I highly recommend this book to anyone with a love of historic fiction or an interest in women’s issues. This book humanizes women’s issues in the 1930s and brings them to light in an engrossing manner. The, essentially, cluster-fuck of circumstances, expectations, and personality that come together to create the different lives they end up leading is endlessly fascinating to study and ponder. The style of looking at women’s issues in history through the lives of multiple women lends a depth to the story that would not be there if it was told in the traditional manner of focusing in on one single woman. What happened to change them? How drastic of an impact did certain events have on their lives? Are they truly happy now? Much like real life, the reader can only speculate based on the limited information she has. This lends a greater sense of depth and mystery to these women’s lives. For instance, early in the book we see Kay’s life in detail, but later we only catch glimpses of it through her friends’ eyes. Moving smoothly through the seven years but changing perspectives by spending a chapter or two on each woman in turn, we get a glimpse of their lives. Particular issues that impact these women’s lives and dreams include birth control, gender norms, violence against women, and social justice. This piece of historical fiction told entirely through women’s lives looks at women’s issues in an oft-ignored time period–1930s America. I am so glad that Nymeth’s review made me add this to my wishlist. I consider it a masterpiece HILARY MANTEL A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack SARAH WATERS One of my favourite books ever INDIA KNIGHTWhen first published in 1963, The Group was on a bestseller for almost two years. How this changes with time as they repeatedly encounter societal expectations and relationship problems are told through a series of vignettes that focus in on moments in their lives over the seven years after graduation.

Their friendship is known collectively as “The Group,” and their distinctive Vassar education has given them a distinctly liberal view on the world. A collection of women graduate from Vassar in the 1930s.

The group mary mccarthy review