The Boston Girl
Ratings17
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings17
Average rating3.4
Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie's intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can't imagine -- a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love. Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her "How did you get to be the woman you are today." She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naive girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
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This charming novel was a quick read, but unfortunately, lacked much substance. It would be great for young adults who like historical fiction but have outgrown the “American Girl” series. As an adult reader, however, I was left wanting more from the juvenile storytelling.
The story is narrated by an octogenarian telling her granddaughter about the life events that shaped the woman she became. The book seemed well-researched and had a positive “girl power” type message. Despite the era the narrator/heroine grew up in she resisted marrying young! She had a career! She sought fulfillment outside of child rearing!
Despite generally enjoying the easy read, I had two major qualms. First, there were a ridiculous amount of writing errors in the hardback edition I read, including multiple missing or repeated words (i.e. “she picked up she the pail”). It actually became distracting when there were 3 errors in approximately 5 pages of text. Second, in what was supposed to be a 300 page life history, the 85 year old narrator devoted 250+ pages to ~1908 - 1928. The remaining pages covered her marriage, the birth of her daughters, the death of her husband and friends, and the birth of her granddaughters with about 1 paragraph per topic.
Overall, a great recommendation for a 12-15 year old girl. Maybe a bit weak for adult readers, especially those used to more robust historical fiction.
I liked this book, but is what I would consider a “plane read.” Something I would pick up at the airport bookstore if I needed something tender but a little mindless to get me through a flight. I finished it in just over a day - not because it was too good to put down, but because it was a quick read. The story was nice enough, and I did enjoy that it takes place in Boston so I could compare what the city was like then vs. now. But there was little depth, and the writing, while good, was nothing that knocked me out. I left it in my hotel room to make space in my carry-on. Maybe the next person who picks it up will enjoy it a bit more.
