This wonderful novel was a reading group pick and has a secret life of its own. As far as I can tell, the author, who is usually23rd book read in 2025
This wonderful novel was a reading group pick and has a secret life of its own. As far as I can tell, the author, who is usually a writer of romance, fantasy and suspense genres (Dana Marton), published the book herself under a pseudonym and by the power of her huge following, this historical novel about Vincent van Gogh became a strong enough seller to be printed in hardback and available in libraries. She tells the whole story of how that came to be at the back of the hardcover copy I obtained from my local library.
It is a dual time-line tale of the woman who managed to bring fame to Van Gogh in Amsterdam after the artist’s death and a present day young woman, trying to make a company of her own in America, whose grandmother had a mysterious tie to the Van Gogh story.
If this sounds a bit convoluted, it is. But Marta Molnar managed to make sense of it all. The novel is a page-turner! She dedicated the book to all women who keep on fighting. In her Author’s Note she proclaims, “This is the book that broke me.� Because she was somewhat out of her usual comfort zone as a writer, because she had no advance money or even a contract to write it, and because she had to fund the tremendous amount of research needed.
There is romance in the story, and it almost bothered me. (Romance is not a genre I tend to read anymore, though I read plenty in my years as a stay-at-home mom. LOL!) But the loudest voice here is these two women, centuries apart, who must rise above conventions about women that exist to this day. If you are a woman, you know what I mean.
I did love the parts about Vincent van Gogh best. She does not shy away from his psychological troubles. She paints the picture of what it takes to get recognized as a fine artist when traditional art values are challenged, as well as the horrific treatments Vincent was subjected to when he would fall into depression. I suppose if you are already familiar with the artistic revolution he sparked, you might not learn as much as I did, though I think you would still find it a fascinating story.
If only those of us who keep on fighting always had such success and such happy endings. Reading about them though helps us keep on keeping on. ...more
I have done a good deal of whining about short stories because I am mainly a reader of novels. When I come across a collection l21st book read in 2025
I have done a good deal of whining about short stories because I am mainly a reader of novels. When I come across a collection like Reservoir Bitches my whining changes to excitement. I devoured these 13 interconnected stories about 13 women navigating life in modern Mexico in just two sessions of reading.
From a young woman who discovers she is pregnant but without resources for an abortion to a woman who takes over as head of her dad’s drug cartel, to wild girls who party in dangerous places and so much more, these bitches just dig into whatever life in Mexico throws in their paths and come out shining. The only choice for women in Mexico is to be oppressed or to be dangerous themselves.
Dahlia de la Cerda is the first Mexican female author to be nominated for the International Booker Prize to be awarded this coming May. I received my copy from my Other People Book Club subscription. The collection shows that tough women develop best in tough places.
Let us not forget that Mexico’s current President is a woman: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo; the first woman to hold the office in Mexico ...more
If you are looking for a good read during Black History Month, Kindred would be appropriate. I have read a good deal of Octavia B7th book read in 2025
If you are looking for a good read during Black History Month, Kindred would be appropriate. I have read a good deal of Octavia Butler’s work. She was a multiple winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. She knew her way around Black history and time travel.
If you are hesitant to read about the cruelties of racism and mankind, she might not be for you. If you like to be transported to different locations, times and point of view, you cannot go wrong.
Dana is a 26-year-old Black woman living with her white husband in Altadena, CA (site of last month’s terrible fire.) The year is 1976 and things are pretty good as far as a mixed marriage and women’s rights go. On her birthday, however, she is transported to a plantation in 1815 Maryland. She meets Rufus, son of the plantation owner, saves his life and thus begins a series of such incidents.
I don’t want to say more about this gripping tale except that it is brilliant, engrossing, and filled with insight and truth about slavery and white supremacy. It is also violent and includes some horror. Butler’s handling of the time travel trope is flawless. Dana is a character of strength, compassion and intelligence but even she worries for her own life throughout the story.
I read Kindred for one of my reading groups and we had one of our most amazing discussions. ...more
I read The Crying of Lot 49 in one day! It is another example of the experimental fiction that litters my 1966 reading list.
Oedipa Maas, female main cI read The Crying of Lot 49 in one day! It is another example of the experimental fiction that litters my 1966 reading list.
Oedipa Maas, female main character, is a woman on a journey to find herself. The novel is a satire on mid-20th century civilization, at least in Los Angeles. Oedipa spends hours driving the freeways of California in search of the truth about a former lover, a wealthy real-estate tycoon, who has died and has named her as the executor of his will.
