Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge

Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge is a novelization of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. The novel was originally published and won the Whitbread Prize in 1996.  Europa Editions reissued it in 2012 on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

Bainbridge tells the story of the tragic voyage of the Titanic through the eyes of Morgan, a young man who was the nephew of industrialist J.P. Morgan. Morgan boards the ship as one of the self-centered idle rich. Though he mixes with these shallow "bright young things," Morgan seems to have a conscience and is the focus of a modest coming of age story line.

The book is primarily character driven, but I had a hard time caring about any of the characters. Even Morgan seemed hard to cozy up to and I found him to be the most sympathetic character out of the bunch. Every Man for Himself is a shallow look at the shallow lives of very wealthy first-class passengers on a ship we already know will sink. Steerage class passengers hardly note a mention as though not worth the paper and ink. This baffled me until I wondered if Bainbridge was employing subtle irony. I'm still not sure if the author was using a clever device to make a point or not. Those who are more familiar with her writing might be able to enlighten me.

Very little happens until the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink. The drama and horror, the terrible loss of life that was the sinking of the Titanic is wrapped up in the last 35 pages of a 201 page book. This hurried ending does impart a frantic and chaotic note that was surely a part of those last hours, but there is no character redemption or reflective commentary involved. The shallow characters never cease to be shallow and continue to idle away their last hours in various self-indulgent states. The reader is never focused on any one scene for too long during these last pages, as though confused by the chaos and noise. Perhaps this too was intended by the author to make a point, but it fell flat for me. I honestly didn't care if any of the characters survived or not and that seems important to me in a character driven story.

I really had high expectations for this book. These were mostly based on various comments about the author's skill as a writer that I came across in reviews and other write ups prior to reading the novel. Again, the book is not bad, but it failed to make much of an impact.

TSS | A Tribute to the Online Book Community

If you're like me, it's hard to juggle the many commitments and interests of life. There is so much I need and want to do! The last few years it has been challenging for me to remain engaged with the book community through my blog and my YouTube (BookTube) channel. The point of social media is, well, to be social and disappearing for long periods of time isn't very social.

The lovely thing about the online book community is that this group of people have long memories and are very forgiving of the transitions in the lives of other members. Even with my spotty participation, there is always a core of book bloggers and vloggers that welcome me back with open arms.

Thank you so much to those that have continued to hang around and leave me comment love (you know who you are!) and to those who silently continue to visit. I really do love this group. It is a fantastic place to learn new things and share our thoughts with each other. Know that you are appreciated, *smile*.

The Sunday Salon is a weekly virtual get together where readers share thoughts about their reading. We write about books and reading on our own blogs and then visit and chat with other saloners through the comments feature.

Video | Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut

Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut was a nice play on the tale of Bluebeard and a commentary on art and art movements. I really enjoyed this book. The book is a satire on art movements, but Vonnegut's barbed wit was moderated and he even brought a bit of sweetness to the story.

(You may need to click through to view the video if you are using a reader.)

Video | #FridayReads April 18, 2014

What I'm reading this weekend:

Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Poems by Tennyson (for National Poetry Month)

(If you are reading this in a reader, you may need to link through to the video.)

 

Video | Thoughts on Feminism and Dorothy Sayers

I have decided to try and resurrect my YouTube channel and so have created a video version of my written review of  the Dorothy Sayers essay, "Are Women Human?" It is mostly a rather rambling repeat, but hey, some of you seem to like watching these things!

You can find me on YouTube as MsTerriB http://www.youtube.com/user/msterrib

(If you are reading this in a reader, you may need to click through to my blog in order to view the video.)

Are Women Human? by Dorothy Sayers

I've long admired Dorothy Sayers' writing and knew right away that I would be reading one of her essays for The Classics Club event Feminist Literature in March. I'm going to be up front and honest with you: I don't define myself as a feminist. I don't define myself as a feminist mostly because I don't find the label particularly helpful nor clearly defined. I also tend to get tetchy if someone asks me for a woman's point of view about something. More often than not, the term "feminism" is polarizing when it doesn't need to be and I find that there are as many points of view as there are women. Ask me about my point of view on a particular topic and I will tell you my point of view on that topic. Sometimes my point of view will be recognizable as feminist, but other times it will not. I don't fit easily nor completely into most categories and I'm guessing most people do not.

Now that I've sent you all running for the hills, let me tell you a little bit about Dorothy Sayers and her essay, "Are Women Human?" Dorothy Sayers was one of the first women to graduate from Oxford University. She did not devote her time to talking or writing about feminism, but instead lived her life doing the work for which she was suited whether or not society understood her choices as feminine.

"Are Women Human?" is an address given to a Women's Society in 1938 and is one of the few times that Sayers wrote on the nature and function of women. In this essay, she puts forth her position on women with honesty and wit. Just look at the essay title and you'll get a taste of that sharp edged humor. As far as Sayers is concerned, "male" and "female" are adjectives qualifying the noun "human being," and as Mary McDermott Shideler says in her introduction, "the substantive governs the modifier." We are human beings first and foremost. This is not to make light of the difficulties experienced by women. Sayers was, after all, one of the first women to graduate from Oxford University. I would imagine that she faced many challenges as a woman in that environment, yet she felt that she was suited to the type of work in that environment and lived it out in spite of the difficulties. I can just about hear her say that life is full of difficulties.

What Sayers most wanted was to be reckoned as an individual person and not always as a member of a class. "A certain amount of classification is, of course, necessary for practical purposes… [but] [w]hat is unreasonable and irritating is to assume that all one's tastes and preferences have to be conditioned by the class to which one belongs. That has been the very common error into which men have frequently fallen about women -- and it is the error into which feminist women are, perhaps, a little inclined to fall about themselves."

I believe that Sayers' position fits into the spirit of feminism. She clearly believed in a woman's right to participate fully in the world however that woman is so suited. She did not align herself with a feminist movement since, I believe, she found that too confining. Instead, she lived feminism.

TSS | Feminism in March

I woke up this morning and had the luxury of sitting with a cup of strong black coffee while listening to the rain and reading posts by some of my favorite book bloggers.  Meredith's post at Dolce Bellezza brought to my attention that The Classics Club event this month is Feminist Literature in March. Meredith's post got me thinking and so I started looking at lists. Here are a few lists from The Classics Club blog:

• Resource on Feminist Classics
• Persephone literature
• Virago literature (about Virago Modern Classics)
• Feminist Literature

I've decided to read Are Women Human? by Dorothy Sayers. Dorothy Sayers was one of the first women to graduate from Oxford University. One of the things I admire about Dorothy Sayers, is that she did not devote her time to talking or writing about feminism, but instead lived her life doing the work for which she was suited whether or not society understood her choices as "feminine." My little volume contains the two essays that Sayers wrote about women's role in society: "Are Women Human?" and "The Human-Not-Quite-Human."

I'd love to hear about your reading choice for Feminist Literature in March if you are participating!

The Sunday Salon is a weekly virtual get together where readers share thoughts about their reading. We write about books and reading on our own blogs and then visit and chat with other saloners through the comments feature.