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A review by leemac027
The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson
3.0
The Getting of Wisdom raises many issues that we still deal with today - the role of women in society, how they are expected to pander to men, the restrictive boundaries put in place to limit opportunities and the list goes on. So this work is as relevant now as it was then.
I struggled a little with the language as being written in 1910, it took a while to adjust to the quaint phrases and sometimes cumbersome prose. But once I got used to that I was able to engage with the narrative.
Laura is our protagonist, a bit feisty, wants to be independent but also wants to fit in and be approved of. She is sent off to Melbourne to attend school by her mother, who takes in sewing to help pay for Laura's education. Laura goes through all of the angst of being the new girl, then starts to gain some popularity and then sticks her foot in it with a faux pas or two (or three), she goes through a brief period of finding religion and then drops that as it's not really getting her where she wants to be.
The dynamics between Laura and Evelyn, Laura and Mr Shepherd, Laura and Pin are ones that highlight the different aspects of Laura's personality.
An interesting, if not vintage, read.
I struggled a little with the language as being written in 1910, it took a while to adjust to the quaint phrases and sometimes cumbersome prose. But once I got used to that I was able to engage with the narrative.
Laura is our protagonist, a bit feisty, wants to be independent but also wants to fit in and be approved of. She is sent off to Melbourne to attend school by her mother, who takes in sewing to help pay for Laura's education. Laura goes through all of the angst of being the new girl, then starts to gain some popularity and then sticks her foot in it with a faux pas or two (or three), she goes through a brief period of finding religion and then drops that as it's not really getting her where she wants to be.
The dynamics between Laura and Evelyn, Laura and Mr Shepherd, Laura and Pin are ones that highlight the different aspects of Laura's personality.
An interesting, if not vintage, read.