Thomas Pynchon, notorious for his privacy, his zany stories and his impact on American literature, takes some getting used to. I had read his first novel, V, a few years ago and his take on the North vs the South in the 19th century, Mason & Dixon, many years ago. He gave us readers a break in this one. Who knows why? It was only his second novel.
I was astonished to find him writing about a woman’s journey to find herself, her strengths, and her place in the world. In fact, I discovered an article which compared The Crying of Lot 49 and An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine as books which explore the female journey to being a heroine in her own life. (See The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.) I could go on and on about the realizations I had from reading that, but I think I will keep those to myself for now.
My reading list from 1966 is becoming a study in the many ways life changed so radically in the mid-60s. I have found this pattern in each decade of the years of My Big Fat Reading Project. The middle of a decade seems to be balanced on a pinnacle of societal change.
In his final chapter, Pynchon reveals the meaning of the title! It is not what you might think. ...more
First sentence: “In the Age of Extinction, two tagalong daughters traveled to the edge of the world withI loved this novel with all my heart and soul!
First sentence: “In the Age of Extinction, two tagalong daughters traveled to the edge of the world with their mother to search the frozen earth for the bones of woolly mammoths.�
Their mother is a graduate student in paleobiology, the daughters are fifteen and thirteen years old (best teen characters I have read in a long time), and they are embalmed in grief over the loss of their father/husband.
Adventure, angst, humor. Those are the elements. A woman trying to be seen and heard in a man’s world. Animals both long extinct and newly born.
I am so glad I read it and thank the friend who insisted I do so! ...more
I read this for a reading group. In fact, this group reads every book of hers as it comes out.
I did not love this one, but I admired it a great deal.I read this for a reading group. In fact, this group reads every book of hers as it comes out.
I did not love this one, but I admired it a great deal. Set in 15th century China, it covers the long life of Tan Yunxian, who becomes a doctor trained by her grandparents, who is of use to so many women, while she maintains the proper formalities of an elite female. This is one of Lisa See’s themes and she always brings impeccable research to her stories.
I did not love it because it was too full of sadness, even for me! I admired it for its truth and message. I also found it interesting because I spent my young adult years in revolt against Western medicine and survived because I learned much about more traditional ways of maintaining my health. Those ways are still part of how I take care of myself though I’ve had some close calls. Still, although I am beyond grateful for antibiotics, vaccines, and even prednisone, although it is probably impractical to rely on remedies from plants, etc, I wish we did not have to be so dependent on the health care systems of the current world.
I am glad I read the book and I thank Lisa See for what she created in this story. Lady Tan overcame everything, lived to a ripe old age, and did gather around her a circle of women who supported each other and took good care of women. ...more
I read this with my Tiny Book Club. One member is a poet and she chose this poetry collection for us. We are a group of three women, all are feministsI read this with my Tiny Book Club. One member is a poet and she chose this poetry collection for us. We are a group of three women, all are feminists, all are writers, two are Jewish, one is lapsed Christian turned Taoist, one is a lesbian. When we read poetry, we take turns reading some of the poems aloud.
Adrienne Rich was a feminist, born in 1929, died in 2012. She is considered one of the most widely read poets in the second half of the 20th century. She deals with the oppression of women and lesbians. I had not read her before.
I enjoyed her almost conversational style and her frequent referrals to women poets and writers from the past. I found I could grasp most of the poems in just one reading. I got a strong sense of strength in her thinking and writing.
In our discussion we recalled our early days of becoming feminists. It was invigorating. ...more
Despite this novel's long title, it was one of the quickest reads I have experienced in a while: two days, unputdownable, funny and heartbreaking. AlsDespite this novel's long title, it was one of the quickest reads I have experienced in a while: two days, unputdownable, funny and heartbreaking. Also, wonderful characters. It was a reading group choice, though because I was recovering from the 2023/2024 version of COVID, I missed the meeting.
The heroine of this tale, Mrs Earle Poole, Jr, known as Sookie, navigates a life changing series of events during her own “change of life.� When she finds out that she is adopted she begins a full re-evaluation of her life, her adopted mother, herself as a mother and wife, and discovers a past full of wonders. Clearly, the message is that women are awesome and can do anything a man can do, better.
