After tearing through Mary McCarthy's The Group, I'm truly shocked that it hasn't been inducted into the canon yet.

The book offers a stunning and scary exploration of gender relations in the 1930s. It's so searing that it's astonishing to realize it was written in the 1950s. Even Mad Men, which is written from the perspective of today's improvements, isn't as damning as McCarthy can be about the oppression of that time.

McCarthy skillfully exploits the tension between characters being both comedically and worryingly wrong. This is putting it mildly; some of the dialogue can be absolutely chilling, especially when it comes to the prisoners who have learned to love their prison. Each character initially seems promising and aware of their times, until they incidentally fall into patterns of behavior that perpetuate the oppression of women.

Regarding those patterns of behavior, McCarthy provides wonderful treatments of internal dialogues and how women of the time reasoned their way through the world. More than their actions, it reveals the assumptions and prejudices they operated under, as well as the rationalizations that justified horrible outcomes for themselves. There's also a tremendous insecurity stemming from the expectations of the day, primarily marriage.

So many of the dialogues begin with a character considering something and, like pulling on a sweater's thread, slowly unravelling what they thought they knew. Sometimes it's accurate, but most of the time, one gets the sense that they're just running in circles, missing some central gap. And many of the dialogues draw from the pop-psychology of the day, primarily Freud's. It's difficult to imagine today the magnitude of his impact, but at the time, it rivaled Darwin's (and perhaps even exceeded it).

Sometimes McCarthy takes a step back and views things from an incidental character's point of view, showing how these young women are perceived—and in that perception, constrained—by men and older women. There are other episodes that demonstrate the fruitlessness of their analysis and pop-psychology by overturning one character's inferences using the experience of another. In one memorable case, she has a character remember a party that was already described matter-of-factly, except this character's remembrance is overtaken by a single, surprising urge.

I was surprised by how much the novel also focuses on class. It shows how, in some senses, it liberated the women in the novel to worry less about material needs, but at the same time, it gave them more to lose if they worked against the social order. It's hard to say whether class led to more or less equitable relations—I'd guess more because these women had access to education, but it's difficult to tell given the shared social background of most characters. It would certainly vary dramatically by region, with women in East Texas not yet having electricity and expected to perform numerous back-breaking duties in a day.

That's not to say that our wealthy characters don't have terrifying experiences of their own. The mental ward chapter was especially scary, having gone through a similar experience myself. Kay's admission is still very similar to how it's done today, and it's enough to drive one to madness if they weren't already there. Public mental health care in the US is like maintaining a fire department without fire codes, and it hasn't improved significantly in the last 80 years. One's husband can't trap you in the ward merely on his say-so, but the criteria for release are still frustratingly vague.

This is, in many ways, a tremendously important novel to read today, even though things have undoubtedly improved for the better. Most people today understand that it was bad for women in the past, but it's hard to imagine the ways in which such oppression sustained itself. For many historical studies of sexism and racism, it's a tempting answer to simply say they were dumber back then; while this is somewhat true when considering lead poisoning and alcohol consumption of the day, it's a dangerously incomplete answer. Grappling with the particulars of how we demeaned women is gruesome but necessary so that we understand that oppression doesn't come in flashing neon. It slips into your very ways of thinking, masquerading as a web of supporting assumptions that can't be eliminated until the entire system has been unmasked and dismantled.

I can vividly remember my Dad's married sisters passionately discussing this book in the 1960s. They were always voracious readers. Determined to read it myself, I finally managed to get hold of it in 1967 when I was studying to become a Catholic priest. However, my Student Director immediately confiscated it, which made me realize its reputation was still very strong. (He didn't notice my two volumes of Nietzsche that I had also bought with the money my Mum gave me for my 20th birthday. I had only bought them because I saw him confiscate a Nietzsche on the grounds that it could destroy one's faith, and I was already seeing flaws in the Church myself!!) I told my History tutor, a Russian woman at Adelaide University in South Australia, what had happened, and she gave me her copy of McCarthy, which I still have.

I have read the book three times, with the last time being in 2007, and have seen the movie several times as well. It is a very faithful rendition. This book is so eloquent, dry, upfront, and honest. All these qualities make it outrageously refreshing. (How many books can achieve this???) McCarthy's wit and humour are also not lacking. It makes me believe in intelligent Americans in a way that "Sex and the City" doesn't. It's sad to note that there is only one American male on this site. (Well done, Dave!!!) Aren't they interested in the experiences of their women? It's great to see another generation of women responding to this great author.

