Rating: 
Summary: All American Dreams
Review: A coming of age novel, brings the story of Marjorie Morningstar, an aspiring actress, to life. After being thrown into the dark world of theatre, Marjorie's life changes forever. There Marjorie meets Noel Airman, the man of her dreams. No matter what Marjorie did she could not seem to get Noel to marry her, so Marjorie put aside her now seemingly childish dreams of acting, and got a job working for her father. To sail across the Atlantic Ocean to get Noel back once and for all, Marjorie saved money as rapidly as she could with her new job. Wouk's unique writing style keeps the plot moving with great intensity and his vivid descriptions delight the mind with lively imagery. Wouk's character development makes the story more believable, because the character's problems are true to life and Marjorie changes as she grows up in the ten year span of the novel. This story will pleasure readers for years to come with Marjorie's charm, wit and zest for acting, while following the All American Dreams.
Rating: 
Summary: the double standard was alive and well!
Review: I first read "Marjorie Morningstar" as a teenager in 1971. I thought it was beautifully written, but was shocked that Marjorie was made to feel so guilty over having ONE sexual affair before marriage--and with a man that she loved, too!
The double standard may have been prevalent in the 1930's, but I doubt if ALL women who had sex before marriage were as guilt-ridden as Marjorie! That's why I love the chapters where she is at the theatrical camp. She meets other young women who are having affairs with boyfriends, and they are too busy enjoying their lives to feel guilty. Too bad she wasn't the same way.
The novel is well-written, athough the major focus is on Marjorie's desire for sex--and her shame and guilt over feeling such a normal, natural desire. When I discovered this book in 1971, virginity before marriage was already an outdated belief and now, it still remains outdated! If birth control pills had been around in the early and mid-1930's, perhaps Marjorie could have had a few blissful love affairs without all the shame! Yet---the men in the novel, including the handsome and debonaire Noel Airman, were allowed to be as sexually free as they desired, without the shame and guilt. However, Noel IS punished for his wicked ways by ending up as a miserable aging bohemian who never found happiness.
In the 1970's, I also read "The Winds of War," another bestselling novel by Herman Wouk. By the time he wrote this one, Wouk had obviously changed his views regarding females and sex. THIS novel's main character, Natalie, was a single woman in the early 1940's having a love affair--but without ANY of the guilt or shame that poor Marjorie had to suffer through!
I was angry that Marjorie described herself as "damaged goods" because of her affair with Noel. And the ending--where Marjorie is a gray-haired, grandmotherly-looking matron at age 39---yes, 39!--is extremely depressing.
Rating:
Summary: A "True" Work.
Review: I have read most of Wouk's books, and this ranks among my favorites. I, in turns, could identify with Marjorie (as "la Morningstar")--the aspirer; her mother-- the commonsensensical one; her paramour (Noel)--the dreamer, and Marjorie S_______--the realist... making them very alive in my mind.The title character starts off this book at age 17 with the dream of being an actress, much to the dismay of her "orthodox" Jewish parents...who would prefer to see her settle down with a nice Jewish boy and...well, there you go! We see throughout how Marjorie steps outside of the family conventions, simultaneously agonizing and rationalizing along the way. The ending is not entirely romantic in an escapist sense, but "true". It's true of the social mores of the time period in which this is set, and it's true of the characters themselves. As stated by many other reviewers, it could end no other way. This book--and any novel--is not and SHOULD NOT BE a lesson in Political Correctness re: women and careers vs. having a family!! Books should be true to the character development, and that's what we see here. If Marjorie Morgenstern had turned out the way she wanted to at 17, that would've been a real tragedy. Read and see!
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: I'm not the typical reader for this kind of book. As a 22-year-old male who picked up this book because free copies of it were avaiable at my Hillel, I expected this book to be at best an acceptable, mindless read for dentists' visits, at worst dated drivel. But MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR changed a lot of the way I viewed the world. Many reviewers have commented on how MORNINGSTAR shows how different social mores were back in the "dark days" of the 1930s. But a closer examination of this book shows that the book is really a defense, and a fairly eloquent one, of those mores. As a young girl, Marjorie tries to reject the values of her Jewish upbringing, including its emphasis on modesty, because "after all, this is 1935". But by the end of the book, Marjorie learns that the sophisticated, "modern" people she has tried to emulate are, in their own way, just as hypocritical, unforgiving, and superstitious as the religious world of her parents. In the end, Marjorie returns to her tradition--at least, this is my take on this--because that tradition at least tries to make her into something good, instead of just into someone who sneers at the "unsophisticated". Feminists probably hate this book; indeed, there's a Jewish organization called the Morning Star Commission that fights media stereotypes of Jewish women, and takes its name from Marjorie Morningstar. But in reality, Marjorie is not a stereotype. She is a vibrant, vivacious, ambitious person who finally learns that the desire for goodness and decency is not a superstition. If anything, Noel Airman, the boyfriend who quotes Freud at every opportunity, who is a true stereotype. In addition to being (finally!) a book that allows religion and tradition to win out in their alleged war with modernity, MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR is just a damned good read. Wouk's style and precision are evident on every page.
Rating:
Summary: Marjorie Morningstar
Review: Marjorie Morningstar...The title of Herman Wouk's book makes me smile, and as I remember the vivid characters that live inside this book, I smile again. This is a bittersweet tale of youth, love, the stage, and New York at the beginning of World War II. It sounds like a simple story, an upper-middle class Jewish girl in New York, her struggles to become a stage actress and to separate from her oppressive parents who are deeply settled in the protocols of their faith. Yet, as Marjorie's life unfolds on the pages of this book, we fall in love with not only Marjorie, but the wonderful cast of characters who make up her life. Marjorie Morningstar should be listed as one of the greatest books of the past century and I urge anyone who is interested in great writing by a master craftsman to read this much-cherished novel.
