A thought-provoking volume for anyone interested in the evolution of women’s fiction.
This volume, consisting of three examples of short fiction by almost-forgotten 19th-century author Davis along with Olsen's biographical essay about her, first appeared in 1972 at the height of second-wave feminism.
Born in 1831, Davis spent most of her first 30 years as an obedient member of her wealthy Wheeling, West Virginia, family, though she was deeply affected by her “acquaintance with” radical reformer Francis LeMoyne while at finishing school in Washington, Pennsylvania. Then, in 1861, she published the title novella, about Hugh Wolfe, a lowly ironworker who possesses natural artistic talent, and his hunchbacked cousin, Deb, who silently loves him and inadvertently causes his ruin after misunderstanding some thoughtless words from wealthy visitors to the mill. Harding (not yet Mrs. Davis) became a literary darling for her realistic portrayal of the proletariat. Olsen makes clear that while Davis continued publishing fiction after she married until her death at 79, her embrace of her position in society as subservient wife and devoted mother battled against her literary ambitions. The two other stories here concern women facing that struggle. “The Wife’s Story,” written during Davis’ first pregnancy, concerns a woman deciding whether or not to leave her marriage to pursue her musical talent; Davis concocts an unsatisfactory double ending of tragedy and happy complacency that exposes her own ambivalence. In a later story, “Anne,” an older woman, outwardly successful in business and at home, briefly leaves her family to seek the creative dreams of her youth; the sense of the vibrant girl she once was becomes all the more moving when she returns home with her illusions about artists and intellectuals shattered. Davis was no Louisa May Alcott, but Olsen argues that her writing about women’s needs for both love and self-fulfillment was groundbreaking. The stories themselves are less noteworthy than Olsen’s biography of a writer grappling with issues she’d still face today.
A thought-provoking volume for anyone interested in the evolution of women’s fiction.Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-936932-88-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feminist Press
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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