Book Review: Spinster by Kate Bolick/ Social Science-Feminism/ Published in 2015

Hello dear Readers,

Below, my book review of Spinster by Kate Bolick. 

Title: Spinster 

Genre: Social Science-Feminism

Author: Kate Bolick

Publisher: Crown

Language: English

Hardcover: 308 pages

Book Description

So begins Spinster, a revelatory and slyly erudite look at the pleasures and possibilities of remaining single. Using her own experiences as a starting point, journalist and cultural critic Kate Bolick invites us into her carefully considered, passionately lived life, weaving together the past and present to examine why­ she—along with over 100 million American women, whose ranks keep growing—remains unmarried.

This unprecedented demographic shift, Bolick explains, is the logical outcome of hundreds of years of change that has neither been fully understood, nor appreciated. Spinster introduces a cast of pioneering women from the last century whose genius, tenacity, and flair for drama have emboldened Bolick to fashion her life on her own terms: columnist Neith Boyce, essayist Maeve Brennan, social visionary Charlotte Perkins Gilman, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, and novelist Edith Wharton. By animating their unconventional ideas and choices, Bolick shows us that contemporary debates about settling down, and having it all, are timeless—the crucible upon which all thoughtful women have tried for centuries to forge a good life.

Intellectually substantial and deeply personal, Spinster is both an unreservedly inquisitive memoir and a broader cultural exploration that asks us to acknowledge the opportunities within ourselves to live authentically. Bolick offers us a way back into our own lives—a chance to see those splendid years when we were young and unencumbered, or middle-aged and finally left to our own devices, for what they really are: unbounded and our own to savor.

My thoughts

*I gave 4/5 stars on Goodreads

For being the first book I read on its type, Social Science, Feminism, Feminism Theory, Spinster was an enjoyable read. However after finishing it, it was not what I was expecting it to be. After reading the title and the description of this book, I was expecting it to be about a woman staying single for life, either by choice or because she has to. I expected it to be about the pros and cons of being a single person in this world we are living. I expected it to be about spinsterhood, about not having a partner in life. It is not that I did not like the book, it is just that I was expecting something else. What I feel I got was the author's kind of memoir on her own social and dating life, and she talks a lot about these five women that serve as her role models in life. I did not feel the book touches the subject the title is intended for: Spinster. Have to say though, her opening line "Whom to marry, and when it will happen-these two questions define every woman's existence", is a very powerful and interesting line because in one way or another, when you read that line it makes you think about it, about being single or wanting to be married. It makes you question it. Something else I liked about the book is the author's writing style, it is a book easy to read and enjoyable, just not the story that the title suggests it will be about.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review".

My Favorite Quote

""Whom to marry, and when it will happen-these two questions define every woman's existence".

Wen