The Calamity Club
By Kathryn Stockett ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10 ""I was an odd bird, I knew that. People had told me that most of my life. But I'd learned to live with loneliness in a way my sister never would. She'd never had to. I'd be afraid for her if she eve..."
By Kathryn Stockett
★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10
634 pages
What’s it about?
This novel takes place in Oxford, Mississippi, in 1933. Birdie Calhoun is visiting Oxford from her small town. She unexpectedly dropped in on her newly married sister, Frances, hoping Frances and her new husband would bail her and her mom out of their money troubles. But all does not seem good with her sister Frances either, so Birdie may be stuck in Oxford longer than expected. Frances drags Birdie to the local girls' orphanage in Oxford, where she helps out in hopes of upping her social status. Birdie volunteers to do the books each week, and while there, she meets an eleven-year-old orphan named Meg. Meg is spunky, and she and Birdie hit it off right away. We hear this story through Meg and Birdie's eyes.
What did it make me think about?
Maybe times have not changed for the worse...
Should I read it?
I loved this book! My grandmother would have said, "Kathryn Stockett spun a good yarn". Why? This story went all over the place, yet it kept me entertained for over 600 pages. And sadly, some of the "out there" plotlines are straight out of American history. It is just hard to believe how powerless women and minorities were 100 years ago. This book is full of female characters, and, as in life, some are good, and some are still working on it. I am just so sorry this book is over....
A passage I marked
"I was an odd bird, I knew that. People had told me that most of my life. But I'd learned to live with loneliness in a way my sister never would. She'd never had to. I'd be afraid for her if she ever did."