Rating:
Summary: An American Treasure
Review: Marjorie Morningstar...The title of Herman Wouk's novel makes me smile, and as I remember the vivid characters that live inside this book, I smile again. This is a bittersweet tale of youth, love, the stage, and New York at the beginning of World War II. It sounds like a simple story, an upper-middle class Jewish girl in New York, her struggles to become a stage actress and to separate from her oppressive parents who are deeply settled in the protocols of their faith. Yet, as Marjorie's life unfolds on the pages of this book, we fall in love with not only Marjorie, but the wonderful cast of characters who make up her life. Marjorie Morningstar should be listed as one of the greatest books of the past century and I urge anyone who is interested in great writing by a master craftsman to read this much-cherished novel.
Rating:
Summary: the double standard was alive and well!
Review: Not often does a book come along that chronicles the experience and events of a fictional character's life so intricately, that you feel as if your family photo album is just not complete without a picture of that person. That, in a nutshell, is Marjorie Morningstar. Written by an author whom I consider to be one of the very best to come out of the 20th century, Herman Wouk offers a window into the soul of a young female actress growing up in New York City in the pre-World War II era. There, we vicariously live through the life of young Marjorie, her conservative Jewish parents, her comical Yiddish uncle, and her painstaking trials and tribulations in dealing with the elusive concept of love. But what makes this book so unique and wonderfully rich is that Wouk has made this novel a timeless classic, in that the themes which were prevalent back in the 30's are still alive and vibrant today. The overbearing "we-know-what's-best" parental figures. The embarrassing relatives. The ethnic cultural rules and traditions that clash so vehemently with American mainstream. After half a century when this book was first published, the it continues to hold a firm grasp on the ideology of what comprises the American family structure today. Wouk has masterfully penned a novel about a young woman that erases the boundaries of religion, location, and era. Through Marjorie, he writes about human nature, our fears, our aspirations, and our beliefs. I first read this book 10 years ago, and after many readings I continue to discover new things about the characters, and myself. It is treasure, and simply put, a literary masterpiece. What are you waiting for? Go read it.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Coming-of-Age Book for Young Women
Review: Perhaps the best line of this novel comes in the final section as author Herman Wouk takes a satiric poke at himself and says of his title character, "You couldn't write a play about her that would run a week, or a novel that would sell a thousand copies. There's no angle." Of course, the angle is that Marjorie Morningstar is every girl who ever dreamed a dream, who aspired to a great career, and wanted to marry the love of her life. As a reader, I was caught up in her life when I first met her at age 17 till the book's closing when 39-year old Marjorie kisses life-long friend Wally goodbye. I was thrilled to be a part of her life at her graduation from Hunter College, at the hysterically funny yet religiously insightful Seder, at the thrilling summer stock camp known as Southwind, and at every step of her tumultuous love affair with Noel Airman. From the heights of Central Park West to the seedy walk-up apartment in Paris, the reader is swept into Marjorie's life as she chases her dream to become not only a Broadway star but also Noel's wife. Wouk has surrounded her with a remarkably well-drawn cast of supporting characters including her unforgettable Uncle Samson-Aaron, her sometimes friend Marsha, her loving but bewildered parents, and Mike Eden, the friend who forces her to look at her Jewish heritage. Beginning in Central Park West in the 30's and ending in the post-war 50's, "Marjorie Morningstar" is a classic coming-of-age book filled with backstage drama, family clashes, and a love affair you will never forget. You will be thoroughly engrossed in Marjorie's search for identity and her realization that the thing we often try hardest to avoid is that which we truly want most of all.
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING
Review: Simply the novel I compare all novels with. (Not one has ever come close) I don't usually write any reviews, but I figured this time I should. The story of Marjorie Morningstar is extraordinary. I cried and laughed. I fell in love with every character in this coming of age story. This is the only novel, in which I have read more than twice. This is a must read
Rating:
Summary: A big, old-fashioned page turner
Review: This Herman Wouk classic remains new and fresh even on re-reading many years later. It's the story of an exceptionally pretty and confident young Jewish woman during the 30's, solidly middle class, but burdened with just enough imagination to dream of something more than a nice young doctor and a house in the suburbs. The portrayal of the sexual mores of that time is wonderful--young women date madly, rarely form any kind of connection with the men in their lives, and spend a great deal of energy avoiding the fate worse than death--losing one's virginity before marriage. Marjorie's rebellion is relatively brief but intense--she falls in love with the mercurial Noel Airman who has himself rejected his own borgeoise background, pursues an acting career vigorously but unsuccessfully, and even does the forbidden--has sex before marriage.
We're rooting for Marjorie to truly break out and be different, but it doesn't happen. After realizing that Noel isn't the one after all, she meets her man and marries, and adopts the conventional life, but not without paying a price for her youthful flings. Noel too pays a price, of a different sort--the genius is finally unmasked, and ends up in as conventional a situation as Marjorie.
From the perspective of a 21st century professional woman who came of age in the 70's, it's hard to believe how much has changed in just a few decades. Was it really like this? was the double standard really so iron clad?
Wouk was a great writer--this is not serious literature but it's several cuts above the mass market stuff churned out today. Wouk was also extremely versatile--who can forget "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance." My book club occasionally goes back to read some of these oldies but goodies and we're never disappointed--try it sometime!
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