Customer Reviews

Daughters of Eve

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This was a great book! How could anyone say it wasn't! I guess a lot of young mystery readers just can't understand it. It is not just about feminism-the whole feminism issue is just an example. What Lois Duncan is trying to get across is that this Daughters of Eve club, is like a cult. It explains what a cult can do to you-how it can suck you in. It also shows how taking things too far, like feminism in this case, can be really screwed up. I loved the way it ended, I didn't expect it to end at that moment! But it did! It was so shocking. Some people say that they hated the book, but that just goes to show that some people can't read anything with a little depth....just read the book; it's awesome.

I've been reading some of the reviews, and I feel I should point out in the book's defense that it was published in 1979. That explains the odd character names and much of the sexism that occurs. By today's standards, perhaps, what a lot of the male characters do seems unrealistic, but it wasn't so long ago that women were expected to stay home and raise the kiddies and put their families' needs first. It just seems like it happened way back in the Dark Ages.

I do agree, however, that the author tried to develop way too many (10) characters, so that each became more of a stereotype than they might otherwise have. I would have preferred if she'd focused on three or four, rather than dropping a character for several chapters to the point where you'd forgotten who she was. There were also a ton of typos in my copy.

The plot involves a group of girls who join a sorority/school spirit club, led by a charismatic, and ultimately dangerous teacher with a private axe to grind against men. Like the book "Foxfire," and the movie "The Craft," the girls form a sisterhood and vow to come to each other's aid if necessary. However, one act of violent revenge seems to unleash a vindictive streak in most of the members, and eventually the revenge gets out of control.

I don't think the author wanted the "moral" of the book to be cut and dried. The male characters aren't as well developed, but not all of them are sexist pigs. Nor are the girls who fall under the teacher's "spell" all blind followers; some are able to think for themselves. Some of the "revenge" will seem more justified than others. I think the book was written to raise questions and cause debate, rather than giving the reader a tidy message.

I loved this book, it was very interesting and a very realistic book. It had so many real life parts to it, like how one of the girls boyfriend is a little jerk, how one of the girls (laura) worries about her weight, how another girl is mad about her parents divorce, and how another girl wants her parents to get divorced because of an abusive father. I liked this book because one of the girls could see things others couldn't. I love that especially in Lois Duncan books. The only bad part in this book i think is that it was a bit confusing in the beginning because it kept switching from one girl to the other, but thats it. I recomend this book to anyone who has ever read Lois Duncan books and ever anyone else.

Lois Duncan was one of my favorite authors as a teen. However, this particular book gets average marks not only for lack of characterization, but lack of discernible logic. Irene Stark is an art teacher at Modesta High who also organizes a girls' club called "The Daughters of Eve". Irene, you see, was mistreated by dear old dad and various boyfriends, etc., so she has an extremely low opinion of men and is a rabid feminist who uses any example of unfair sexist behavior as further evidence that ALL men are scum.

The problem? Well, this brainwashing cult stuff might work if there are no other outside forces influencing the girls, and if the girls are susceptible to the idea that there are no POSITIVE examples of males in the world. In this case, it's a big stretch to assume a group of bright, "cream-of-the-crop" girls wouldn't see Irene for the loon she is. Nevertheless, this book is written as if the general population of the small town of Modesta, Michigan, never got out of the 1950's. The only one who senses Irene's insanity is "psychic" Tammy, and she doesn't use plain old logic to notice this; she has visions of BLEEDING CANDLES, for God's sake. It takes her far longer than it should to realize her teacher has a screw loose, even with ESP. She can predict who her best friend will marry, but doesn't notice a raving lunatic in front of her. Some psychic.

However, that still makes Tammy one up on the rest of them. Fran, the "brain" of the group, doesn't even catch on to Irene's lack of mental stability until the group decides to take up organized violence as a hobby. Some honor student, huh? Ann, the "artist", is given a dilemna that's insulting simply because the advice Crazy Irene gives her is presented as the "feminist" viewpoint. Hopefully, most readers will realize that feminism has nothing to do with the "rights" that Irene advocates, but Duncan is unfortunately very hazy with the correct viewpoint that women want equal rights but are NOT man-haters. (Only one character, Fran, is representative of this idea.)

Meanwhile, there are too many unnecessary characters, in my view. Most likely, Duncan tried to populate the club with every possible stereotype: brain, beauty, artist, Miss Sensitive Psychic, athlete, musician, fat (of course) lonely outcast, lone girl in a family full of MCP's, daughter of domestic abuse victim, and bitter, disillusioned daughter of recently divorced parents. Ten major characters! Geez, couldn't Duncan have combined a few of these, such as give the MCP family girl musical ability, make the recently divorced parents' daughter the beauty of the group, domestic abuse daughter becomes the athlete, etc. It's not as if the characterization goes any further than that anyway. And some of these names have got to go, like "Ruth" (archaic), "Jane" (generic), and worst of all, "Bambi"! Who, other than a porno star, has a name like that? Just let her be 'Kelly', let the MCP girl be 'Holly', 'Paula' can be the athletic/domestic abuse daughter, and 'Holly's' boyfriend in the book can be Tammy's brother. What difference does it make? Too late now, but Lois, you could have saved yourself the time and space it took to create 3 extra cardboard characters and gave more dimension to the other 7, which is still a few too many MAIN CHARACTERS in my book. Better luck next time. And P.S. next time make sure your characters' names don't all SOUND alike. I mean, Holly, Kelly, Paula, Laura, too many L's. Not to mention RHYMING names like Ann & Fran. Geez, no wonder readers here are mixing them up. Try names like Karen, Sandy, Heather, Diana, & Amy--names that are DISTINCT from each other. Just a suggestion.