By the way, I never became a priest. I left the monastery two years later as an atheist. And I never read the Nietzsche as it was too difficult. I still have them, though, like a symbol. I now have two copies of "The Group" - one to lend out and the sentimental memory copy given to me by my Russian History tutor. And I'm looking forward to another reread of "The Group".
Cheers from Wayne in Sydney.
PS. Have any of you read another magnificent American woman, Janet Flanner, the Paris correspondent for the New Yorker?

5 YEARS LATER: "The Group" recently re-entered my TV life. It had been a long time since I had enjoyed the film, and I did so again. When I wrote this review on 4th Feb 2011, there was only one other male reader. Since then, there have been many others, which is great. However, overwhelmingly, women are the main readers. I'm curious to know if this book is read as an important part of American Lit on College or Uni Campuses, or if it is still considered scandalous for being so upfront. And I never thought to mention Lakey, whose presence must have added to the book's scandalous reputation. In these days of Marriage Equality, she takes on a very modern role in a book set just before WWII. But of course, gay men and women have always been living as married couples. Why would they ask for anyone's permission??? Lakey has the last word in the novel, and she really socks it to the meanest man. The scene is done to perfection in the film. It was Candice Bergen's first role, and definitely not her last. I hope you all get a chance to see it. And I'm glad my review has been enjoyed by many readers. Thanks!!

Foi inovador para a época em que foi escrito.

At that time, American society was changing. The high society, Roosevelt's political economy, the fear of communism, the emergence of Freud's psychoanalysis, and modernity are all themes that provide context for this book.

The only thing I want to point out is the excessive number of characters. Since there are eight of them, there was no room to fully develop all of them. I felt that I only really got to know three or four of them, and the others seemed to be just accessories to the story. However, in terms of the theme, it is quite raw and even "cynical" as Mary McCarthy has no shame in her words.

I imagine that in the 1960s, this book must have been a huge shock because of the language and some rather graphic scenes written by Mary McCarthy. It is a very interesting book to read, and we should not forget the era in which it was written and the era it portrays.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2PZw-ND-Gy/

I read this book when I was extremely young, perhaps around 12 years old. Just recently, I came across a review of it. It stated,

"The book was quite frank regarding sexuality,描绘了一些性场景的细节。然而，它感觉更像是‘临床的’，就像一本性教育课本而不是色情的。"

But that wasn't the case for me! It was incredibly hot and highly inspirational. Masturbation, the First Time, and Girls who like other Girls, what could be clinical about those topics? It was my favorite secret book. That is, until I discovered my father's The Kama Sutra / The Perfumed Garden drying in the airing cupboard after his weekly bath. (He took showers every day, but had a bath on Sunday while reading an adult book). I also read his Freemasons' book in the same way.

Looking back, those early encounters with such books had a profound impact on my understanding of sexuality and relationships. It was a time of exploration and discovery, filled with curiosity and excitement. Although I was young, these experiences shaped my perspective and influenced my journey towards adulthood.

Meri Makartni firmly asserted until the end of her life that this novel almost entirely ruined her literary career. Indeed, since this was one of the great controversial bestsellers of the sixties, it surely filled her pockets well. While the sales increased in accordance with the principle of American puritanical practice (publicly we condemn writing about sex, secretly we all read it), until then the intellectual circle had condemned why the great Makartni dedicated ten years to writing a novel about, mainly, foolish women (and no less foolish men) burdened with superficial things without a clearly intertwined political agenda. Of course, as it usually happens, both the guardians of morality and those political fighters noticed how spiritual this novel actually was.

"Group" is a social novel about the upper social circles and bohemian intellectual circles in New York during the seven-year period from Roosevelt's New Deal to the United States' entry into World War II. The main heroines are graduates of Vassar College (this is the college that women of such a social class as Jackie Kennedy attended) and the story episodically (first sexual experience, contraception, first job, love affair, birth of a child) is temporally arranged over a multi-year period from one unfortunate wedding and one tumultuous dinner. Partly in a comical manner, partly as a social satire, Makartni shows dominance both in the field of witty observations of human behavior and in the field of poisonous comments (fully justifying the title "bitch" that was assigned to her). In it, there is a constant and blatant snubbing of the reception and practice of the ideologies and social phenomena of interwar modernism (psychiatry, psychology, modern painting, engaged theater, anthropology, communism, fascism, literary publishing) with a promotional insistence that all ideological themes are monitored and overshadowed by the omnipotent power of industrial production lines and consumer society. The heroines become enslaved in consumer culture and brand names that provide a short-lived sense of belonging. The democratic snobbery of the main characters is disguised in the purchase of furniture in accordance with the ideologies they believe in. The feeling of well-being at the appearance of margarine, Campbell's soup in a can, Maxwell House coffee, and the drama around the appearance of the diaphragm. Goods surround people with their own discourse. Many dialogues deal with the problems of acquisition and possession, how to present oneself in the eyes of others with one's perfect appearance, polished by the family and arranged homes, in order to perform a social success. And behind the facade.... well, we all know that facades are put up to hide something.

