The Calamity Club, by Kathryn Stockett
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The Calamity Club
by
by
Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)
The paths of two protagonists, a twenty-four year old woman and an eleven year old girl, are followed in this novel as they do what they have to do in order to survive in the midst of the 1930s depression in Oxford, Mississippi. Their two paths intersect for only a week and a half period as their stories are told in alternating first person narratives, but their stories include many overlapping sets of characters that bring depression era Mississippi to life.
This is a big novel (656 pages, 28 hrs and 44 mins audio) informed by sufficient historical research to make note of some social and political realities of the time that now appear to be barbaric. Not only are the economic hardships caused by the depression portrayed, but also included is the injustice of arrest and enforced sterilization of women who are judged to be feeble minded because they’re poor. Homosexuality is considered to be a disease and treatments for its cure are accepted medical practice. Other social issues touched upon by the book includes alcoholism, child labor, and cruel care of orphans masquerading as charity.
One of the two major plot lines involves women doing what they need to do in order to survive, and they use their one power bestowed upon them by nature, they open a brothel. I was put off by this direction of the story at first, but I now perceive it to an honest portrayal of the era that puts a human face on the female characters dealing with the hypocritical double standards of the time. It was almost comical how prostitution and illegal liquor sales were tolerated, but any hint of miscegenation would bring down the long arm of the law. All those things were illegal, but consorting of the races was the one treated as a serous felony.
On the subject of race I should mention that the main characters in this novel are white. There are black characters involved peripherally, but not as centrally as the author’s previous book, The Help.
The real charmer of a character in the book is the precocious eleven-year-old child who is left as an orphan because her mother is swept off the streets for being a feeble minded poor person. In the midst of the most hostile environment this young girl carries on with real pluck. This character is what truly makes this book a joy to read.
This is a big novel (656 pages, 28 hrs and 44 mins audio) informed by sufficient historical research to make note of some social and political realities of the time that now appear to be barbaric. Not only are the economic hardships caused by the depression portrayed, but also included is the injustice of arrest and enforced sterilization of women who are judged to be feeble minded because they’re poor. Homosexuality is considered to be a disease and treatments for its cure are accepted medical practice. Other social issues touched upon by the book includes alcoholism, child labor, and cruel care of orphans masquerading as charity.
One of the two major plot lines involves women doing what they need to do in order to survive, and they use their one power bestowed upon them by nature, they open a brothel. I was put off by this direction of the story at first, but I now perceive it to an honest portrayal of the era that puts a human face on the female characters dealing with the hypocritical double standards of the time. It was almost comical how prostitution and illegal liquor sales were tolerated, but any hint of miscegenation would bring down the long arm of the law. All those things were illegal, but consorting of the races was the one treated as a serous felony.
On the subject of race I should mention that the main characters in this novel are white. There are black characters involved peripherally, but not as centrally as the author’s previous book, The Help.
The real charmer of a character in the book is the precocious eleven-year-old child who is left as an orphan because her mother is swept off the streets for being a feeble minded poor person. In the midst of the most hostile environment this young girl carries on with real pluck. This character is what truly makes this book a joy to read.
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