As for the rest of the book, the male chauvinist pigs, particularly the Grange family and Jane Rheardon's father, are one-dimensional and downright hateful. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult for the reader to see how irrational Irene and her group is, because the MCP characters don't generate any sympathy whatsoever. The few male characters who ARE positive are not featured prominently enough, so they get little sympathy as well. Overall, the plot showed promise, but the execution...well, was literally an execution.

The annoying aspects of this story notwithstanding, it's still worth checking out of the library. If nothing else, Duncan's ending proves she has a wicked sense of irony. Consider the object mentioned in the last paragraph and the usual "domestic" image that one conjures from it. That image will be forever altered in the reader's mind.

Lois Duncan was one of my favorite authors when I was a teenager. She wrote believable characters and also managed to spin some genuinely scary yarns ("Down a Dark Hall" is the best of these, in my opinion).

However, this book gets muddled and it's hard to tell what, exactly, the point is. Is it that Irene, the leader of the high school girls' club Daughters of Eve, is nuts? That feminists hate all men? That women shouldn't fight back against injustice? That they should?

The very first "incident" in which the Daughters take revenge on an offending male is described as horrible, but it actually seems downright mild, considering the male in question is a hateful cad who used one of the club members -- overweight, insecure, shy Laura -- for sex and then cruelly dumped her: they shave his head. Oooohh. Myself, I was sorry they didn't do likewise to his creep of a brother.

After that, though, things do start to get violent, and the girls attack at least one undeserving man, because of Irene's prodding. A couple of the girls realize that it's getting out of hand, and withdraw themselves from the situation. Also, there are a couple of people who realize the unfairness of the situations the girls face, and take their sides: Ruthie's parents ground her after she refuses to clean up after her brothers, but Ruthie's mother eventually defies her sexist husband and revokes the grounding; Ann gets pregnant and tells her father she's thinking about an abortion, and he tells her she has his support no matter what decision she makes.

So I guess the point of the book is that non-violent solutions to unfairness and injustice are best. Though again, I'm not sure that is actually the point.

I thought Daughters of Eve was a great book. A lot of people had mixed feelings about it, but I really enjoyed it. The concept of the book and the plot are very creative, and they kept me reading until the last page. The book is about a high school club called the Daughters of Eve. The club isn't like any ordinary school club, though. It's more like a cult. In order to become a member of the club you have to receive an invitation. The club's sponsor, Irene Stark, is a former high school outcast who has been hurt by several men during her lifetime. Irene tries to push her strong feminist views onto the girls of the club. She "brainwashes" the girls into having the same views as her towards men. She eventually ends up getting the girls to do some pretty shocking things. I loved how the book went back and forth through each of the girls' lives, so you knew what was going on with every member of the Daughters of Eve. The way Louis Duncan tied all the characters' personal lives together was great! The way she ended the book was really suspenseful, and it definitely left me thinking. Some of the scenes really shocked me too. Especially the part when they get revenge on Ruth's brother, and how all the girls look up to Irene, and trust her so much. I really admired Tammy thought, she was able to stand up for herself, and she knew when she was getting herself into trouble with the group. But overall, the book was great!

A special club for young girls at Modesta High School encourages them not to feel ashamed. It helps them to know they are never alone as long as they have each other. The group contains seven girls with men problems. They ask three new who are in the same boat into the club. The guys in their lives treat them badly throughout the story. Their leader Irene,who I think is crazy, convinces them to get revenge on the guys. The book was a pleasure to read. I really don't think men discriminate against women as much as the book put out. I wouldn't recommend this book to some one who can't keep track of characters.

Although Duncan tried to do something different with this novel, a feminist twist on the brainwashing cult concept, it's probably her worst book. It starts to fall apart completely when the Daughters of Eve--a bunch of girls who heretofore have done nothing more radical than sell raffle tickets and volunteer at old folks' homes--decide to attack and molest a male chauvinist pig. Even if we believe they would commit such violence under the leadership of a *teacher* (which would surely just be too weird to go unquestioned), Duncan fails completely to think through what the psychological aftermath of that event would be (surely a little more complex than self-congratulatory glee). The girls seem untroubled and progress to even more violent crimes.

The other really problematic aspect of this book is its villain's take on feminism, which is so obviously unbalanced and extremist. It's impossible to believe that these girls would accept it so unthinkingly.

In short, the book is implausible, overcooked, and kind of a mess. Ironically, Duncan's supernatural novels feel more convincingly "realistic." Skip this, and turn to those instead, starting with Summer of Fear, which rocks, and Stranger With my Face.

I have been a long time fan of Lois Duncan, reading her books over and over again. When I bought DOE I expected to be thrilled and hung in supense. I was dissapointed as the book took a while to build and when it did, it ended quickly.

Great book, I'm looking into the possibilty of turning it into a film or play, loved it as a child, love it as an adult. Very powerful message, especially for a young adult book. As someone who is interested in cliques, elite groups, sororities and the like, this book says it all. Even for fiction, it's very realistic. It's Duncans best.