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erickibler4's review against another edition
5.0
This is a superb piece of writing. A book to be savored. Contained within a mere 237 pages is a family saga that jumps back and forth through time like the work of Proust, with a style that recalls Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse". The family springs from Dorothy Trevor Townsend, who starves herself to death to call attention to women's suffrage in 1914. The story is told through her eyes, and through those of her descendants, restless, questing women all, up to the present day. The book raises a lot of questions regarding the place of women in society, using Florence Nightingale as a touchstone. These women seem to feel like outsiders in a society in which they comprise a slight majority. They rebel, as Nightingale did, against being "a continuation", but nevertheless continue in the rebellious path of their matriarch, Dorothy. I have to say though, that these restless, disconnected feelings aren't the province of women alone. Anyone who's lived the human condition should be able to relate.
champers4days's review against another edition
2.0
A Short History of Women began with a cute concept: the book followed female family members across five generations. The writing was good and the characters were fairly interesting, but the snap shots of each woman's life were too brief for me to remember or truly differentiate one generation from the next. I never understood the motivations behind some of the character's most poignant acts, so a lot of the 'action' felt hollow. By the end of the book, I could have sworn I read five short stories that had survived a fateful encounter with a blender...
oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting at times but ultimately I wasn't a fan of the author's stop and start writing style. The edition I read had a handful of typos too- which I'm not going to hold against the author.
The premise of the book was more interesting than the execution, especially after reading a family epic like Homegoing.
Not a bad read, just rather bland.
The premise of the book was more interesting than the execution, especially after reading a family epic like Homegoing.
Not a bad read, just rather bland.
trin's review against another edition
2.0
"Hey, guess what, Trin—being a lady is HARD!"
"Gee, book—I had NO IDEA. Thanks for telling me!"
If there's more to this book than that, I can't say I really got it. This is a novel about five generations of women and their general dissatisfaction with their lives—a better title might have been A Short History of Wealthy White Women and Their Ennui. Walbert's prose is occasionally stirring, but for the most part I found her style—short chapters that skip from character to character, bouncing from era to era—frustratingly elliptical. Maybe this is just not my feminism? In my feminism it absolutely needs to be acknowledged that things have sucked for women (of ALL races and classes) in the past, and they still often suck now, but instead of wallowing how 'bout try to be awesome? And maybe fight people with swords.
"Gee, book—I had NO IDEA. Thanks for telling me!"
If there's more to this book than that, I can't say I really got it. This is a novel about five generations of women and their general dissatisfaction with their lives—a better title might have been A Short History of Wealthy White Women and Their Ennui. Walbert's prose is occasionally stirring, but for the most part I found her style—short chapters that skip from character to character, bouncing from era to era—frustratingly elliptical. Maybe this is just not my feminism? In my feminism it absolutely needs to be acknowledged that things have sucked for women (of ALL races and classes) in the past, and they still often suck now, but instead of wallowing how 'bout try to be awesome? And maybe fight people with swords.
itsarthuradams's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
anniewill's review against another edition
3.0
I started off not enjoying this book at all. I thought it was pretentious and self-important. I don't even know why I continued reading except for the fact that it is a library book and I was on the waiting list for awhile!
About mid-point, after continued consultation with the lineage chart and the table of contents to keep track of who was who, I really started enjoying the book. I grew fond of a few of the characters (mainly the husband, Charles, which I'm sure the author would not approve). I found it difficult to like or understand the original suffragette, Dorothy Townsend, who starved herself to death, but I was moved by her story.
I found the connecting thread for all the women to be a sense of dissatisfaction and unhappiness or frustration with their lot in life. By the end of the novel, I was a bit frustrated myself with this thread. Is this "problem"...this "woman problem"....specific only to women or is it a human problem? Life is often tedious and full of drudgery, and as Caroline wrote, it is often difficult to lose the forest for the trees.
Perhaps I misread the novel and was looking at it from my modern perspective and not the perspectives of the various women written about. Maybe a further, more in-depth examination of the historical women and their lives would have made a difference.
I would give this 3 1/2 stars. Because of the slow beginning and lack of depth I've rated it 3 stars.
