Comments on: A Well-Behaved Woman

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 00:30:32 +0000

In reply to Sarah's Book Shelves. Story selection meaning which time of her life to portray? I'd agree with that- I wanted more of the later years.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 00:28:53 +0000

In reply to The Cue Card. I think you're safe. If you were going to read any Fowler, read Z. It was so good!

By: Sarah's Book Shelves

Sarah's Book Shelves — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 16:06:46 +0000

Totally agree about the least interesting parts being whatever was outside of her marriage and own identity. All the social machinations started to really bore me…who cares?! I realize the characters cared deeply, but I just couldn’t make myself care. I thought the most interesting stuff was Alva’s stifled feeling in her marriage, her desire to have her own hobby beyond home-making and party-throwing, and her modern-for-that-time observations about women’s roles.

But, yes, everything felt incredibly stilted…I realize that’s how it was during that time period, but I just thought it made for boring reading. Maybe story selection was the big downfall here?

By: The Cue Card

The Cue Card — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 13:36:22 +0000

I think I will pass for now on The Vanderbilts and Alva, but I enjoyed reading your review about them.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 00:43:17 +0000

In reply to Susie | Novel Visits. There was a long lead-in, but I had went back through the book to look for references about him and the were small and innocuous. It did not give me the sense that she was passionate about this man. I got a much greater sense of what a dud Vanderbilt was! I wanted so much more about her later life!

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 00:41:34 +0000

In reply to Laila@BigReadingLife. There was drama but it was focused on when she was married to Vanderbilt and I'm sick of rich old white men. I wanted to read more about her later years when she really came into her own. It's my own personal oddness.

By: Laila@BigReadingLife

Laila@BigReadingLife — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 18:05:39 +0000

I’ve never read one of Fowler’s books. That’s a beautiful cover. Sounds like there wasn’t enough drama to really hook you, though.

By: Susie | Novel Visits

Susie | Novel Visits — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 12:55:12 +0000

I just finished A Well-Behaved Woman and also liked it, though not quite as much as Z. I hadn’t thought much about how that might be due to their different eras, but that makes sense. I really liked the parts of the book where it was very focused on Alva. When it moved to details about other things, my mind wandered. I thought there was quite a bit of lead up to “the man,” The consumption was amazing and so was just how far a couple million dollars would go back then!