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The Boston Girl: A Novel Hardcover – December 9, 2014

by Anita Diamant (Author)

2,921 customer reviews

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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day After Night, comes an unforgettable novel about family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century.

Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.

Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today.” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.

Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, December 2014: There’s a lot that’s familiar about The Boston Girl. A tale of a plucky immigrant girl at the turn of the century, it addresses some of the same themes as other contemporary novels, including the author’s breakout The Red Tent: religion, feminism, the pull between tradition and the modern world. Here, our heroine is Addie Baum of Boston, now in her eighties telling the story of her life to her twentysomething granddaughter. And what a life it was: born in 1900, Addie survived the travails of aggressive greenhorn parents, world wars, abusive men and a flu epidemic to become a woman, finally, with a voice and a life of her own. What makes this story engaging is just that old-fashioned straightforwardness, as well as its perfect ear for the locutions of the time. Someone is “smiling to beat the band.” Addie “can really cut a rug.” You had to “kiss a lot of frogs before [you] found a prince.” No wonder this book rings so true: reading it feels like lazing away a winter afternoon with a beloved aging relative paging through a family scrapbook. – Sara Nelson

Review

“Strong female ties form this story’s core. Through these relationships…Diamant brings to life a piece of feminism’s forgotten history [and reminds us] there will always be those who try to prescribe what you should be. Good friends are those who help you find out for yourself.” (Good Housekeeping)

“Diamant infuses [The Boston Girl] with humor and optimism, illuminating a wrenching period of American progress through the eyes of an irresistible heroine.” (People)

"A graphic, page-turning portrait of immigrant life in the early twentieth century...an inspirational read.” (Booklist)

“The story of every immigrant and the difficulties of adapting to and accepting an unfamiliar culture." (Huffington Post)

"Enjoyable fiction with a detailed historical backdrop." (Kirkus)

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Product details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (December 9, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439199353
ISBN-13: 978-1439199350
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 2,921 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #204 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Jewish
- #289 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Religious & Inspirational > Jewish
- #1562 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature

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StoryAddict

Not what I expected, but well worth the read!

December 10, 2014

Format: Hardcover

The only other book by Anita Diamant I've read is The Red Tent, which is one of my favorite novels. Because of that, I was a little surprised at this one as it is so completely different. The Red Tent is lush and evocative. The Boston Girl is a Jewish Grandmother recounting her life.

And it is absolutely delightful!

I think this book hit me on two emotional levels. For one thing, Addie Baum reminds me of my grandmother. Sort of. On the surface, there probably isn't that much in common between Addie, a Jewish girl growing up in the North End of Boston, and my grandmother, a Norwegian girl growing up in small town North Dakota, other than they are about the same age. But, Addie reminded me of what I always pictured my grandmother to be as a young woman--spunky and ahead of her time.

The other tie for me was that this book takes place in Boston and I lived there for 3 years. While I don't miss the city, it is fun to read about place with which I'm familiar. Diamant vividly creates early 20th century Boston and it was great fun for me to take a trip back in time with her.

This book reads exactly like what it is: a grandmother telling her granddaughter about her life and what shaped her into the woman she became. There are several times in the book where Addie makes asides, telling her granddaughter not to tell her mother something or, well, hinting about things that happened in her life that probably wouldn't be proper to talk about (her granddaughter, as you discover at the end of the book, gave up the hinting and just lays at all out--I almost snorted tea through my nose when that little bit came up!).

This was one of those books that I just could not put down--I plowed through it in a little over a day, which is pretty fast for this mother of young kids. Yet, I still kept scratching my head about how this was so different from Diamant's The Red Tent. I guess it is the measure of a skilled author to be able to write in such different voices.

I highly recommend this book to, well, just about anyone. Just be warned...if you think you'll be reading something along the lines of The Red Tent, you'll need to adjust your expectations (trust me, it will be worth it!)

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Amelia Gremelspacher

"People don't talk so much about sad memories. But you should know this."