I don’t know how the author can make such tragedy and soul-searching so funny, but she can. If we can laugh at ourselves, our mistakes, even our enemies, we can make it through, right Fannie?...more
I had been wanting to read Weyward for a while. A beautiful cover, a story about unusual women in three different time periods, a debut novel.
At firstI had been wanting to read Weyward for a while. A beautiful cover, a story about unusual women in three different time periods, a debut novel.
At first I was a bit dismayed. The writing seemed not that great. A witch trial is about to start in 1619 England. Jump to 2019 London and a young woman is being abused by her husband. Jump to 1942 and a motherless young woman is having a bad time with her insensitive, secretive father. Oh boy, I thought. Here we go.
But the story just got better and better, the connections between the three women and the time periods began to make sense. The theme was abuse of gifted women: a healer viewed as a witch, a seeker after knowledge viewed as a marriage partner to a man who could inherit her family’s wealth, and a modern woman carrying guilt to the point of doubting her self-worth.
Though such stories are not new and though women finding their strengths and worth by overcoming oppression and abuse litter the world of fiction, something quite special began to emerge in Weyward. Soon I was engaged and wanting to know what would happen to each.
I like stories and every life is a story. This was a good example of how the telling or writing of stories can make or break the readers enjoyment. Emilia Hart put large amounts of truth in her debut without reader abuse and reminded me that it is possible to overcome life’s sorrows, mysteries, and drawbacks with one’s self intact. ...more
When I am at my reading best, I like to read 100 pages a day. When books are challenging, when life events keep me busy, I don’t make that target and When I am at my reading best, I like to read 100 pages a day. When books are challenging, when life events keep me busy, I don’t make that target and feel disgruntled. At such times I turn to the mystery/crime/thriller genre and pick up books by my favorite authors of that genre.
Laura Lippman is one of those I have lately added to my lists and In Big Trouble, the 4th in her Tess Monaghan series, did it for me. It may speak negatively about me and my life, but getting away from it all in these books is better than any other pleasure I can think of.
Tess is usually found in her hometown of Baltimore, MD. In Big Trouble takes her to Texas, from where a former boyfriend has let her know he is in big trouble. She arrives in Austin, then trails him to San Antonio. Naturally for Tess, she finds herself adrift and confused but determined to find Crow and get him out of trouble. If she can.
I appreciate an author who does most of the heavy lifting for me in terms of style. I suppose it is fitting in a mystery because so much is unknown for both the reader and the PI for most of the book. Lippman’s sharp humor, snarky references to all things that deserve snark, and the breezy way she drops in cultural references, keep me tearing along in the story even when I know less about what’s happening than Tess does. How does the author do that?
Another big plus is Tess herself: the dogged way she refuses to give up, the chances she takes, and her ability to bounce back from mistaken suppositions about the crime she is solving. Though Tess is much braver than I have ever been or will be, she also has her insecurities underneath her rebellious nature.
One warning I would give about In Big Trouble is that it begins with a Prologue that had my head spinning right away. Though it certainly set the scene as it takes place in The Alamo. OK, I was placed in Texas and I felt lucky to get out at the end, when I finally understood the Prologue.
Now I can happily go back to literary fiction, feeling refreshed!
Sometimes when I finish a novel that leaves me wonderstruck, it takes me quite a while to figure out what to say about it. I have read all of Lauren GSometimes when I finish a novel that leaves me wonderstruck, it takes me quite a while to figure out what to say about it. I have read all of Lauren Groff’s novels and found wonder in them all, except for her first one, The Monsters of Templeton, and I might now even have to go back and reread that one.
She writes with such power! The book has been described over and over as a survival story and it is, but it is so much more. The women in Groff’s novels are always fierce and always fighting for survival. That is appropriate because for most women, survival is the key to everything since we are still the second sex and have been seemingly forever.
When a serving girl with a sad, sad history sees that the Jamestown colony of 1610 will not survive and that she could very well be eaten, she takes off into wilds with only her many skills to keep her from getting caught or from being eaten anyway. It turns out that survival is not the goal but an understanding of where any human being fits into all of life.
When that understanding arrived it left me with such a sense of awe. There are many sources of understanding available in our modern world: religion, history, observation, and experience to name a few. When a fiction writer can combine all these sources, we lucky readers receive a priceless gift. ...more
When I was a kid, I loved reading biographies about famous women: Amelia Earhart, Clara Barton, Marie Curie, etc.
