Customer Reviews

The Group: A Novel

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THE GROUP was published when I was very young, however, I was aware the book had created quite a stir because my Republican, Roman Catholic father and Democratic Protestant mother had many heated arguments over its content--which includes discussions about childrearing, hetero and homosexuality, mental illness and psycholanalysis, body functions, and Communist-party affiliation.

I have finally read Mary McCarthy's book and found it absolutely wonderful. Having completed it, I feel I understand my mother and aunts a little better. They were of the same genertion as Polly, Libby, Lakey, Kay, and the other eight Vasser graduates who are the protagonists of the book. Although my relatives attended state colleges in Wisconsin, I was exposed to "thinking" women who for the most part lived lives comparable to the women depicted in THE GROUP. All but one of my aunts married, and she became an "old maid school teacher." Some of my uncles were more liberal than others, but all of the men including my father had expectations about how their wives should conduct themselves after marriage and motherhood. I came of age at the tail end of this oppressive period when women were still called girls.

As we read about the oppression of women in other parts of the world today, I cannot help but wonder if younger men and women can fully appreciate how recently civil rights have been extended to U.S. and European women. It's so easy to discount feminists but without the resumption of the Woman's Movement in the late 1950s and 1960s, a husband like Harald might still be able to have his wife Kay committed to a psychiatric hospital if she defended herself from his drunken attack.

THE GROUP covers the years 1933 to 1940--it begins just after the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression and ends with England on the verge of invasion from the Nazis. The book was described as a "gem of American social history" by 'The Nation' but it is also a very good read. (Supposedly, McCarthy based her characters on friends from her Vassar days, so one never knows how much is really fiction.)

Reading this book, I found myself outraged and sad and laughing out loud. The discussions about child rearing are enough to make you hoot -- especially if you have been exposed to the "bottle versus breast" battle. As the victim of parents like Priss and Sloan who read entirely too much literature, I went onto subject my children to the techniques of Dr. Spock, and am now am amused by the current thinking of my daughter and daughter-in-law who also read child-rearing literature and attend discussions and are struggling with potty-training and aggressive behaviour. If you have ever raised children or are trying to raise children you will enjoy the exchanges between parents and spouses and friends in this book.

The passages describing mental illness caused me react with everything from laughter to impotent rage. Polly's father is resentful because his melancholia has been rediagnosed as manic-depression -- only he's never had the manic experience. Polly's obsession with her psychoanalysis is familiar. Kay's incarceration in the "looney bin" and description of the several floors of the mental hospital dedicated to recovery--from the seventh floor lock-up with padded cells to the fourth floor "just like a college dorm" from whence the cured patient depart--is frightful. This is a great book. Don't let its publication date fool you, it's as salient today as it was the day it was written.

Along with the more lurid and admittedly trashy "Valley Of The Dolls" and "Peyton Place," this was one of the seminal books of my youth. What is interesting now is that while the two aforementioned titles have become icons of sorts--'Valley' as a sort of feminist treatise, "Peyton Place" as socio-anthropological cant, go figure-- Mary McCarthy's "The Group" has sort of been relegated to a forgotten spot on the bookshelf, which is a shame since it is a far better book than one may realize. I hardly think the book today would have become the best seller it did, as the writing is too detailed and meticulous in comparison with what passes for much of popular fiction today. And those who made it a best seller in its day I am not so sure grasped what McCarthy was doing; instead they focused on the sensationalist exploration of then oft verboten feminine topics that are prominent in the book--everything from menstruation to birth control. What "The Group" gave me at sixteen was a yearning for the pseudo sophisticated New York world beyond my banal small town suburban upbringing; I longed, like Libby, to take the literary world by storm. At the time, of course, I took it all VERY seriously. Thirty years later, I now realize how brilliantly Mary McCarthy was playing everyone--herself, the girls of Vassar, her entire generation and the American reading public--for a bunch of fools. For what is apparent at the end of the novel is that, for all the advantages of wealth and education these women had, they are no better off emotionally (though they are economically) than their contemporaries who did not go to college, Vassar or otherwise. A very daring approach to take, one I am not sure was or would have been appreciated at the time. But now, as we move into the twenty first century, and the 30's become ever more distant, "The Group" can now be recognized for the brilliant satire it is, as well as a detailed evocation of manners, mores, styles, and a New York that hardly exists anymore. It remains even more one of my favorite books, and one's enjoyment of it only improves with age.

