both English and Punjab), and the inherent and sometimes dangerous problems of women belonging to such a Patriarchal community.
Balli Kaur has dealt with some darker issues here,. In fact, this is the second, otherwise, light-hearted novel, that I have read this summer that deals with the first being a [a:Ciara Geraghty|2105754|Ciara Geraghty|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1300821934p2/2105754.jpg] novel (I won’t say which one in case of spoilers but you can see it on my recently read if you are really curious). So I guess overall I am proud of Women’s Literature for once again being able to deal with some really hard-hitting topics and yet still manage to give it all a happy ending.
Incidentally, I googled a lot about India as I went along with this and I absolutely would travel still travel there after reading this but would require a brave female travel companion indeed!
Both books deal with the problems faced first-generation British Punjabi women, issues of cultural identity (being both English and Punjab), and the inherent and sometimes dangerous problems of women belonging to such a Patriarchal community.
Balli Kaur has dealt with some darker issues here,
Spoiler
not just rape culture in India and gender-selective abortion but also assisted suicideSpoiler
assisted suicideIncidentally, I googled a lot about India as I went along with this and I absolutely would travel still travel there after reading this but would require a brave female travel companion indeed!
In one word unsettling.
The terrible things that happen to the protagonist in this Novel either have a supernatural explanation or an unnatural one. You need to decide before the end!
The terrible things that happen to the protagonist in this Novel either have a supernatural explanation or an unnatural one. You need to decide before the end!
In parts it's good but really haven't the patience for the rest - gave up on page 410.