Radiant is about Marie Curie and a daWhen I was a kid, I loved reading biographies about famous women: Amelia Earhart, Clara Barton, Marie Curie, etc.
Radiant is about Marie Curie and a dancer I'd never heard of, Loie Fuller. These two women developed a lasting cooperative friendship and both broke barriers in early 20th century Paris.
The author of this arresting story runs an online educational platform for kids. She posts science related activities that can be done in the kitchen. She has a master's in bacteriology and has worked as a scientific researcher. It turns out she is also a skilled historical researcher.
Thus, Radiant is well-grounded in facts and in the scientific advances made by her dual subjects. She created dialogue between them from reading their letters. This is called creative nonfiction. I was impressed by how smoothly Liz Heinecke melded all this together.
I read the book for a reading group. Some of the members felt the writing was too juvenile. But when I was a young adult struggling to pass my science courses, I would have loved reading about the challenges these two women faced and overcame. Since I still struggle with scientific concepts, I loved the book now!
Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for science, ever. In fact she won two of them plus raised two daughters in Paris while spending hours in her lab. She had the support of Pierre, her husband, but still did all the cooking, etc. Loie Fuller advanced live dance performance with her incredible radium painted costumes, radium which she procured from Marie. She had the support of her longtime female partner. Marie and Loie maintained their friendship for decades.
I also loved how the book incorporates the scientists, artists and performers of the time. Both of these women were tough as nails and managed to get around when life was about one thousand times more inconvenient than today.
A great story of female friendship and mutual support....more
In 2013, I read this author's amazing novel, Hild. It is one of my all-time favorite novels. Set in seventh century Britain, it tells the story of theIn 2013, I read this author's amazing novel, Hild. It is one of my all-time favorite novels. Set in seventh century Britain, it tells the story of the girl who would become Saint Hilda of Whitby after serving as the King's seer in her youth. Historical, feminist and utterly gripping.
The long-awaited sequel, Menewood, will be published in October. Meanwhile I went back to Nicola Griffith's debut novel.
Ammonite is an assured example of speculative fiction. All of its characters are women. Set on the planet GP, the women from Earth are representatives of the Durallium Company, there to oversee the Company's mining operations from a hovering space station.
A deadly virus had killed almost of the original colonists but anthropologist Marghe, recently arrived to test a new vaccine against the virus, is sure she has found the key to her life's work. She goes down onto the planet hoping to uncover the secret of the native's resistance to such a devastating disease.
What she finds, amidst native feuds and treacherous weather, is a race of women who were so changed by the virus that they could reproduce without men! OK, so that sounds very Ursula K LeGuin but Nicola Griffith takes her own path to create a distinctly original combination of queer sci fi mixed with fantasy.
I was a bit confused by the beginning chapters but the world-building and character development were sound enough to carry me to the point where all I wanted to do was read the book. And think about and wonder how viruses change us all....more
Every month my goal is to read at least one book from another country translated from another language. I have not done as well on that this year but Every month my goal is to read at least one book from another country translated from another language. I have not done as well on that this year but I keep plugging away.
Dawn is set in Turkey during the 1970s. The author had always written about women's lives in her country. She had lived as freely as possible writing novels, journalism, translating plays, working in radio and TV. She married three times. She also spent time in prison. She died in 1976 from breast cancer at age 40.
Dawn was first published in Turkey in 1975. It is a novel based on the author's eight months spent in prison, charged with spreading communist propaganda and with obscenity. Then she spent a period in exile from her home city.
Turkey had a "modern" period from 1923 to 1971. Women could vote and run for office, sharia law was ended, and it felt like equality. 1971 marked the end of such freedoms when the military seized control and instituted martial law.
Oya, the journalist protagonist in Dawn is serving out her exile in a small city in southern Turkey after a year in prison. She is lonely in her hotel, followed by police whenever she leaves it, and shunned. A young man befriends her and invites her to a gathering at his uncle's home. She goes with trepidation. Sure enough, the door is broken down by police and all the men at the gathering are taken to jail, as is Oya.
Though the story takes place over only 24 hours, we are introduced to the characters and their personal histories, to the long-suffering women in the household with all their sorrows and discontents. During a night and day in jail we are made aware of the tensions and inconsistencies between various levels of police.
This is a harrowing portrait of a society under repression. The prison and jail scenes include both torture of and solidarity among the prisoners, including the women. Though the translation is easy to read, the story is not.
