Emily Matchar

Coming from West Virginia, I found this book very poignant. The description of The Greenbrier and the area made me feel as if I were there. The loneliness of a small rural area was captured well. The treatment of immigrants and minorities was painful. The opulence of The Greenbrier shone as it does. It is the story of a Jewish family, the only Jewish family in White Sulphur Springs from Sol in 1909 to Jordan in 1992. Sol, after a rocky start, opens a store selling a little bit of everything. His son Louis keeps it going. Louis marries Sylvia right after her father dies, more out of convenience than love. Sylvia came from a cosmopolitan area of Poland and hated the rural area she found herself in. Their daughter Doree grows up in the shadow of The Greenbrier at a time when some strange construction is happening there. Her son Jordan, a journalist from the Washington Post, breaks open the story of that construction 35 years later. The events in this book did indeed happen. We know now that the construction was a bunker to save Congress in the event of nuclear war. You can even tour it now. The author's descriptions of the bunker were excellent. She showed that the townspeople were not ignorant and they did have an idea of what was going on, it just wasn't their business. The Greenbrier was the largest employer in the area so it behooved them to keep their mouths shut. How a construction of that immensity was kept secret for all those years amazes me. This is a good rendering of the history of that area of West Virginia, be it happy or sad, and I thank the author for that. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and I am happily reviewing it voluntarily.… (mehr)

3.5. Chock-full of interesting information (as I teach myself to crochet). And I really like her point at the end about including men equally in home life. However, I do think she would be a better authority on balancing home and work life if she had a child (not that anyone should take on that responsibility for so silly a reason). Having worked full-time and taken care of three children for a time-period (we're talking weeks, here) I find her lack of disbelief in the "women can have it all and stay sane" argument a little lacking in experience.… (mehr)

This is a fairly brief, easily readable survey of what the author calls the "new domesticity"--the back to the home trend--and its impact on women.

I was already fairly familiar with a lot of the ideas--the cult of the natural, the romanticization of the past, and the "women leaving the workforce" idea. What makes the book work is that she ties it all together, as a manifestation of what is ultimately a pretty conservative, individualistic, DIY ethos. The new domesticity movement doesn't just place a burden on women to be nurturers: it places that burden on individual women to find their way and make their solutions. Whether it's questioning doctors about vaccines, homeschooling their kids, growing their own food, or quitting their job, the solutions are personal. Ultimately, as Matchar says (but could argue a little more forcefully) we need more collective, socially based solutions fo the problems women face. The New Domesticity is seductive--and there is creative satisfaction to be found in it--but it will not solve the problems women face today.… (mehr)