A Woman of Independent Means

Rating:
Summary: A Model Guide for Women of all Ages
Review: I have read and re-read this book over the years, and again this summer found it in my Beach Pack. For any age, EFH has produced a kind, gentle view of life as a woman who grew up knowing her place in the world, and yet being able to go beyond what her times would have expected of a woman. It is very much like finding old letters in a trunk, and I came to think of the writer as a matron of her times, giving to herself and all women the understanding that taking care of one's self, being able to be truly independent, is a key to freedom in every sense. Read it ladies. I read it at 20 and 30, and it reads just as well into the 40s and 50s. My mother's good friend in her 70s came upon it on my bookshelf, and it has become her favorite book of all times. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Classic...Timeless..Wonderful.
Review: I just finished this book, of which I could not put down for a moment. It is an excellent read! I cried several times throughout the book. I was amazed by this woman, Bess. She was the obvious life-force behind her marriage and family. She always asked questions and made comments about life that were ahead of its time...classic...timeless! She was such a progressive thinker for her time.
The letters spanned from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1940s. Time and time again she surprised me with her observations and decisions: We should just do, instead of waiting for something to happen, since the future is unknown. She commented about philosophical concepts that many of us ponder today. Her thoughts on children-rearing were so refreshing too; that we shouldn?t lose ourselves in our children; that raising children doesn't necessarily mean one has to make it her sole occupation.
Her perception of life was so positive, even in the face of so many unbelievable tragedies. She treated death like an enemy, which forced her to live her life to the fullest. A very interesting, positive, way to look at things, especially in an age where a lot of us have become complacent about death. Her question about why society expects us to spend our lifetime of experiences with one person, is one that I'm sure many of us ask ourselves today! She sees the complexities of people and of life in general, which makes her so understanding, and so tolerant. Even her subtle way of introducing social change is brilliant, leaving a lasting impression. It was inspiring to read those letters, and reminded me of how important writing is...so much more thought goes into words when one writes them down. The written word can often be so much more powerful than words which are spoken.
It occurred to me that this book was written in 1978, which may explain why there's so much progressive thought here. However, history shows us that many women felt the way Bess felt. It was so thrilling for me to read these letters, imagining the setting of America in the 20s, 30s and 40s.
Most importantly though, I believed in this character. I felt for her deeply and her letters really moved me. Her life was astonishing...a wonderful read. I would recommend this book to every mother, daughter, grandmother...and every father, son and grandfather for that matter!

Rating:
Summary: Still terrific after all these years
Review: I read A WOMAN OF INDEPENDENT MEANS when it first was published, and it stayed with me for all these years.

When I recently re-read the book, I found its message timeless. In part because the novel always was a period piece, it doesn't show any age.

The heroine, Bess, could be a model for all women. Yet she also proves (if one needs proof) how empowering money can be. Because she is written as, indeed, "a woman of independent means," she has an easier time making life choices than those who are not independent would have--and this was even more true in the era in which the story is set.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey's structure of letters is amazing. To have told such a complicated story only in the form of correspondence is a feat rarely matched. In fact, I think that Sandra Dallas's novel THE DIARY OF MATTIE SPENSER, in which an equally complicated story unfolds in diary entries, is the only challenger for this kind of technique.

Read this! Bess will become your friend forevermore.

Rating:
Summary: A must read for both sexes!
Review: This is quite simply an amazing book. It follows one woman's entire life through the letters that she writes to others. This woman is not always a role model, not always nice, but always human. She lives, suffers, triumphs, expresses opinions and evolves as we read on. I have recommended this book to my friends, parents and boyfriend and all have loved it! Insightful, inspiring, a look into one woman's ordinary life. A must-read!

Rating:
Summary: More than a Woman of Substance...
Review: This was one of the first books I reviewed for the Pulaski Magazine Club after a series of dull travel books. Centering around the life of a strong, out-spoken woman (to whom I could most certainly identify) with an invincible spirit and no modesty in her letters to "everyone."

Written in the form of letters, though it comes through much more like a diary, it spans more than half a century. Beginning as a child in 1899 from Texas to June, 1968, in Dallas, these letters relate the tranquility and lack of opportunities in a small town to the turbulence in the city.

Bess Stead Barner had a vivid personality backed with the strength and energy of a vibrant woman ahead of her time. It is an intimate account of one woman's life which surely touches the lives of all who share it, and also those who read it.

In our Club, the reviewer had thirty minutes in which to explain the book without giving details; we were to induce a thirst from the members to read the book themselves. At the time, I was the youngest member and very impressionable; I'd just started telling how this writer brought these people to life so that you felt you knew them and barely into my prepared review when the timekeeper said, "five minutes," which meant I had to wrap up in a tidy manner ASAP.

I was quite rattled as I had so much to tell about Bess and felt denied my 'time' in which to do it. The timekeeper that day was a friend of mine, an old-maid college librarian who has a tendency to nod off and lose count of the time. My other friend in the Club at the time was a college English teacher who told me later that 'Miss Barnes' really didn't know how long I had been talking and cut me short by some 10-15 minutes. Oh well, the value of experience.

I'll keep this one short. But this is one book which influenced me and my life to go on to do things a hard-headed, high-spirited young (now older) woman could do but probably shouldn't.