This upper-class New England satire of the post-college lives of 8 women has definitely stood the test of time. I read it maybe 30 years ago and just reread it: it still works, and at my present age, I find myself appreciating McCarthy's superb writing on an entirely new level. Each of the women comes from a different background, has widely different experiences both in Vassar and after graduation, and sees her world after college thru different eyes. Told mostly thru the point of view of one member of the group, McCarthy's classic story lacerates socialism, the Ivy League, the prevalent double standards of the era, men - and psychoanalysis. Is there anything she doesn't excoriate with her talented tongue. Um, no, I don't think she's missed a thing.

Mary McCarthy's deft and sometimes sordid examination of "The Group" is enlightening, if sometimes melodramatic. The novel reads a bit like a soap opera at times, especially when the reader deals with the tumultuous lives of Kay and Harald, two young newlyweds with a penchant for finding trouble in their marriage. Harald is hardly likeable, Kay often flippant, and their friends oblivious or at the very least unresponsive to their increasingly abusive problems. Of course, Kay and Harald are only the tip of the iceberg in this novel.

Dottie, Lakey, and the other members of The Group--eight Vassar graduates trying to make their way after college--all find out plenty about the roughness and beauty of living through the course of the book. Yet it is impossible to say that this is a superficial work, because McCarthy never treats her characters lightly. Yes, they act a little flighty at times, but there is always a human edge to their stories. When Dottie takes a lover she shouldn't, according to The Group, the entire affair is treated with remarkable sensitivity and candor. Therein lies the charm of this particular work.

McCarthy has a knack for getting a lot out of her characters. She peopled this novel with plenty of personalities, but they never simply read as sketches or caricatures. Even Kay and Harald, the queen and king of the over-dramatic (an ironic and clever connection to the theater they both love so much) are amazingly well-written and well-thought out. Sure there are moments when the reader may roll his or her eyes in annoyance at some of the more pandering moments, but there is always the next page, ready to lead the audience back into the charmingly fragile relationships that make this book so lovely.

While this may not be the epitome of McCarthy's writing, it is certainly a novel worth the read, and well worth the thought it should generate afterwords.

The real pleasure of this book is in Mary McCarthy's use of language. Her turns of phrase and sharp descriptions make one long for a more literate world. Add to this her wicked insights into the vanished mores of the 1930s Eastern Seabord elite and you have a fun read. This is probably the best written of the whole "growing up in the Ivy League" canon, i.e. Last Convertible, Class Reunion, Superior Women, Love Story, etc.

With all the recent interest in books about women and their relationships with other women ( Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Saving Graces, etc.) I was interested in going back and reading one of the groundbreakers of this genre.

"The Group" follows eight Vassar graduates from the class of 1933 and chronicles their diverse lives. The reader first meets them one week after graduation at the wedding of one of the girls and follows them for over 400 pages until they are all reunited seven years later at the funeral of one of the group. Along the way we are given a lesson in social history as we share their courtships and marriages and take a hard look at the social mores of the 30's. Mental illness, virginity, the breast v. bottle debate, and political upheaval all come up for examination as the girls reach the conclusion that an education, even the very best one, does not guarantee emotional balance. This is a sometimes profound, sometimes hard-biting satirical look at American women in the important period between the two World Wars.

In 1966 the novel was transferred to the big screen with an all-star cast featuring Candice Bergen as Elinor Eastlake, the group leader. Though much of the book's and the movie's shock value (the lesbian issue) has been lost in the 21st century, this still remains a viable novel on women and the bonds they forge.

