Book Blurb – The Book Class by Louis Auchincloss

(As I believe I’ve mentioned before, I am an Insider on BookBub Buzz – if you don’t know it, check it out. It’s a great resource for quick and dirty reviews, recommendations, and links to books. I post there regularly – much more so than on here, since those are a lot shorter and easier/faster to write than full-on posts. This is one of those. I know I owe you a real post, but today’s a snow day – life, in the form of weather, keeps interfering with my plans…)

“If there is any significant difference between the sexes, it may be that a woman can talk as she listens, while a man hears only himself.”

I am loving this one!! Found it quite by accident at the library (was looking for Paul Auster, this was next door) and started it this morning… Witty, snarky, wry, and full of delightful characters – Auchincloss captures a moment in time and society with wit and aplomb. I looked up reviews – he’s gotten some “why didn’t he write THIS instead” comments, slamming him for “only” talking about the upper class when he claimed to be writing a book about women. To me, this is ridiculous feedback – it’s fiction, he wrote what he knew (he was, after all, a hereditary Vanderbilt as well as a Beauvoir step-brother!), and this is the book he chose to write. I think he does a marvelous job presenting a snapshot of lives of society women in early-to-mid 1900s Manhattan – warts and all. The book is a loving homage to the strength these women brought to bear – despite appearances, no one’s life is perfect or without flaw, sadness, or discontent (at least not at times), and Auchincloss does a very good job at pointing this out with humor and delicacy… I can’t wait to look up his other novels now!