Favorite quote:
I find it is the dark of the night when you least expect it- whatever this thing is- regret, perhaps, but not, it is bigger than that, more epic, somehow, padded and full and weirdly hysterical: this restlessness, this discontent. You've done it wrong, again, and you were going to do it perfectly. You've lost the forest for the trees. Now it rises up to knock your breath out. Was this what you felt, DT, when you sat on the edge of our beds? Is this the same feeling for any of you? (page 222)
About mid-point, after continued consultation with the lineage chart and the table of contents to keep track of who was who, I really started enjoying the book. I grew fond of a few of the characters (mainly the husband, Charles, which I'm sure the author would not approve). I found it difficult to like or understand the original suffragette, Dorothy Townsend, who starved herself to death, but I was moved by her story.
I found the connecting thread for all the women to be a sense of dissatisfaction and unhappiness or frustration with their lot in life. By the end of the novel, I was a bit frustrated myself with this thread. Is this "problem"...this "woman problem"....specific only to women or is it a human problem? Life is often tedious and full of drudgery, and as Caroline wrote, it is often difficult to lose the forest for the trees.
Perhaps I misread the novel and was looking at it from my modern perspective and not the perspectives of the various women written about. Maybe a further, more in-depth examination of the historical women and their lives would have made a difference.
I would give this 3 1/2 stars. Because of the slow beginning and lack of depth I've rated it 3 stars.
Favorite quote:
I find it is the dark of the night when you least expect it- whatever this thing is- regret, perhaps, but not, it is bigger than that, more epic, somehow, padded and full and weirdly hysterical: this restlessness, this discontent. You've done it wrong, again, and you were going to do it perfectly. You've lost the forest for the trees. Now it rises up to knock your breath out. Was this what you felt, DT, when you sat on the edge of our beds? Is this the same feeling for any of you? (page 222)
flowerwineandbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Very entertaining going through the lives of all these related women, though the writing style made it a bit clunky for me to read. I also wish there had been more depth in more of the characters, rather than just Dorothy and Charles.
The overarching theme of the "women question" through time was refreshing yet depressing to read about, especially with the first Dorothy and Evelyn; in fact, I think it would have done better to just focus on these two women (a sequel could have adequately tackled the other Dorothy's perhaps?).
If only Evelyn's relationship with Stephen Pope in their later years could have been more present rather than just alluded to, I would have felt that making her character stronger.
I did really enjoy how the book looped back around to Evelyn's character, and how the ending offered a weird mix of open-ended closure with here, and even with Caroline and her mother a bit.
The overarching theme of the "women question" through time was refreshing yet depressing to read about, especially with the first Dorothy and Evelyn; in fact, I think it would have done better to just focus on these two women (a sequel could have adequately tackled the other Dorothy's perhaps?).
If only Evelyn's relationship with Stephen Pope in their later years could have been more present rather than just alluded to, I would have felt that making her character stronger.
I did really enjoy how the book looped back around to Evelyn's character, and how the ending offered a weird mix of open-ended closure with here, and even with Caroline and her mother a bit.
cdale8's review against another edition
3.0
The thread throughout the book of suffrage/revolution/going-against-society's-norm was interesting, and right up my alley, but the characters were drawn such that I really couldn't FEEL anything for them. This is coming from someone having had a decision-changing ivy league experience almost exactly as described by one of the characters in the book, so I should have been eating this stuff up. Maybe it was the erratic timeframes, the just-short-of-explicit conversations between the women of differing generations, or perhaps just simply my inability to bond with the characters. Whatever it was, I came away from the novel with the feeling of having "gotten" the big hit-you-over-the-head idea but not the nuanced reasons/emotions behind the women's motivations for their decisions to act or not to act (or, rather when to act). I assume that the author had some vision of this undercurrent and was conveying it, but I just didn't grab on for that part of the ride. Or, maybe I was just hoping for a more moving experience than was to be delivered. If I had lower self-esteem, I'd be feeling too stupid to have read the book. I hate coming away from books thinking that my intellect was not up to the challenge of the author's writing.
sujuv's review against another edition
4.0
A very unassuming book, "A Short History of Women" kind of sneaks up on you. At least it snuck up on me. Tells the stories of different generations of women in one family and through these glimpses into their lives the reader gets a sense of how much the world has changed over time but at the same time how people - and in this case women, especially - still have very similar issues to deal with. It really stuck with me in the end.
mawalker1962's review against another edition
4.0
This book was beautifully written, compelling, and joyless. I wanted to find out what happened to the well-drawn characters, so I kept reading. And I’m not sorry I did. But it was sure a depressing view of how much and how little women’s lives have changed over the past century.