nelboyle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
read for english class at school. id always meant to read mccarthy but has never quite gotten to it. i’m glad i had to for this class. my professor has a first edition copy of this book, a gift from his wife for finishing his dissertation. i loved it and, like didion, reading this made me want to write.
tilda_mellor's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sweddy65's review against another edition
3.0
I might give this four stars. She was an amazing writer. I love her complex sentences and the words she chooses so perfectly.
For me, the three stars are the subjects. I couldn't care enough about them.
For me, the three stars are the subjects. I couldn't care enough about them.
canadiantiquarian's review against another edition
5.0
An absolutely beautiful book of short stories that merge to become a novel rather than a collection. This isn't a novel of setting, character, and happenstance. This is a novel about the continually morphing self in society. Generally, this means an unbridled first-person account only focused on the self as seen within the mind. In McCarthy's hands, however, the examination is like a probe flying in, out, and around the body.
The result is electrifying because it's not about aligning to a particular character type, but seeing how a person's self changes in different environments: within her own mind, within the minds of men willing to share their views, and the inner minds of men who would never admit their inner monologues. As an exploration of a women in the 1930s who never seems to fit in her surroundings, her surroundings -- and the intricacies of the people drawn to, and reacting to, her -- are the focus.
I keep coming back to my vintage copy, which shows a nude couple embracing. The cover promises stories of "one woman's most intimate affairs." The back promises a "frank and penetrating story of a beautiful young woman who sought meaning in the modern world of illicit love." It talks of "lurid episodes" and "the midst of a seduction." Printed some thirty years after the novel's debut, the packaging suggests some 60s-style passion. It can think of no other words to describe a novel about a woman who is described through her relationships with men.
Yet inside, it's about varied interactions with men -- the men she married, dated, worked with, and socialized with. It's about how one woman struggled with her own identity while the men around her sculpted her into new women that suited their own struggles, needs, and inner narratives. McCarthy both hits at the struggle women had to find their own footing in an era where women were expected to fit narrow character sets, and also the ongoing struggle we all have to reconcile ourselves, our lives, and the demands of others.
The result is electrifying because it's not about aligning to a particular character type, but seeing how a person's self changes in different environments: within her own mind, within the minds of men willing to share their views, and the inner minds of men who would never admit their inner monologues. As an exploration of a women in the 1930s who never seems to fit in her surroundings, her surroundings -- and the intricacies of the people drawn to, and reacting to, her -- are the focus.
I keep coming back to my vintage copy, which shows a nude couple embracing. The cover promises stories of "one woman's most intimate affairs." The back promises a "frank and penetrating story of a beautiful young woman who sought meaning in the modern world of illicit love." It talks of "lurid episodes" and "the midst of a seduction." Printed some thirty years after the novel's debut, the packaging suggests some 60s-style passion. It can think of no other words to describe a novel about a woman who is described through her relationships with men.
Yet inside, it's about varied interactions with men -- the men she married, dated, worked with, and socialized with. It's about how one woman struggled with her own identity while the men around her sculpted her into new women that suited their own struggles, needs, and inner narratives. McCarthy both hits at the struggle women had to find their own footing in an era where women were expected to fit narrow character sets, and also the ongoing struggle we all have to reconcile ourselves, our lives, and the demands of others.
salbulga's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
estim8tedpropht's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
morganbellee's review against another edition
2.5
Wanted to love this book more because I devoured The Group but I found this story so boring. The only thing that made it worth finishing was Mary McCarthy’s undeniable and natural gift as a writer