The first thing the contemporary reader needs to accept about this 1950s classic is that it's set in a world as remote from today as that of Jane Austen. Jaffe is looking at coming-of-age stories of three major (and several minor) female characters trying to establish their careers in New York City. In all cases, Finding Mr. Right is one major goal. And in doing so, they stumble from one disastrous relationship to another with predictable results.
Most of the men in the book are lecherous, cheating, abusive, and utterly oblivious to the emotional needs of the young women they wine and dine and bed (if at all possible), and the women, unfortunately, seem to have the collective savvy one might expect of a reasonably bright 16-year-old today.
Characterization, of the women at least, is rich and detailed, and Jaffe creates a picture of the energy, the possibilities, and the power of the city her characters have set out to conquer. There's an awful lot of boozing here, and all the characters smoke constantly â again, a reflection of the times and the social milieu of the setting. The outrageous sexual discrimination and harassment of the workplace is presented as perfectly normal and something one simply must learn to manage in order to survive. Still, for all the depth and quality of the writing itself, many of the situations are now sad clichés â the dissolute playboy, the philandering husband, the unwanted pregnancy, the emotionally abusive artiste. Contemporary reader may be forgiven for occasionally thinking (or even saying) âOh, for godsake, girl, dump this loser and get on with your life.â
For all that, the book is worth a read, if only as a measure of how far the feminist movement has come, and â given the immediate recognizability of many of the situations â of how far it still has to go.
Most of the men in the book are lecherous, cheating, abusive, and utterly oblivious to the emotional needs of the young women they wine and dine and bed (if at all possible), and the women, unfortunately, seem to have the collective savvy one might expect of a reasonably bright 16-year-old today.
Characterization, of the women at least, is rich and detailed, and Jaffe creates a picture of the energy, the possibilities, and the power of the city her characters have set out to conquer. There's an awful lot of boozing here, and all the characters smoke constantly â again, a reflection of the times and the social milieu of the setting. The outrageous sexual discrimination and harassment of the workplace is presented as perfectly normal and something one simply must learn to manage in order to survive. Still, for all the depth and quality of the writing itself, many of the situations are now sad clichés â the dissolute playboy, the philandering husband, the unwanted pregnancy, the emotionally abusive artiste. Contemporary reader may be forgiven for occasionally thinking (or even saying) âOh, for godsake, girl, dump this loser and get on with your life.â
For all that, the book is worth a read, if only as a measure of how far the feminist movement has come, and â given the immediate recognizability of many of the situations â of how far it still has to go.