Makartni will still be read.

This is an excellent novel that alternates between being funny and heartbreaking.

It contains a remarkable chapter about psychoanalysis, specifically chapter 11. Interestingly, this chapter was published as a self-standing story prior to the release of the novel.

The analyst, Bijur, is depicted as "Brill's favorite student" or something along those lines. This description leads to the question of whether this is a case of a' clef.

That is, did Brill actually have a favorite student? The mention of this detail adds an element of mystery and curiosity to the story.

It makes the reader wonder if there is a real-life inspiration behind the character of Bijur and the relationship with Brill.

Overall, the novel's combination of humor and pathos, along with this intriguing aspect of the psychoanalysis chapter, makes it a captivating read.

It invites the reader to explore not only the fictional world created by the author but also the possible connections to the real world of psychoanalysis.

Whether or not the a' clef theory holds true, the novel succeeds in engaging the reader's emotions and intellect.

Oh Dios mio…

Por fin lo termino…

Me sabe mal lo que me ha pasado con este libro.

Me pensaba que me iba a encantar pero no ha sido así.

Es bastante largo y super descriptivo.

Muchas chicas son personajes de esta historia y me ha costado conocerlas, distinguirlas y empatizar con ellas.

Hay capítulos que me han gustado mucho, pero otros se me han hecho muy pesados.

La historia tiene muy buenos ingredientes y muchas cosas que explica y reflexiones que hace la autora son muy interesantes.

Sin duda tuvo que ser un libro rompedor en su momento!!!!!

Eso si, está escrito genial! :)

This book has been a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, it's written extremely well. The author's use of language is superb, making the reading experience quite enjoyable in terms of the prose. However, the length and overly descriptive nature of it made it a bit of a challenge at times. With so many female characters, it was difficult for me to truly get to know each one, distinguish them clearly, and empathize with their individual stories. Some chapters were really engaging and held my attention firmly, while others felt rather burdensome and dragged on. Nevertheless, the story does have some great elements. The things it explains and the reflections the author makes are truly interesting and thought-provoking. It must have been a groundbreaking book in its time. Overall, it's a book that I have a complex relationship with.

An impressive book, yet not one that I found myself particularly enjoying. McCarthy somewhat erratically tracks the lives of a group of Vassar graduates. They make poor choices, get involved with unpleasant men, and are generally just as unkind to each other and everyone else. I truly disliked anyone in this book. They are all products of their era, without a doubt—racist, classist, and sexist. Their attitudes are likely accurate. But goodness, it was unpleasant spending 500 pages in their minds. It made it extremely difficult to sympathize with them, even the one married to a cruel and emotionally abusive man named Harald—which was also the name of McCarthy's first husband. I'm thinking you don't want to cross McCarthy.

It is entertaining, though, to witness her verbally dissect someone. Whether it's as herself going after her nemesis, Lillian Hellman—“every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’”—or in the guise of Lakey, the leader of the Group, who returns from Europe at the end of this novel accompanied by her baroness girlfriend and tears into horrible Harald. It's a great moment, but it was really tough for me to get through the entire book to reach that point. I have no doubt for a second that people like those McCarthy portrays did exist, or that much of wealthy white society in the '30s was precisely like this—the book feels brutally genuine. However, I wouldn't have wanted to spend time with these jerks then, and I don't want to now either. Reading this book was a bit too much like being trapped at an endless party full of people you don't much care for—and who make no attempt to hide the fact that they absolutely loathe you.

Bravely asks what could be worse than the situation where your friends, without much thought, decide to marry the very first men they've ever set their eyes on just to carry on with some sort of Ritual. And then you're left with Harald Handfast for the rest of your lives.

