The Odd Women

The Odd Women

by George Gissing

Finished another RA Favorite book.  Don’t get as many old-time books, but this one, The Odd Women, was written in the late 1890s by George Gissing.  It is the story of the Madden sisters, three of whom die in youth/childbirth as does their mother. After their father passes away, the three sisters go on a journey that includes finding love, independence, and their voice.  The book is set in England during a time when women out-populated men by over a million, so being “paired off” for marriage was not an easy task.  Two of the subplots involve the youngest sister, Monica, and her struggles with marrying an older bachelor, Edmund. She later has an affair with another man, which leads to the end of her marriage. Meanwhile, Rhoda falls for a man who wants to marry her, but she only wants to live with him (which is not something acceptable in the world they live in).  Both Rhoda and Monica have challenges with their men and, in the end, one women stays connected with her man while the other separates, gets pregnant, and eventually perishes. It is clearly a book that reflects on the role of the woman and the lack of choices available to them in this era.  Lots of mystery as to what will happen to the lead characters with loss and sadness in the end.  A book of its time….  Interesting that a book at the advent of feminism was written by a man.  Ok read.

Wild

Wild

by Cheryl Strayed

Finished Cheryl Strayed‘s book Wild, her memoir of her personal journey through the PTC (the Pacific Crest Trail running from California to Oregon) after the death of her mother and a number of failed relationships.  The trip in total is over 1,100 miles starting in the Mojave Desert and ending in Oregon at the “Bridge of the Gods” that leads into the state of Washington.  Strayed is twenty-six years old when she makes the commitment to go on this solo journey. She departed on this trip four years after losing her mother to lung cancer at the age of forty-five years old, a major factor in her decision to leave civilization.  Throughout her journey, Strayed shares episodes of pain with her siblings, her relationship with her parents, and her relationship with her husband, who she married right after college (though her relationship ended before her journey began).  She also shares her struggle with another partner that involved difficulties with heroin.  Strayed discusses many of the highs (meeting new friends, reaches summits, experiencing the beauty of nature, a one-night stand with a man she meets on the trip) and the lows (physical pain, hunger, reflecting on the many loses in her life which lead to loneliness).  The flashbacks to her family challenges are conjured up through the trip and lead her to think about what is next in life.  Strayed clearly gains a sense of peace, fights her grief and personal challenges, and overcomes various physical struggles while on the trip.  Strayed’s willingness to be vulnerable serves as a guide for others coming from dysfunction and poverty to escape through reliance on self.

The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project

by Graeme Simsion

Finished another on the list of RA Favorite Books, this one by an Australian author. Graeme Simsion's book The Rosie Project is a comedy, as are most of the Australian books I have read.  The story involves a Professor, Don Tillman, a neurotically organized and structured man, who gets involved in two studies. One study is to find the most compatible woman for him to get married to (using a questionnaire he has validated to be statistically sound), and the second project is to assist a PhD student at the University, Rosie, to find her biological father.  Rosie’s mother told her that the man she grew up with as her father was not her biological father right before she passed away.  Years later she approaches Don to assist her in finding her father based on a graduating class photo from a final party as a class…and one of the males at that party is her biological father! While these two stories intertwine, Don’s closest friend, another Professor at the University, attempts to have Rosie and Don date. Don is unable to change himself and Rosie is unable to accept Don for his neurotic self!  The two end up gathering DNA from all of the male party attendees with a shocking twist as they identify her biological father.  It is a witty story with some 'adult humor’ and well worth your time.  I hear there is a sequel as well.