As I often am when I'm a part of any in-person book club, I am a bit behind. I'm still in the first half of the book, but it's reminding me of the experience I had when I first read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, in that I kind of think "oh, I've read a bunch of books like this" but then I realize that this one was the first to do it, or at least the first high-profile success, and everything I've read was heavily influenced by this original. You are not wrong about some of the language, particularly around homophobia, it is really jarring. The portrayal of Helen Lawson is also kind of gross, as far as her age, but there's a fair bit of internalized misogyny through the whole thing. That said, it is SO compelling! I'm finding myself reading it on the bus, at lunch, during downtime, whenever I can. I can see why it was a best seller for so long!
As I often am when I'm a part of any in-person book club, I am a bit behind. I'm still in the first half of the book, but it's reminding me of the experience I had when I first read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, in that I kind of think "oh, I've read a bunch of books like this" but then I realize that this one was the first to do it, or at least the first high-profile success, and everything I've read was heavily influenced by this original. You are not wrong about some of the language, particularly around homophobia, it is really jarring. The portrayal of Helen Lawson is also kind of gross, as far as her age, but there's a fair bit of internalized misogyny through the whole thing. That said, it is SO compelling! I'm finding myself reading it on the bus, at lunch, during downtime, whenever I can. I can see why it was a best seller for so long!