Stella is meeting Helena, Kay and Polly at Priss’ house for tea, admiring the perfection of her friend’s taste while remembering that with no job, Priss has the time to accomplish such apparent domestic tranquillity. Stella is an editor, a job she secured through Helena’s Uncle Vince, the publishing director at the press where she works. Helena is a documentary presenter, successful enough to be recognised on the street, while Polly is a consultant gynaecologist and Kay teaches literature, despite her early writing showing much more promise that her husband’s bestsellers. Their friendship has lasted two decades, its dynamics subtly shifting to fit their changing circumstances. Stella is now a single mother, her second child conceived through IVF and not entirely wanted by her almost ex-husband; Priss also has two children as does Kay while Helena longs for a child and Polly is ambivalent. Over the nine months of the novel, several friendships will be stretched to the limits as betrayals are revealed and a life threatens to unravel, marriages are tested and new relationships formed, all of it examined and discussed by these women who sometimes wonder how much they know or even like each other each other but whose lives are irrevocably bound up together.
The shouts alternate Mummy and Daddy by way of instituting the gender equality they do not have
Rather puzzlingly, Feigel chooses to structure her book as the novel which Stella has finally decided to write, encouraged by her new partner. She’s the driver of the story, imagining and interpreting her friends’ behaviour as she follows each of their lives, exploring themes of gender division, motherhood, marriage, friendship and desire. Humming away in the background is the #MeToo issue with Vince’s sexual activities alleged to be not quite as consensual as the friends had believed. There’s a great deal of analysis – both of themselves and of each other – much discussion of the behaviour of men, most of whom are largely offstage, and lots of sex, echoing McCarthy’s 1963 classic regarded as scandalous at the time. At first, I found my patience stretched by these privileged women, so caught up in themselves and the minutiae of their own lives, but I began to find it quite addictive. Worth reading as a witty snapshot of a particular section of society that I was glad to put behind me once I’d finished the book.
For another view you might like to visit Bookish Beck who has reviewed both the original and Feigel’s take on it here.
John Murray: London 9781529305005 336 pages Hardback (Read via NetGalley)
I’ve been hearing quite a lot about this and I’ve been thinking of putting it on the tbr list, but your final comments make me think that it probably isn’t worth the expenditure of time given how much else is still on the list that I really do want to read!
I think if you’re a fan of the original – particularly if, like me, you have a sentimental attachment to it – it will inevitably disappoint.
I’ve never read the original, but I do have my mum’s copy on my shelves. I’m going to promote it, as I’m reading so much about it and Fiegel’s homage.
I’d love to hear what you think of it, Annabel. Reading it now might be very different and I know we’re both of a certain age. Bookish Beck mentioned that she might do a review of both alongside each other which would be very interesting.
I’ve had a copy of The Group for years but haven’t read it. Yet. I should probably start with the original before reading this version, and even then thinking I should space them apart?? Either way, I admire Fiegel’s guts for taking on such a project.
Best read with a decent interval between them, I’d say. I’d be interested to hear what you think of both. It’s an age since I read the original, although I do remember it standing up to a reread. Absolutely agree with you about Feigel’s chutzpah.
Like Annabel, I’ve never read the original but now feel minded to do so given the appearance of this homage. It’s a brave thing to do, to take a fresh look at a classic scenario. Nevertheless, I can understand the appeal of it , especially given how societal attitudes have changed (or maybe not?) in the last 50 years.
Yes, I was impressed that Feigel’s bravery given its her first novel. Sadly, some things haven’t changed nearly as much as we might have hoped.
I must get this. I loved the Group and Rona Jaffe’s Class Reunion
I must read some Rona Jaffe. Would you say Class Reunion is a good place to start?
Definitely!! It is still a wonderful book. The sequel wasn’t as good, but is still a “good read”. Another college group book that is great is The Last Convertible by Anton Myrer–it’s big, but worth it if you like college friend books. I do!
Lovely! Thanks for that.
I reread the original a few years back and was struck by how some of the issues are still… ongoing, shall we say. Certainly read it with different eyes than when I was in my late teens. I’m not entirely convinced by this one, I have to admit…
Sadly, those issues crop up again nearly 60 years later. I read it expecting to be mildly disappointed but felt it was good enough to include a review.
I read the original just last summer and loved it so I think I’ll give this a miss. I’d be comparing them too much I think!
I think Bookish Beck may be planning a comparison review if you wanted a second opinion, Cathy, but I think you’re probably right. I might go back to the Mccarthy but not for a while.
I read the McCarthy again last year during my self imposed Reading From Home Only (that didn’t last too long as too many books recommended) I loved it, and the movie. It certainly hadn’t dated in style or content. I was amazed to read that when it was first published it was banned for a time in Australia.
I often fall foul of those recommendations, myself! Glad to hear the original hasn’t dated. Despite that ban, I imagine the sex seems a little tame by now. Very tempted by the idea of the movie.
Very thoughtful review, and… I think I’ll give this one a pass, all the same.
Thank you, Davida. Probably a wise choice although I’m glad I read it if only to satisfy my curiosity.
This sounds interesting (and brave)… I’m guessing that if I asked which you recommend I read, you’d recommend McCarthy’s?
I think so, Naomi, although I’d have to qualify that by saying it’s a very long time since I read the McCarthy.
Interesting, and I do enjoy a retelling! (I’ve read the Jaffe book too, but at the time I wasn’t aware of the connection to McCarthy). McCarthy’s non-fiction (essays, I think?) is also on my TBR.
I must get a copy of the Jaffe. On the whole, I didn’t feel that this was an entirely successful tribute to McCarthy’s novel. A decent try, though.