Mary McCarthy tells the emotional and ,for the time she lived in, really provocating story of eight friends that want to go their own way in life, career and love after their exam at Vassar in 1933. A group that couldn't be better mixed up, from a beauty to ugly one, from poor to rich, from profound to superficial, from ambitious to lazy....
Mary McCarthy shows the women in a period of 7 years, 7 years that change everything in the young lifes of these women, some marry and get divorced again, some get children and a lot of well-protected secrets become public. The story goes on in the view of each of them and so one always gets new informations about all of them. It's much talked about politics in that novel, too, because every kingpin is interested in politics in a time, 4 years after the commercial crisis and just in the time the World War II started. All of the women get their first experiences in love and lifestyle that are really different for every of them . The book is worth to read, because it's emotional, but not camp, it's the life of a middle-twenty-something-woman. The kingpins are active and actual and the story is sweeping and thrilling.

When I originally began "The Group", I was a bit out of the loop as to certain terms that were being thrown around -Kraft-Ebbing being one - and to my shame, I must admit going to the dictionary to look up both "peccary" and "pessary." But once I got into the groove of the book, the narrative flowed and I was able to put most things into context. Not knowing much about Mary McCarthy, I had expected a book more akin to a Rona Jaffe "Class Reunion" type-novel. But "The Group" is much more than that. It's a sophisticated, at times even satirical (in a "oh, look how silly they were!" kind of way), look at these women in their lives after college.

Each character in "The Group" gets their turn at bat as they deal with philandering husbands, first love, casual sex, child rearing and parental responsibility. McCarthy's story went by so quickly that before I knew it, I was done and wishing there had been more.

This past winter, I had the pleasure of attending a screening of the 1966 film version of "The Group" (attended by some of the actresses) and I was pleased to see how well the book had been adapted - despite Pauline Kael's misgivings. Seeing the movie made me go back to the book which I found more engrossing and enjoyable the second time around. Seeing as it will be a long, recessionary winter, I'm prepared to give it another read and why not? There's always something new to discover in this jewel of a novel.

I loved this book and its interesting take on the culture of a class of Vassar women in the 1930's. I tore through it quite quickly, it was an easy read. Certainly, this is a rarefied group, but McCarthy deftly brings out the class stereotypes and prejudices, while still bringing in events that effected the wider population. It's also an unflinching look at women's lives during this time - it has no agenda and doesn't gloss over the facets that don't jive with either typical conservative or feminist narratives of how a woman's place and sexuality has changed in the last century.

This novel is really several intertwined stories of about 6 upper-class girls who graduate from an ivy league school in the 30's, but the decisions they must make and problems they have to deal with are still very comparable to our day.

These girls are the creme of society but, of course, they have their misconceptions and make their mistakes just like we ordinary folk do. Kay marries a man who she thinks is a genius, but who's also conceited and selfish; another (whose name I can't remember) marries an up-and-coming obstetrical specialist who forces her (with the best intentions) to have their baby his way.

Libby is determined to become a great writer, but, unfortunately, all her verve, self-confidence, and connections can't make up for the fact that she has no talent. Polly's family lost all their money in the Depression and, when her lavish-spending father comes to live with her, she's forced to sell her blood to pay his debts. Lakey, really the most sophisticated and intelligent, and the leader of the group, is nonetheless a very unhappy misfit, for reasons we find out later on, in the very satisfying ending.

Although there is a good deal made about the upper-class setting - how these girls are aware of themselves as being leaders of their generation and role models - nonetheless the author (who must herself have been part of this milieu) is aware that, in a sense, this is ludicrous, and that the girls are in some ways, despite the best of educations, limited by their lack of perspective. There is also a strong moral underpinning to the story - the author is not a cynical person, she believes in true love, happiness, etc., and knows what goes around comes around. This allows you to sympathize with and root for the girls.

If you like women's novels (Jane Austen, et al.), I think you'll like this one.