[S6U]⋙ PDF Free Superior Women Alice Adams 9780671020682 Books

Superior Women Alice Adams 9780671020682 Books

Download As PDF : Superior Women Alice Adams 9780671020682 Books

Superior Women Alice Adams 9780671020682 Books

***Spoiler alert***
I was very excited about reading an Alice Adams novel because I had read that she was a feminist writer. I found this novel quite disappointing. While it has some interesting characters and it depicts the lives of women from the post WWII era to the early 1980's with some accuracy, it is not what I would consider a feminist novel or even a strong women's fiction novel. It holds a mirror up to patriarchy but it never allows the women characters to really show much strength or independence. The four women depicted in the novel aren't really "friends" - they are more like four women who happened to stay in the same college dormitory and just sort of kept in touch with one another. They don't even seem to like or care about one another all that much. While they are not complete stereotypes, they are certainly types and their roles change as the eras change but nothing about them ever really breaks out of the conventional patriarchal mold. For example, Megan, starts out as the stereotypical working class Californian, overweight (somehow, the book seems to focus a lot on weight) intelligent girl who later becomes the career woman whose happens to have a career almost by accident and who would really much rather be involved in a relationship and jumps from one man to another, none of whom she really cares all that much about. The way she ends up in the last chapter also seems accidental rather than an act of strength and doesn't follow logically in her character development. In fact, there isn't much psychological insight into the characters at all, which is very disappointing. The four women depicted in the novel seem much more interested in their relationships with men (mostly of a sexual nature) than they do in developing themselves, so much so that they seek out old boyfriends rather than deal with their pain. To me, this is an extremely stereotypical patriarchal way of women to deal with emotional upheaval - run to some man to "save" them. Even in the 1980's when this novel was written, this could have really explored the patriarchal absurdities that women were subjected to in the second half of the 20th century and transcended them. Instead, it falls flat with types that don't really go anywhere or make the reader want to cheer for them. I haven't read any of Adams' other books, so they might be more feminist than this one, but reading this one doesn't quite encourage me to read others, I'm sorry to say.


Tags : Superior Women [Alice Adams] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A <IT>New York Times <RO>best-selling novel traces the friendships and inner lives of four varied young women who meet at Radcliffe at the end of World War II. By the author of <IT>Medicine Men. <RO>Reprint.,Alice Adams,Superior Women,Pocket,0671020684,Women college students - United States -,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction General,General

Superior Women Alice Adams 9780671020682 Books Reviews

Being a person who has maintained friendships with friends I met in college many many years ago, I did not see the point in Alice Adams' novel, "Superior Women." I appreciate the irony of the title, but I learned nothing from the writing, the women, or the relationships. That's it.
I read this in the 80's and liked it and liked it even more this time. It reminds me of my attendance at a women's college in the NE in the late 60's. It's a good story of the evolution of the friendship of 4 college friends.
"Getting of the train, on a Friday night that is also New Year's Eve, Lavinia is very beautiful. With the perfectly fitted, perfectly simple black coat (that cost more than a month salary of the Negro fitting woman), she wears perfect black suede shoes, with high thin heels, and a filmy pale pink scarf at her throat. As she steps down carefully from the high train, off and into Gordon's arms, she sees her own beauty reflected in Gordon's eyes. In his kiss."

This is my kind of book; the type of book I always long for. The women characters are so absolutely different, so terribly complicated and oh so very much like the people we know, or where some of the very personalities shown, remind us of ourselves, of the ways we were, or are.

Superior Women takes us into the lives of five women who were college students at Radcliffe together at one time, and then Ms. Adams carries us into their adult lives, so we at least read about twenty years into the lives of these females.

Meet Lavinia from Virginia, so vain, the perfect blonde who has everything going for her, or has she? She has wealth and good looks, but can these things give her what she truly wants out of life? Then we have Janet, not a favourite of Lavinia's, who does not considers Jews. But Janet is a good student and dedicated to her beau an army lad. Now let's look at Cathy who is the mysterious one, who everyone tries to figure out and no one seems to be able to do this with any luck. A very interesting person but??? Then we meet Peg who has a problem with her weight but and tends to remain on the heavy side, and sticks to Lavinia and Megan. It is in the latter part of her life that her life changes beyond belief; just wait for this surprise, and then lastly, the one woman I consider the main character of the entire novel Megan Greene. Megan hails from California but has yearned to come to the East after meeting a young man from Cape Cod whom she suspects is wealthy, and she thinks she might have a chance with. Megan pulls out all the stops to get to Radcliff in Massachusetts, eager to leave her dowdy existence and her humble parentsin California.

You will be mesmerized and entertained as the lives of these five women interlace in this amazing book. If you like Rona Jaffe's books you will certainly enjoy this one. Highly recommended!!!

A treat!!!

Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 15/03/06)
I found the book unremarkable. In the beginning I had to struggle to keep at it but I liked the main character, Megan, enough that she became my reason. As the story progressed, I found myself more interested, wondering if these "superior women" were finding their stride, but toward the end I began to feel disappointed.

For example, it made sense that while an immature girl, Megan would reject her parents, but once she matured her neglect toward her mother was unfounded, and thus the ending seemed a bit too convenient and unsatisfying. Why did she finally decide to bond with her mother? It almost seemed due to lack of any better idea, which frankly is the prime motivation for the characters.

Cathy served as a study in pain and deprivation, Lavinia never changed except to become more cruel and one-dimensional, Peg experienced the most growth but was only a secondary character, and Megan began and ended the story as the same person - only her finances change.

I may have missed something in my reading, but I have to characterize my reaction to this book as tepid.
***Spoiler alert***
I was very excited about reading an Alice Adams novel because I had read that she was a feminist writer. I found this novel quite disappointing. While it has some interesting characters and it depicts the lives of women from the post WWII era to the early 1980's with some accuracy, it is not what I would consider a feminist novel or even a strong women's fiction novel. It holds a mirror up to patriarchy but it never allows the women characters to really show much strength or independence. The four women depicted in the novel aren't really "friends" - they are more like four women who happened to stay in the same college dormitory and just sort of kept in touch with one another. They don't even seem to like or care about one another all that much. While they are not complete stereotypes, they are certainly types and their roles change as the eras change but nothing about them ever really breaks out of the conventional patriarchal mold. For example, Megan, starts out as the stereotypical working class Californian, overweight (somehow, the book seems to focus a lot on weight) intelligent girl who later becomes the career woman whose happens to have a career almost by accident and who would really much rather be involved in a relationship and jumps from one man to another, none of whom she really cares all that much about. The way she ends up in the last chapter also seems accidental rather than an act of strength and doesn't follow logically in her character development. In fact, there isn't much psychological insight into the characters at all, which is very disappointing. The four women depicted in the novel seem much more interested in their relationships with men (mostly of a sexual nature) than they do in developing themselves, so much so that they seek out old boyfriends rather than deal with their pain. To me, this is an extremely stereotypical patriarchal way of women to deal with emotional upheaval - run to some man to "save" them. Even in the 1980's when this novel was written, this could have really explored the patriarchal absurdities that women were subjected to in the second half of the 20th century and transcended them. Instead, it falls flat with types that don't really go anywhere or make the reader want to cheer for them. I haven't read any of Adams' other books, so they might be more feminist than this one, but reading this one doesn't quite encourage me to read others, I'm sorry to say.