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A review by teresatumminello
The Odd Women by George Gissing
4.0
”So many odd women—no making a pair with them.”
Before I read this book, I thought of only one meaning of the word “odd”: strange, unusual. The sentence above from Chapter IV brought to focus another meaning. If there are “half a million more women than men” in England and their main purpose is to be married off, what is there to do with the left-overs?—the so-called woman question.
Rhoda Dunn is determined to train the many women who are fit for it. She wishes the workforce of females, those barely surviving on low wages in menial jobs, would, instead of “creeping to their garrets and hospitals” to die were dying “of hunger in the streets” for the “crowd to stare at,” though she admits the crowd “might only congratulate each other that a few of the superfluous females had been struck off.”
With this novel’s irony and humor, I thought of [a:George Meredith|12222|George Meredith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1228520584p2/12222.jpg]’s [b:The Ordeal of Richard Feverel|20708|The Ordeal of Richard Feverel|George Meredith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386925723l/20708._SY75_.jpg|407516] (1859), a novel satirizing the ridiculousness of social mores. In the tense relationship between Rhoda and Everard, as well as with a young woman’s marriage to an older man, I was reminded of [a:Constance Fenimore Woolson|182611|Constance Fenimore Woolson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383608610p2/182611.jpg]’s [b:East Angels|21079237|East Angels|Constance Fenimore Woolson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394240132l/21079237._SY75_.jpg|13487769] (1886).
I’d read Gissing’s [b:New Grub Street|782519|New Grub Street|George Gissing|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414700331l/782519._SY75_.jpg|768534] (1891) years ago and, though it is relentlessly depressing a la [a:Émile Zola|4750|Émile Zola|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544927603p2/4750.jpg], I loved it. This Gissing of two years later is not depressing, though sad things do happen. The novel references the occupations deemed fit for a woman because they are the ones men hold in contempt. It mentions the use of religion by “most men” as an “instrument for directing the female conscience.” Much of it feels relevant still.
Before I read this book, I thought of only one meaning of the word “odd”: strange, unusual. The sentence above from Chapter IV brought to focus another meaning. If there are “half a million more women than men” in England and their main purpose is to be married off, what is there to do with the left-overs?—the so-called woman question.
Rhoda Dunn is determined to train the many women who are fit for it. She wishes the workforce of females, those barely surviving on low wages in menial jobs, would, instead of “creeping to their garrets and hospitals” to die were dying “of hunger in the streets” for the “crowd to stare at,” though she admits the crowd “might only congratulate each other that a few of the superfluous females had been struck off.”
With this novel’s irony and humor, I thought of [a:George Meredith|12222|George Meredith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1228520584p2/12222.jpg]’s [b:The Ordeal of Richard Feverel|20708|The Ordeal of Richard Feverel|George Meredith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386925723l/20708._SY75_.jpg|407516] (1859), a novel satirizing the ridiculousness of social mores. In the tense relationship between Rhoda and Everard, as well as with a young woman’s marriage to an older man, I was reminded of [a:Constance Fenimore Woolson|182611|Constance Fenimore Woolson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383608610p2/182611.jpg]’s [b:East Angels|21079237|East Angels|Constance Fenimore Woolson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394240132l/21079237._SY75_.jpg|13487769] (1886).
I’d read Gissing’s [b:New Grub Street|782519|New Grub Street|George Gissing|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414700331l/782519._SY75_.jpg|768534] (1891) years ago and, though it is relentlessly depressing a la [a:Émile Zola|4750|Émile Zola|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544927603p2/4750.jpg], I loved it. This Gissing of two years later is not depressing, though sad things do happen. The novel references the occupations deemed fit for a woman because they are the ones men hold in contempt. It mentions the use of religion by “most men” as an “instrument for directing the female conscience.” Much of it feels relevant still.