Title: The Boston Girl
Author: Anita Diamant
Publisher: 9th December 2014 by Scribner
ASIN: B00KU4PW86
Pages: 256 pages
How I Read It: ARC ebook
Genre: historical fiction,
coming of age
Our Rating: three crowns
Synopsis:
From the New
York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day
After Night, comes an unforgettable novel about family ties and values,
friendship and feminism told through the eyes of a young Jewish woman growing
up in Boston in the early twentieth century.
Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.
Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today.” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, TheBoston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.
Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.
Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today.” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, TheBoston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.
My thoughts:
Anita Diamant's novel begins with
a question: "How did you get to be the woman you are today?" Thus follows the telling of a remarkable tale, one so well written, that at
times you have to remind yourself it is indeed fiction.
This is
the story of Addie Baum - Jewish daughter to immigrant parents; she grew up
during the mid-1900s in Boston. As a teenager Addie is
asked to recite “Paul Revere’s Ride” at the Saturday Club, a group for young
women from many different religious and ethnic backgrounds who gather together
each weekend. This is the beginning of
Addie’s journey – a journey that would develop her fortitude and intellect, as
she forms friendships, faces family tragedies, follows her aspirations in exploring
her career options and eventually finding romance. Diamant covers a lot of history as Addie’s
story unfolds: prohibition; 1920s flappers and artists; World War I; The Great
Depression; the Spanish Flu; women’s education and careers; journalism and a
woman’s place in it.
“People kept saying, ‘Life
goes on’. Sometimes that sounded like a wish and sometimes if felt like an
order. I wanted to scream, ‘Life goes on? Not for everyone, it doesn’t”.
All of these experiences combine
to make Addie the woman she is today, and is representative of a generation of
women who pursued freedom in an attempt to make something of their lives,
something that traditionally was outside the boundaries of what women should
have aspired to. So many memorable
characters are woven throughout this story. I especially enjoyed the
independent spirit of several of the women - her sister Betty and Filomena, to
name but two.
“Filomena just knew who she was, which wasn’t
so easy back then. I guess it’s still not easy, is it? It took me until I was
in my forties before I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up”.
My only criticism is in the
closing stages of the novel. The last part of the book just felt rushed, a lot
of time covered in a few short chapters pertaining to Addie's later years.
Given that the majority of the book was such rich story telling, we just felt
that the strings of this story were not neatly tied together.
Overall, however, this was an
engaging tale that I would recommend to other readers who enjoy this genre and
time period.
This review is
based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an
honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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