The life of the main character of The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant is nothing exciting or unique. She is, in a word: average. It took me awhile to realize this is the author’s point.
The Boston Girl is Addie Baum, the daughter of immigrants to
the United States. She was born in 1900.
The story is as told to Addie’s granddaughter for a school project in 1985. The novel is one part immigrant story, and
another part the loving story of a grandmother telling her daughter what it was
like being a girl/woman in her day. One could fairly categorize it as a coming of
age story.
First there are the do’s and don’ts all children must learn,
and break. Then there is first love and the
“good girl” vs “bad girl” dating rules, and learning the hard way that they don’t
apply to boys; chivalry is dead, assuming it ever existed. Add the lessons that in pre-birth control
America, unwanted pregnancies and abortions were common place, even though never talked about … ever. Overlay all of this with women “don’t need” an
education, and if they “must” work, they aren’t allowed to have “careers.”
As I was reading this, the 7 year-old girl who is my
neighbor asked me what it was about. I
told her it was about a Grandma telling her granddaughter about what it was
like to grow up “in the old days.” (A warning
for her grandmother … you have an interrogation coming next time you are in
town).
Roughly 100 pages into this book it crossed my mind that
what I was reading was a softer version, an individual version, of The Feminine Mystic by Betty Friedan (1963). Yes, I’ve actually read and liked, The Feminine
Mystic, it deserves its recognition as one of those rare books that helped change the
course of history. Then near the end of
The Boston Girl, the author even acknowledges her debt to Friedan, by mischievously
writing The Feminine Mystic into the storyline.
Recommendation: While
I would prefer that everyone, granddaughter and grandson, read The Feminine
Mystic, I admit that’s not going to happen.
I’m comfortable with The Boston Girl being a compromise selection.
