Well, I’m only reviewing the first half of this book. That’s how far I made it before I couldn’t stand it any longer.
I understand that this book was progressive for the time it was written, and maybe I’m just not able to put myself back in that time and think about the impact it would have had on me then.
The main thing I noticed about this book is its negativity. Every character seems to be bitter and unhappy. Everyone is throwing around wry smiles and bitter laughter ALL THE TIME. Everyone is sarcastic, dry, and ironic (or “ironical”) ALL THE TIME.
The excerpts from the main character’s notebooks read in part like something I would write in my own ‘woe is me’ diary. No one wants to read that. I identified with her (Anna) at times, but most of the time I just wanted to tell her to shut up. There is no way that I want to read a character’s self analyzation for page after page after page.
Every character seems to hate every other character in some way, even if they supposedly ‘love’ them. Every thing is over analyzed, overly dramatic and unrealistic to me as a female reader in 2009.
I finally stopped after reading a conversation between the main character and her best friend’s 20 year old son. It was so unrealistic (what 20 year old would talk to a grown woman in this way, and what grown woman would let herself be talked to in this way….?) that I couldn’t go on. Not to mention that they were still wry, ironic, sarcastic and malicious throughout the whole conversation, for no reason that I could identify with or tolerate.
Sorry this review is so bad – this book just really rubbed me the wrong way. If you want to read a good book about strong women living on their own, check out The Women’s Room by Marilyn French.

A great book.