It's a rather strange and complex scenario. On one hand, it's kind of funny how hasty and unthinking these decisions seem. But on the other hand, it's also mean and sad.

And let's not forget the aspect of racism that one supposes might be involved. It's truly shocking to see how many of these particular types of guys have managed to persist, largely unchanged, within friend groups even after all these decades.

The example of the medical doctor expert father in particular was quite a scorcher. It makes one wonder about the nature of these friendships and the forces that keep these types of relationships intact.

Really 3.5

I was more than one-third done with this book when life got in the way and I put it aside. Instead, I indulged in magazines and desired to read nonfiction. Ironically, I read "The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl" about the dust bowl. When I came back to "The Group", I realized that these women who graduated from Vassar in 1933 were leading their East Coast lives, oblivious to what was going on in the Plains. They were socially progressive regarding women's health issues and interested in the arts, world politics, psychology, and always, at the back of their minds, dealing with status. I mention this only because the contrast between these two very different Americas made for an interesting reading experience.

The plotting and sequence of "The Group" were different from what I had anticipated. Although there were eight graduates, their stories were not given equal emphasis. McCarthy would dedicate several chapters to one particular girl and several more to another's story. Some of the characters were more on the periphery and little was said about them. However, this is typical of post-college friendships. Some people drift apart. Some remain in close contact. Careers and marriages occur. And remember, this was the 1930s. There was no Facebook, messaging, or email. News was spread by word-of-mouth and snail mail.

Even though I knew that the content was shocking for when it was published in 1963 (some excerpts had been published in mid-1950s magazines), I was unprepared for the frank discussions about birth control and sexuality. This book was an eye-opening read. At times it was almost surreal. Imagine having a baby and only being able to see it at feeding times because that was considered best, even though you could hear it crying in the next room. Other babies were given formula from a bottle and they were content. Meanwhile, your pediatrician husband is serving drinks to guests in your room. And when it comes to parenting, were these methods extreme or the norm for the time? Where was the nurturing and affection?

Then there's the mental condition and its treatment. This came up in at least three different characters in the book (both male and female), and each time I had a hard time believing how it was dealt with by the professionals.

But throughout it all, there is one main theme, the independence/dependence of women during this period. Their careers are limited and advancement is challenging. Financially, they just about manage to make a living. And when men come into the picture, they yield to men's suggestions and wills.

Looking through the reviews, many reviewers didn't find the characters likable, and I have to concur. They were cold, petty, and catty.

Many aspects of this book made it an uncomfortable yet fascinating read. For me, it was both insightful and excessive. "The Group" definitely has a place in the canon of feminist literature, but I wish I could have read this in the 1960s and talked with women who were parents in the 1930s. Given that the dust bowl and hardships were happening in the heart of the country, I can only guess that these women represent a small elite segment of society.

Oh man!

I had no idea this was gonna be so dang good!

I think I used to have a copy but I was scared of it. I was scared that I would be bored by it and therefore doomed.

But it is right up the ol' Betty Smith alley and hoooo de lolly you know how I love *that* alley.

Boom.

I wanna channel Oriana and write a long intelligent review but that is not how I do for whatever godforsaken reason.

So we'll just settle for this, dear.

Maybe next time I'll be able to gather my thoughts more coherently and give a more in-depth analysis of this wonderful thing.

But for now, let's just enjoy the fact that it's so darn good and leave it at that.

Who knows what the future holds for my reviewing skills?

Maybe I'll surprise myself and become a master of the art.

Until then, take care and happy reading!

Eight young women, known as “the group,” graduated from Vassar in 1933, filled with big dreams.

The Vassar education carried an implication of entitlement and wealth, but this was the Great Depression. Some of their families managed to hold onto their money, while others were struggling to learn how to survive like the ordinary people around them. In other words, most of the group had to find a way to make a living.

Jobs were scarce, and young women faced great difficulties in breaking into any position higher than a secretary. While most books set in this era focused on Hitler and the approaching war, this one delved into the roles of women, their adaptability, and the bonds that united or sometimes divided them.

Despite being white and coming from different levels of wealth, they were a diverse and colorful group. It was both humorous and sad to see them exploring sex, as the books of that time provided little guidance. The author aimed to address this deficiency, which was likely still relevant in 1954 when the novel was first published.

Although “The Group” didn’t quite make it onto my list of favorite novels, mainly because it was challenging to keep track of eight protagonists, it was nevertheless entertaining and often full of surprises, offering a mix of high drama and slice-of-life moments.