A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

Rating:
Summary: The character is more interesting than the author's opinion
Review: Linda Green is a fascinating person. Her story is unique, yet she is a microcismfor millions of women, especially those who came of age during the late 60's and early 70's. Yet I wished again and again that Susan Cheever would, well, shut up. She repeatedly interrupted her involving and well-written narrative to impose her own biased opinion. Ms. Cheever would have served her own feminist purposes better by telling Ms. Green's story and allowing her readers to draw their own conclusions about men, women, and relationships. I found Ms. Cheever's observations to be very limited in viewpoint.. For example, she laments Ms. Green's sacrifice of life in the big city as a woman's sacrifice, forgetting that it was actually Ms. Green who wanted to leave there. She emphasizes Ms. Green's services to the household and her "right" to take time off work, without any corresponding respect for the husband's contributions and needs. (By the way, I am a woman and a feminist.) But overall, it was an enjoying, thought provoking read, that would have been even more so had we learned even more about Linda and somewhat less about Susan!