Audiobook read by the author.
3.5***

In 1918 Mary Oliver, the child of well-to-do and somewhat liberal parents and raised in Washington DC, goes to spend time with her uncle Troop Ross, and his wife Maureen, who is expecting her first child. They live in small town in North Carolina, on a property a little out of town. Mary quickly learns that Troop is a bully, keeping his wife isolated, belittling her concerns, and threatening to put her in an asylum if she doesn’t shape up. The Spanish influenza epidemic further isolates the women, but also strengthens their resolve.

I have been a fan of Gibbons’ writing since the 1990s. For a time, I was devouring every one of her books; and I’ve read several of them more than once. But somehow, I missed this book until now.

I like the way Gibbons writes her characters. There are some very unpleasant goings on, and much of it makes me in turns uncomfortable, despairing, and angry. I was rather irritated with Mary for a time, feeling that she was butting in where she had no business. But as it became clear how much control Troop exerted over Maureen, I began to cheer for Mary’s involvement. This is at a time when women had few rights on their own, and yet Mary refused to be cowed by her uncle. And her strength empowered Maureen to fight for the freedom and respect she was due. Brava, ladies!

Gibbons narrates the audiobook herself. I really did not like her performance at all. She showed little emotion and it seemed like a student reading aloud because she was required to do so. Only 1 star for her performance on the audio. I think I’ll pick this up again at a later date and read it in text format. ( )

Yet another winner by Kaye Gibbons ! ( )

Mary Oliver lives a free life in Washington, both a part of and outside society during the tumultous era of WWI and the Spanish Flu epidemic. Bored at home, while she waits for January and furthering her education, her mother elects to send her south to assist her Aunt Maureen as she gets ready to birth her first child. This is a surprising development, as the two sides of the family rarely have anything to do with another, Uncle Troop preferring to stew in jealousy and hate. When Mary finally arrives in North Carolina, she is disgusted by how she's her Uncle treats his wife and is determined to bring about a change.

Let me start by saying, that this author definitely captured my attention as soon as I picked up the book. While her writing skills aren't anything unique or special, she crafted an interesting historical novel that I wanted to keep reading. As the reader, I liked the characters she wanted me to like, I felt sympathy for those she wished me to, and thoroughly disliked those that were intended to be unlikable. The story itself was fairly straightforward, and went exactly where I thought it would, except for one very unexpected surprise. This novel was my first by the author, and I can already see myself picking up more by her when I need something easy to read. ( )

Talk about incohesive & improbable. In the same vein as Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall or Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Divining Women is the story of a woman's victory over her emotionally sadistic husband. Maureen, an expectant mother, is all but a reclusive and seeming hysteric after years of emotional battery and isolation, but awareness of her options enters when her young niece comes to be a companion to her in her last trimester.

First, what this book gets right. The setting with the backdrop of returning WWI vets and the Spanish flu epidemic is well done. Mary, the niece is a spunky character, but a bit hard to believe in.

The story is told through Mary's narration, but at times it goes off into preachy rambles about what a woman needs. This would have an excellent place for showing, not telling. In fact, the author had already done that through letters from self-realized women. But even those were on the preachy side and felt false. Here is where my incohesive verdict comes in.

As for improbable, Mary's free-thinking Washington family with their ghost hostel was a real stretch. All four of her grandparents live together, which of course reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Unlike Charlie's ancients though, Mary's are rich, but thrifty, a trait which incenses her brother who eventually kills himself because he can't have his every wish and first class tickets. The point of including this brother mystfies me. Is he there as a shadow for the abusive Troop Ross, indication of a family evil streak? But framed in Troop's study is a school report card which shows him as having more in common with his father than his mother, at least before is mother leaves his father because of his free-wheeling ways, free love and nudist retreats included.
Throughout the author paints Troop as a man emotionally crippled by his mother's hatefulness and control, so what is the point of the brother? And, come on, people do not kill themselves because they aren't granted every luxury. Okay, maybe they do, but really? Really? The snarky side of me says he is there to garner extra Southern gothic points.

The last two books I have read by Kaye Gibbons have been huge disappointments. She has an undeniable talent for telling the stories of women and girls who endure, and then overcome difficult situations, usually situations caused by a sadistic father or husband. In Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman she shows remarkable adeptness in establishing an enduring and authentic narrative voice. Sights Unseen is a powerful account as seen through the eyes of a daughter of the effect of a mother's bipolar disorder on her loving, but suffering family. However, Divining Women and The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster have such reaches into the unlikely and so many womens studies rambles that they lose their narrative power.

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Talk about incohesive & improbable. In the same vein as Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall or Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Divining Women is the story of a woman's victory over her emotionally sadistic husband. Maureen, an expectant mother, is all but a reclusive and seeming hysteric after years of emotional battery and isolation, but awareness of her options enters when her young niece comes to be a companion to her in her last trimester.

First, what this book gets right. The setting with the backdrop of returning WWI vets and the Spanish flu epidemic is well done. Mary, the niece is a spunky character, but a bit hard to believe in.

The story is told through Mary's narration, but at times it goes off into preachy rambles about what a woman needs. This would have an excellent place for showing, not telling. In fact, the author had already done that through letters from self-realized women. But even those were on the preachy side and felt false. Here is where my incohesive verdict comes in.

As for improbable, Mary's free-thinking Washington family with their ghost hostel was a real stretch. All four of her grandparents live together, which of course reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Unlike Charlie's ancients though, Mary's are rich, but thrifty, a trait which incenses her brother who eventually kills himself because he can't have his every wish and first class tickets. The point of including this brother mystfies me. Is he there as a shadow for the abusive Troop Ross, indication of a family evil streak? But framed in Troop's study is a school report card which shows him as having more in common with his father than his mother, at least before is mother leaves his father because of his free-wheeling ways, free love and nudist retreats included.
Throughout the author paints Troop as a man emotionally crippled by his mother's hatefulness and control, so what is the point of the brother? And, come on, people do not kill themselves because they aren't granted every luxury. Okay, maybe they do, but really? Really? The snarky side of me says he is there to garner extra Southern gothic points.

The last two books I have read by Kaye Gibbons have been huge disappointments. She has an undeniable talent for telling the stories of women and girls who endure, and then overcome difficult situations, usually situations caused by a sadistic father or husband. In Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman she shows remarkable adeptness in establishing an enduring and authentic narrative voice. Sights Unseen is a powerful account as seen through the eyes of a daughter of the effect of a mother's bipolar disorder on her loving, but suffering family. However, Divining Women and The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster have such reaches into the unlikely and so many womens studies rambles that they lose their narrative power.

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