Customer Reviews

Life So far: A Memoir

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Betty Freidan comes through clearly in her book---superbright, sensitive, vital, a woman who has taken great pleasure in men, children, writing, and the women's movement she sparked in l963 with the publication of "The Feminist Mystique." She's good company, as frank about her foibles as she is about her gifts and accomplishments. Unlike the extremists who entered the women's movement after her, she is balanced and moderate. "I've always thought of women's liberation as men's liberation as well." She says about what she might want on her gravestone, "She helped make a world where women feel good about being women and free to really love men." A recurring motif in her memoir is what she calls her "Jewish existential conscience", a feeling that she has to use her life to make the world better. (The "Christian correlation" might be, Jesus' parable of the use of talents.) She has indeed been a friend to women----and to men--everywhere.

As a biography, "Life so Far" is a fast paced account of the full life of a exceedingly accomplished woman. It is full of successes, failures, and SECRETS that others who are so accomplished would not tell.

But, it is much more than a bigraphy.

It provides a first rate education on the successful orchestration, and challenges, that would apply to development of most any political/ social movement. This insite, so skillfully revealed, is gained through fast pace read of the book, for the simple reason that you cannot put it down.

More specific, and equally enligtening the book provides a comprehensive overview of the womens social/political movement toward equality as told through the actions Betty Friedan's remarkable life. The book accounts the tremendous progress, but also reminds us to continue to question social/political order because the job is not complete.

One of the most powerful and interesting books I have read -- I have just logged on to Amazon to order 3 more copies of the book for friends -- spread the word, this is definately a 5-star!

This is a courageous book written by a courageous woman. The story is of a life that continues to endure despite many hardships. If Betty Friedan had been less bright, one wonders if her life would have been easier. My personal favorite part in the book is that of her childhood. One can see her development as a feminist. When one is involved in raising daughters, I feel there is alot to learn in this book. As an aunt with four young nieces, I see the great responsibility one has in raising women to become leaders in the world today. That is why I recommend this book for library use.

In college I read The Feminine Mystique. How wonderful to read Betty Friedan's intimate account of her life and the struggle for women's rights so far. Her style makes the reader feel she is having a chat. Now I want to read everything else she has written.

I was honestly expecting something more insightful, especially after reading her first more famous book. This book was one I didn't even finish because it just was not engaging. Perhaps others might disagree, but my opinion is to pass on this one.

A must read for those of us who were lucky enough to come of age in the 60s. Friedan left me with a profound sense of gratitude. Because of NOW's vigilance, I had the "right" to carry my daughter to term without being fired from my job as a high school teacher in 1974 . Because of the movement's persistance, I had the "right" to seek and obtain a job as a Superintendent of Schools in a market that was 90 percent dominated by men. Friedan's words inspire me to do more to improve conditions for children and families.

Friedan might have been the first president of NOW, but she never fully grasped that sisterhood actually meant that women had to work together with each other and sometimes she would not be in the limelight.

Although I am very sorry to hear she was beaten by her husband all of these years and went through a messy divorce, this does not excuse her bizzare and obsessive behavior towards Gloria Steinem and other feminists. THe fact that Friedan maintains that Steinem "just wanted to disappear me" suggests just how narrow minded and self centered Friedan really is.

This book might be good for entertainment or a study of people with mental problems, but by no means should it be mistaken for a feminist tome or action plan. The eloquent research of the feminine mystique has been replaced with a heaping pile of paranoid garbage.