- Hardcover: 471 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Thus edition (Jun 1977)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 067140010X
- ISBN-13: 978-0671400101
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.7 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,265,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Women's Room (Virago Modern Classics)
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Product Description
Review
Destined for a TV series, this marathon Lib seminar-cum-soaper pops on about the plight of women as victims in contemporary society - particularly those of middle years. Like Mira, who's been bred and buttered-up to the "shit-and-string-beans" treadmill of suburban marriage and motherhood. In first and third person, we study Mira's childhood, sexual awakening, disillusions, early marriage, childbearing, the move to the golden suburbs for days of little kids and new friends: "the lazy life. . . it went nowhere. . . they had not been chosen but had been automatically slotted into their lives." But the lazy life also means the drift toward divorce, affairs, the bottle, psychic batterings, even attempted suicide - and the rumination: "You think I hate men. . . . I guess I do." So Mira is divorced by dull Norm, and life begins at 38 - at Harvard's graduate school, where she meets a group of fiercely-speaking-out, feverishly-living women, including big Val, doomed to be shot to death in a Lib protest demonstration. In the process of hoisting her consciousness, Mira falls in love with nice and successfully sexy Ben and brings her sons closer by her honest expression of Feelings, but she does NOT Want A Child by Ben - so finis and goodbye. Throughout, the women talk out relationships with men, children, and each other in that heavy sweating-out, hanging-out jargon that's long since lost the bloom, complete with aggrieved, savage humor (on exclusion from male libraries and dining rooms: "the real reason is sanitary. . . Splat Splat a big clot of menstrual blood right on the threshold"). Awful things happen to everyone, and the gut-wrenchers roll on like the toilet tissue in the TV commercials - but this time the women squeeze the bejeezus out of Mr. Whipple. (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
The classic feminist novel, reissued for its 30th anniversary.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book seeks to show the lot of women in the 50's - 70's. It does this through tracking the life and thoughts of one woman; Myra. Although several of her accounts of the type of choices facing women twenty or thirty years ago may seem bleak they still have a resonance today. French writes in a seemingly dispassionate way about the stark realities of life as a women and draws you in to a rich story full of colour,drama and lessons. Although rated as a seminal femminist work, it is not preachy. The best book I have ever read.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was born about the time this was being written, and first discovered it by accident when I was 15. I love it, and ensure I re-read it every 18 months or so. Each time I read it, it takes me ages, as it is one of those books that is so thought-provoking that you have to stop every few pages and relate it to your own life (and re-assess!). It forces you to look at the good, the bad, and the scary in yourself, but inspires you to do something about things too.
I think everyone, male and female, should read this book. It may have been written in the late 70's, but (unfortunately in places) it still has relevance today, and everybody will find a character or aspect of a character they will identify with.
I recommend this book so highly, I have bought copies as gifts for my mother and other friends when they were going through difficult times.
I think everyone, male and female, should read this book. It may have been written in the late 70's, but (unfortunately in places) it still has relevance today, and everybody will find a character or aspect of a character they will identify with.
I recommend this book so highly, I have bought copies as gifts for my mother and other friends when they were going through difficult times.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite the many (and long overdue) changes in attitudes and practices there is much in this seminal work that ought still to strike a chord with to-day's women.Although life in the UK in the 60/70's was a very different experience from that in the States there are, I think, enough similarities for the European/British woman to empathise with.
It's a brilliant choice for a book group reading - there is plenty to discuss.
Her male characterisation is considerably weaker than that of the women in her tale but it's a women's story not a man's. Take on board the central thesis and don't be distracted by the smaller negatives.
It's a brilliant choice for a book group reading - there is plenty to discuss.
Her male characterisation is considerably weaker than that of the women in her tale but it's a women's story not a man's. Take on board the central thesis and don't be distracted by the smaller negatives.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
book read for book group discussion
this book was chosen by our book club for review - i read it and although initially it was quite hard going it did lighten for the most part - it was a good reflection i would... Read more
Published 3 months ago by elizabeth
Still relevant
Surely I must have read this back in 1977 when it was first published but I can't remember. And surely things have improved greatly for women now. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Four Violets
My favourite book of all times.
At least once a year, I take my well used copy down from the library shelf and each time it feels like welcoming home a favourite, old friend. Read more
Published 18 months ago by D. Mcmahon
A good, strong, funny, emotional read
I read this book only recently after seeing it a reviewers list of books that they will read again and again, I had not heard of this book previously or the author. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mrs. S. Payne
Required reading
I was shocked when Marilyn French appeared on a BBC documentary about feminism (including a look at where we are now) and I hadn't heard of her before; she was so sharp and... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Scarficus
Cultural and political analysis loosely dressed in novel form
Mira, born in the 1930s, reaches adulthood in the early 50s and, like so many women of her generation, gets married because that's what women were supposed to do. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Roman Clodia
A must-read for all!
This book is a must read for those trying to understand a feminist perspective and what life was like for women in the 20th century. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Freethinker
Rage and despair - dated, but sadly still shocks and sobers
Marilyn French's book was never a comfortable read, not on its shocking appearance in 1977 and not now. Read more
Published on 1 May 2010 by Lady Fancifull
lifechanging
This book is a work of genius.It takes you deep inside the consciousness of the time ,(the 50's and 60s mainly) and the attitudes of women who you end up loving as sisters;crying... Read more
Published on 30 April 2010 by S. Moore-Bridger
The Womens Room
An enjoyable read not my usual type of book but am glad I read it.
Published on 3 July 2009 by C. A. Bringloe
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