September 2013: The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R. (DeSanti)

Post date: Sep 26, 2013 8:52:56 PM

I did not attend our September 19 meeting at Jane's, but Catherine sends along this write-up:

I had a ton of notes. But I just looked on my trusty iPhone and they're all gone. Gone, I tell you!

I'll paraphrase what I remember: there were six of us who gathered to discuss this historical novel. We all enjoyed the rich descriptions of historical accuracy but wished it had been edited more.

We had discussions about women's rights that veered into the wearing of a burqa to naked guy who went to class at UC Berkeley. As usual, it was quite an array of discussions.

Everyone didn't understand the title: we certainly didn't think her passions were unruly. The weight of poverty and the choices for women at the time were so depressing. We found the female characters well developed but the men were barely true. There were too many neat tie ups in the relationships that didn't seem true to the characters: the reconciliation with her Mom, the relationship with Stephen where he takes her daughter and then asks her to join them but says nothing about his plans when they were together.

The poverty and desperation of the times were the strongest appeal to the book. It felt immersive in the French Revolution and the female characters were worth reading. Several of us just thought it was WAY too long.

There was so much more with witty direct quotes from our discussion but alas, my smart phone could not see fit to keep them.