Reviews

The Yellow Wall-Paper and Selected Writings by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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madamebutterfly's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

scrollingbooks's review against another edition

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5.0

I only became aware of this short story a couple of weeks ago, and it's an eye-opener. Written in late 19th century the story recounts a woman recouperating in a room with yellow wallpaper.
"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression."
But don't stop there because the important part is the undercurrent. It is a telling of how husbands (ie men) know best and that wives are frivolous hysterics who don't know their own minds.
"John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage."
You could say the antagonist in the piece is the yellow wallpaper, as it has a life of its own. The dastardly pattern doesn't repeat and the invalid (is her name ever revealed - I'm not sure it is - which is interesting in itself) becomes obsessed with it.
"There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down."
Without giving the game away too much (the delicious description of the ever more complex wallpaper is the scene stealer) what wasn't broken becomes so.
I believe Charlotte Perkins Gilmore wrote this short novel as a protest against "the rest cure" to which Victorian women were subjected. For those interested in this subject I can heartily recommend [bc:Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World|55502857|Unwell Women Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World|Elinor Cleghorn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1608625984l/55502857._SY75_.jpg|86547344]
which covers it in some detail.
Anyhow, The Yellow Wallpaper is an important story and one I will re-read in the near future.

lalawoman416's review against another edition

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4.0

Eclectic. At first, I thought I was reading a collection of horror stories, which the first was. Then, I was hit with a romance story. Then I was hit with a classic in the vein of Edith Wharton. Still, I enjoyed them all.