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Spinster

Making a Life of One's Own
sniktaws
Feb 02, 2018sniktaws rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
Kate Bolick’s book, Spinster, is a coming of age memoir about a white, privileged young woman born in 1972 who has yet to lead a particularly remarkable or interesting life distinct from the times she lives in, seeking permission to be creative. Overall, there is a disconnect between title and content. The book is slow to develop and I patiently waited for the “spinster” parts to arrive. By the time any discussion does arrive, the book is almost over and the topic not discussed in any depth; flat and superficial observations are given instead, often missing any valid point. The historical passages focusing on 19th and 20th c. women writers/editors/essayists/journalists including her mother are far more interesting than her life narrative. Her reasons for connecting with these women are not based on any maritable/unmaritable state. It’s hard and scary to put your creative acts out in public: to her credit Bolick can write with a fresh and breezy style to describe the things she knows well (geographical locations, friends and family) plus there is the occasional pithy “sound bite”. In contrast, her writing is hilarious in parts because of her naiveté with being alone, seeking independence, or understanding the inherent conditions of being unmarried - odd observations for a review on a memoir of someone claiming to be a spinster. On the whole, this is a “more fluff than stuff” book. Skip it and instead, read the biographies of truly interesting women deserving to know, or other, more fully reasoned and explored writings within the women’s studies genre, including on "spinsters".