Freedom is such a precious condition constantly challenged around the world. Reading Dawn made me value the freedoms we have in America. At the same time it heightened my awareness of how important it is to protect those freedoms and especially to protect women....more
I read this debut novel for a reading group. It is simply wonderful and everyone in the group loved it as well.
Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant chemist iI read this debut novel for a reading group. It is simply wonderful and everyone in the group loved it as well.
Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant chemist in the 1950s whose work is constantly being appropriated by the men she works for. She falls in love with Calvin Evans, another chemist, but that will end in tragedy though it gives her a daughter, Madeline. This is one of the great kids in literature! There is also one of the great dogs in literature.
Every character in this story is expertly drawn and Elizabeth's refusal to ever back down was an inspiration to all of us women in the group.
In addition to that, this is a story filled with as much humor as tragedy, as much triumph as loss. It is unabashedly feminist. A mystery surrounds Calvin and is solved by the end.
This is the second book I have read by Miriam Toews. (The first was the amazing All My Puny Sorrows.) I read it for a reading group and found it so moThis is the second book I have read by Miriam Toews. (The first was the amazing All My Puny Sorrows.) I read it for a reading group and found it so moving and full of truths for women and mothers.
Eight females from three generations of two families, part of a fundamentalist/cult-like Mennonite community in Bolivia, have gathered in the hayloft of a barn to determine their future. The grandmothers have discovered that both women and female children have been being drugged and molested in the night, resulting in unwanted pregnancies and physical damage.
If this sounds horrific, it is. Somehow Miriam Toews transformed the outrage into a testament to women caring for each other and their children. They talk and talk, they sputter and argue. These women cannot even read but must learn their religion and the Bible from the male leader of the community. Finally they find their way to a decision, to a plan, to a possibility of freedom from abuse.
Our reading group discussion was good though I didn't feel we went as deep as we could have. Of course, it is a tough subject and we were sitting around some tables pushed together in the cafe of our local Barnes & Noble Bookstore.
Personally, while reading the novel I was reminded of my years as a young mother when I felt trapped at home with a nursing baby. It was 1972. Ms Magazine had just hit the newsstands and a group of my women friends began gathering at my house to discuss our various plights as females, wives, mothers or girlfriends. We were not sexually abused nor were our children but we knew we were trapped in something we did not know how to deal with.
That was my beginning as a feminist and set me on a long and rocky road, filled with mistakes and triumphs. Women Talking brought back that confusing time when so many women were seeking to free our minds, our souls, our bodies, from the patriarchal nature of the world.
Now I am a senior citizen and am aware that I and my friends were white, mostly of middle-class backgrounds, and compared to women of color, Indigenous women or immigrant women, had in many ways a much easier road to travel. It was still rough though.
A deeper question in the book is how do women bring up sons to be good human beings who do not mistreat women? Sometimes I just get angry about that question. Why does that have to be another one of our duties? Oh well, it just is.
I thank Miriam Toews from the depths of my being for her wondrous writing, her brave characters and especially for her sense of humor.
The second book I read for my December 2022 long reads project was another example of the spectacular writing being done by Black women. I bought it iThe second book I read for my December 2022 long reads project was another example of the spectacular writing being done by Black women. I bought it in paperback last August while visiting my family in Michigan, at my favorite indie bookstore in Ann Arbor: Literati Bookstore. I read 99 pages that very day, immediately pulled in to Black lives that matter and the history of their struggle in America. Then I put it aside until December, when I started again from the beginning.
Thanks to books like The 1619 Project, The Things She Carried, The Warmth of Other Suns, thanks to Toni Morrison, Jessmyn Ward and many others I have read over the years, it has been gradually dawning on me how complex Black history in America is. Certainly it is not black and white, though those are the apparent sides of the struggle.
The wonder of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is the intricate braiding the author does between the past and the present, intermingling Native Americans, enslaved Africans, the mixed races as well as colonialism and capitalism, while showing the abuse of women, children and men by others (mostly men.) She evokes the strange alchemy of skin color, trauma, religion and customs that all of us must reckon with but especially the victims of greed and oppression.
Ailey, the heroine of this book, wrangles her way through all of this with intelligence, determination, and a large ability to penetrate the story of her family's past. She manages to attain a PhD in History. Her journey through the thickets of her people's history stands as an example of that old 1960s song, We Shall Overcome. Her mentor is W.E.B. Du Bois who wrote many books about the race problem in America.
