About two weeks ago a friend and I were talking books. My friend is a member of a WCTC book discussion group and she began talking-up their latest read-- the story surrounds the life of a woman who has spent her life managing a household, being an attentive wife and mother. She is a woman who feels caged by her second-place existence where everyone else comes first . On her 40th birthday she announces she is "retiring" from her responsibilites to find time for herself. The result is a conflict between her responsibility to her family and her personal freedom. Does any part of this woman's emotional being sound even a smidgen familiar? My friend went on to say that the reading group enthusiastically discussed the book in-depth.
Did it matter that the book was written in 1946? Is it significant that the setting is China? Absolutely not! Pearl Buck's "Pavilion of Women" transcends time and culture. Radical for its time, the book raises relevant questions about marriage, the roles of men and women, self-discipline and happiness.
Are you hooked? The Mukwonago Community Library is currently updating a very worn copy; it's replacement will be found in Adult Fiction with the Call number: BUCK P PAVILION.
"We read to know we are not alone!" C. S. Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment