Review: “The Group” by Mary McCarthy

Rightfully compared with “Sex and the City” and adequately introduced by Candace Bushnell “The Group” on a superficial level follows 8 women in 1930ies New York, their career and amorous ambitions and how their lives eventually pan out.
Some are successful, others not as much, all caught up in the norms of the era and some struggling or actively trying to break out of these norms. At times it is heart breaking, at times funny but always brutally honest. Although written in the 60ies it struck me as surprisingly sexual, but those scenes are used to give us insights into the characters thinking and reasoning. And for me that was the strength of the novel and what must have been the inspiration for Bushnell: Ground breaking honesty, calling out what other writers did not dare to spell out.

On a more personable level I found the characters varied, some very likeable and fascinating, others almost irritating or dull. The stories and lives of these women are well thought out and enjoyable.

The 1920s and 1930s have been known as progressive and in my mind I often thought of them as fairly liberal and advanced. Reading the novel was a good reminder of how relative those terms are. How far we seem to have come in so many areas – women’s rights, access to contraception and sexual discrimination – a mere 40 years before my birth. Not that we have come where we should be in most of these areas, but I found it amazing to read strong characters fall at hurdles I thought they had already taken.

A literary triumph indeed and a mile stone in fiction. Definitely one not to be missed.

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Review: “They Were Counted” by Miklos Banffy

Pre-1914 Hungary is one of my special areas of interests and I was very excited to find this book – long lost during the communist area and finally rediscovered.
It follows two Transylvanian cousins and their differing fortunes:
One a politician, achieving and well-liked, the other a gambler, wastrel and anti-hero.
At 600 pages small print this is a book of War and Peace proportions, very rich in historic, socio-cultural, political and general descriptive details.
As I’m contemplating my next book to be set in this era I found this a treasure of information and insights.
The political situation in Hungary from the Transylvanian perspective, representing a provincial and neglected area in a parliament obsessed with Machiavellian operations, family relations, morals and courting – there is much to learn from the rich tapestry provided.
Explanations of people’s reasoning and the background for their decisions illustrate perfectly the way of living, norms and ways of thinking.
As a reader of fiction I like my books admittedly at a faster pace and found much of what I read getting in the way of enjoyment, suspense and intrigue.
Plot developments became predictable 20 – 30 pages before the inevitable happened. Yet, as I’m writing this I must confess that I still couldn’t let go of the book prematurely or skip through it. Despite all criticism the novel has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi, a compelling and attractive element that I find hard to put into words.
I may not have enjoyed all of it and I may not rush to get the second and third part of the trilogy right away, but I’m glad I did read the book and I know curiosity will get the better of me and find those other two parts of the Transylvanian Trilogy.

Overall this proved a fascinating historical tour de force about an area of Europe that has been neglected by historians and politicians alike. Psychological insights into two very different people and another perspective on the Austro-Hungarian Empire coming to it’s fall.

 

Guest Post: Darlene Foster

Let me introduce fellow blogger Darlene Foster and her books

beetleypete

I am delighted to be able to bring you a guest post from the lovely Darlene Foster, a Canadian blogger and published author.

Here is her own short bio.

Brought up on a ranch in Canada, Darlene dreamt of travelling the world and meeting interesting people. She has always loved to tell stories and was encouraged by her grade three teacher to write them down. She is the author of the exciting adventure series featuring 12-year-old Amanda Ross who loves to travel. Readers of all ages enjoy travelling with Amanda as she unravels one mystery after another in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Spain, England, Germany, Holland and her own country, Canada. When not travelling herself, Darlene divides her time between the sunny Costa Blanca of Spain and the west coast of Canada.

And this is her unedited guest post.

How Travel Memories Became Books for Kids

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Review “The White Massai! by Corinne Hofmann

Plot:
Corinne Hofmann falls in love with a Masai warrior while on holiday with her boyfriend in Kenya. After overcoming all sorts of obstacles, she moves into a tiny shack with him and his mother in his village, and spends four years in Kenya. Slowly but surely the dream starts to crumble until she flees back home with her baby daughter.

My opinion:
This is quite an intriguing story, right up my street, about inter-cultural understanding, marriage and life decisions.

Being an auto-biography at times the story made me gasp. The honesty in which it is written is refreshing and shocking at the same time.
The fate of a woman who fell for a man she couldn’t communicate with at first and who then decided of her own free will to adapt to his strict and often very limiting cultural life style will have many in doubt about the woman’s sanity. And yet her unconditional love, her willingness to compromise teaches us about the nature of compromise and understanding. We normally see the ‘primitive’ culture assimilating to the more developed, whereas here a business woman takes on the different culture and actually makes a success out of it in many ways. It is worth reading for the fresh perspective of Masai life as well as for the thoughts in Hofmann’s head.

Hofmann neither becomes a victim nor does she vilify anyone and that makes her a remarkable and compelling story teller. Quite different from what I had expected this book really grabbed me and never let me go. I still think about her and her force and wonder what other people, particularly feminists, would make of her story.

Please read it and tell me. I’d be curious to know.

Smorgasbord Cafe and Bookstore – New Book on the Shelves – #Scifi – The Magisters – Book One by Jack Eason

John is a blogger I hold in high esteem. I’m very intrigued by this book and it’s synopsis. Head over to Sally’s blog and check it out 🙂