December 9, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Addie's story is deceptively simple. She started her life as a Boston girl after immigrating with her father and sisters from Russia in 1896. The novel is formed from the interview she has granted her granddaughter near the end of her life. Without drama or pathos, she tells the story of her journey from the tenements where she shared a tiny apartment with her Jewish family, Along the way she is part of the growth of women's rights in the new world. Along the way are the unavoidable pains and sorrows.

Diamant's special gift is her creating the world of her characters from history. The reader enters the world view that prevails the era of the story, and is then able to appreciate the struggle of our narrator, Addie, to enact a stage of her own. Addie is forced to find her voice and to create it from whole cloth. She does it in simple language that lures the reader into the discourse. At some point, the complexity of her issues become apparent, and the novel takes on that extra dimension of richness that distinguishes a good book from other releases. Addie is a memorable character, specific to her time, who proves the fact that the soul has truths to share across the years.

Comment 100 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

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zsuzsanna22

I wanted more

May 23, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I really enjoyed this story but I wanted it to be more than it was, and it could have been. The story is told, not just in the first person, but as a monologue. The main character is 85 years old and is telling her life story to her granddaughter. But that's it. Occasionally there is a sentence or two addressed to the granddaughter to tell us just a little bit about that person. And at the very end, literally the last page, you learn a little bit more about her, but just a very tiny bit. This story would have been so much better, and would have had more emotional impact, if it had been told in a more traditional way. I would have preferred some interweaving of the later generations and their lives. I can understand if the author didn't want to write that kind of a book. However, the monologue style gives us a story almost devoid of drama. Many very dramatic events happened to Addie, the main character, and she lived through extraordinary times. But the format doesn't involve the reader, I felt completely untouched emotionally by events that should have gripped me, that should have had me gasping, smiling, crying, laughing. Instead, it was like reading a newspaper article about someone's life.

And Anita Diamant obviously got tired of her story as she ends it in the 1930's, with a quick wrap up to the present day of 1985. What about everything that came later? It's a cop out to start in 1985 and take the story only as far as the '30's. If you don't want to write past that date, if you want your history to centre only on the first 30 years of the 20th century, then the format should have been different. It should have been written as a first person story, not a monologue story told to someone else, or it should have been written as third person, which would have been my preference to lend some more drama.

But my biggest criticism is of the monologue itself. It is mostly told without emotion, the way one would relate a story to someone else, yes, but not a format for a satisfying read from a novel. Three stars because Diamant writes well and the story flows and is very readable. It's a quick read, informative and fairly pleasant, so if you are interested in the topic and want a light read, then I recommend it. But don't expect much more.

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Most recent customer reviews

fun2tvl

Addie Baum from nothing to a good life

This was an easy read with very well developed characters. Especially loved the historic times that Addie described all the way through her life.

Published 3 days ago

M. Caldrono

A book to savor, discuss and cherish!

First, a confession... when time is tight, I turn to Audible. And in this case the audible was a great way to go! It's a wonderful story...Read more

Published 3 days ago

Joy

Inspiring book for women. I had to read it ...

Inspiring book for women. I had to read it for a class but I really ended up enjoying it.

A wonderful story of a Jewish grandmother's youth

This bildungsroman of a young woman growing up in the early 20th century pleasingly recalls both The Color Purple and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but it carves out a distinct space...Read more

Published 9 days ago

M. Blanton

Superior

It was chosen for my book club, so I began reading it. Three days later I finished! It is wonderful, truly captivating. Do NOT miss it!Read more

Published 25 days ago

M. Suddarth

Ending was kind of meh

I enjoyed this book. It’s was good but not great. The ending is kind of weak. There are some liberal undertones I didn’t care for but whatever.

Published 27 days ago

Joy Ross2

Boston girl

It was an easy read. I liked the flow of the story, and how it went there the years without staging.

Published 1 month ago

Ann Hare

Not great.

This is a lackluster oral history.

Published 1 month ago

Kindle Customer

A book about strong women

The book had historical content mixed with family experience. The time of the book could still be relevant today. It main focus was women fighting to overcome prejudice.Read more

Published 1 month ago

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