Cannonball Read 3 - Review #15 - The Group by Mary McCarthy

I'm fascinated with women's issues and social history, and especially the plight of the woman in less modern times, because the social constructs of the American woman's role is so complex. The Group is a novel that follows eight Vassar graduates from the class of 1933 and follows them through their lives in New York City from two weeks after their graduation to the funeral of one of their members many years later. The novel isn't in a typical narrative format, rather it kind of disjointedly focuses on each member, some more than others, and shows how they stay in each others lives or drift away over the years. Within the fictional narrative, we also get a really close-up look at the way women lived then, from sexual politics to marriage and their role in the working world. In some ways, their stories are timeless and resonate deeply with me as someone only two years out of college, stumbling around pretending I'm a grown-up when really I'm terrified and completely unsure of where my life is going. Some of these women put on brave faces, thinking they have it all figured out, and they get into marriages that destroy them, involve themselves in political movements they hardly understand, and struggle to maintain friendships with people they only think that they know all the way. It also explores the delicate dynamics of the friendship within a group of women, the power plays, the insecurities and the real warmth that all come into play in such a group. No matter how they change or where they go, in the end, they are always brought together because they are a part of The Group.