Big words like epic, towering, consuming, scholarship and love apply to Honoree Fannone Jeffers's achievement. If we actually read, learn, study, think and dream, our tragic yet strangely triumphant "experiment" as a country can be understood....more
In the next to last book in Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series, the park ranger sets out for a "vacation" camping trip with friends in the Iron Range ofIn the next to last book in Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series, the park ranger sets out for a "vacation" camping trip with friends in the Iron Range of upstate Minnesota. Anyone who follows this series knows that vacations for Anna are inevitably anything but. Destroyer Angel is no exception.
Her companions are Heath, a paraplegic woman; Leah, a wealthy designer of outdoor equipment (who created Heath's super amazing wheel chair) and also on the spectrum; two teenage girls; and a really cool dog.
Soon enough the villains arrive, intending to kidnap Leah for ransom. Anna is in a different position in this one, always hiding in the woods and secretly following the others while sabotaging the bad guys. The dog is her only ally.
So, plenty of issues as always, but the women and the girls, despite much violence against them, are Nevada Barr's answer to men hurting women.
Each book is this series gets more heart-pounding than the previous ones. This one borders on horror, though that has always been present. I will be sad to read the final book but I suspect the author needed a vacation herself!...more
Awhile back I watched Lunara: A Yak in the Classroom, set in Bhutan and nominated for Best International Feature in the 2022 OscarI loved this novel!
Awhile back I watched Lunara: A Yak in the Classroom, set in Bhutan and nominated for Best International Feature in the 2022 Oscars. I might have heard of Bhutan but really had no idea where it was. It is a landlocked country, just south of China, north of India, and east of Tibet, traditionally Buddhist, and tucked into the southern slope of the eastern Himalayas. It takes map study to truly understand the location.
I was moved emotionally by the movie, so I went looking for novels set in Bhutan. The Circle of Karma is the first novel by Kunzang Choden, renowned writer in her country and the first novel written in English by a Bhutan woman.
Tsomo is the daughter of a hardworking mother and a Buddhist teacher father. Her mother has borne twelve children, Tsomo being the third. Only seven lived. Tsomo wants more than anything to learn to read, but that is forbidden for females. She also wants to see the world and asks her mother where is the furthest she can travel.
Her first journey is to a faraway village where she goes to light the ritual butter lamps in her mother's memory. Her mother had died while in labor with her 12th child, who also died. Life is, from the viewpoint of an American woman, almost unbelievably hard for women in Bhutan. Yet, that journey set Tsomo on a life journey both inside her being and across many towns and countries.
I became deeply involved with Tsomo's inner and outer journeys, with the rituals and beliefs of Buddhism and with the ways that women assist each other through their many trials. I gained a look at Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal and India that is rarely seen in the news.
Most of all, I got an understanding of the Buddhist belief in karma. Back in my misspent youth we all went around saying "instant karma's going to get you" thanks to John Lennon. We were reminding ourselves that our actions mattered. They do, but not only in the moment. Actions are part of a long chain that weaves through lives and time. Thanks to Kunzang Choden, I understand the concept better than I ever have before....more
Isabel Allende just never lets me down as a reader. In Violeta, she tells the story of a woman from an unnamed South American country which seems to bIsabel Allende just never lets me down as a reader. In Violeta, she tells the story of a woman from an unnamed South American country which seems to be Chile. Allende grew up there and began her writing career there as well.
Violeta was born in 1920 and is telling her life story as she approaches death 100 years later. Born into privilege, her family lost all their wealth in the Great Depression. Over the years, Violeta was the kind of female character Allende does best. Fearless, passionate, independent and reckless.
I read Violeta with a reading group. I loved it the most. Other members did not like Violeta as a person. I understand. She was more driven by lust than sense in her romantic adventures, she was not always an attentive mother, she liked being a business woman more than a homemaker. Of course, I can relate to all of that!
Like Isabel herself, Violeta was passionate about women's rights and human rights, paid dearly for her mistakes as a mother, then gave all she had to try to help her daughter and son in their adult years, with varying degrees of success.
My take away from the novel is that finding a satisfying romantic partner, managing one's reproduction and childrearing, while attending to one's own dreams and needs is a tricky proposition. I suspect that only a minuscule percentage of women get it right. And we should all just forgive ourselves and each other. Not judge....more
Loading...
