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The Ladies Auxiliary (2000)

by Tova Mirvis(Favorite Author)

3.65 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

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review 1: As much I enjoyed the personalities of this easy read, it also made me sad. Incredibly sad within a heavy view of nostalgia and yearning for the "we are all quite the same in perception" of my immigrant and 1st generation neighborhood of my childhood. The support and the conflicts, both, were considerable- but never reflected the types of dissociation, nor abandonment of individuals, nor violence so common in the same city today. All the identical issues and interactions applied for us as did within this novel, although we were centered on our Roman Catholic parish, schools and our European and religious traditions instead of the tenets and life of Orthodox Jewish life. Until you lose such a precious commodity, it is hard to describe how much it can be mi... moressed.
review 2: Did this remind anyone of Chocolat? Or Stargirl, complete with a similarly hokey scene like the dance scene in Stargirl? Or Edward Scissorhands for that matter, newcomer moves in and no one accepts him, then they all jump on the we love Edward bandwagon, and then ultimately decide he is too different? This was reminiscent of so many other books/movies but I really thought the religious element brought a fresh new face to the story, and an honest look at how unkind people can be in the name of God. This was a really good idea but in the end not a really good read, which leaves me frustrated. I almost just quit reading with 4-5 chapters to go because the plot was running in circles, carried by characters that were far too underdeveloped to carry the weight of a weak plot. I really liked the first third of the book as the author introduced us to the culture of the community with all of the strengths and weaknesses that come with living in a closed circle but at some point we needed to move to something deeper. I wanted to see the struggles within each woman and understand where each of them were at internally and as a part of the unit and there was so much potential but they all ended up falling flat. I also thought the plot got a little ridiculous. If this was just supposed to be a fable, intended to make a point then okay, but as a novel it didn’t work. There was no consistency of character and no motivation for action. It all just seemed thrown together to try to make a point. But…I read this for book club and I will concede that it is a good book club choice because there is an awful lot to discuss.I am Mormon so I did have to laugh at some of the similarities. I liked what she called Jewish geography, where every Jew knows every other Jew by just a few degrees of separation because we totally play the same game. I also thought that the communities pride in Yosef was similar to how Mormons circle around returning missionaries. There were so many funny cultural similarities, and also deeper similarities like the women feeling validated in their religion as new people join, people struggling internally with their beliefs and trying to maintain their own identity while still feeling like part of the whole. I could also relate to how some people are religious just because it is tradition and how others observe their religion because of a deeper belief. But I am sad to see so many reviews that also compare these nasty catty women to Mormon women. I have known lots and lots of amazing Mormon women but I admit that I have seen the judgement of others, born of insecurity and of just plan ignorance and if this is the impression we give to the world then we need to do better.But not just Mormon women, all women. We need to do better. I see these same problems in any group of women. My daughter ice skates and since she started at 10 years old and not 2, we will never fit in. The other moms do not talk to me, ever and if you think Mormons compete in the kitchen you should see this. The moms take turns bringing treats for the advanced skaters and they are constantly one upping each other. No bag of Doritos and juice boxes like you see in Little League. These women bring in caterers, no lie, and balloons and themed decorations and cupcake towers and fruit shaped like hearts and stars. So yeah, anytime you get women together united in a common cause, weird stuff happens.Anyway, back to the book. The second half was pretty weak but could have been good. I liked the points about working with the youth. They really do need people that they can talk to about real life struggles, not just women who have trained all their lives to be “that lady” but can’t relate to the girls enough to earn their trust. I have been insulted for being casual with the youth and it hurt. I would never undermine the standards taught to them by the church or their parents but I will also not pass out in shock if they turn out to be human. Kids make mistakes, just like we did, just like we do. I did think that Batsheva was sometimes portrayed as encouraging the girls to rebel and with how she showed her love for her religion I think she would have loved and understood the girls no matter what but encouraged them to try to live the standards they had been taught so I feel like the author sometimes pushed the characters actions to the brink just to create drama. But I do see parents who blame youth leaders for their kids actions and look for somewhere to point the finger when things don’t go exactly the way they scripted at birth.I thought there was a lot of honesty in this book and any book that leaves me thinking can't be all bad. I just didn’t think it lived up to its potential. I guess in the end all the pieces were there but the execution left something to be desired. I am excited to go to book club though because there is so much to talk about, as you can tell by my review that is turning in to a book report. less

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