Daughters of the Revolution
Jul 26, 2011
Daughters of the RevolutionAuthor: Carolyn Cooke
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-307-59473-0
What the Publisher Says:
It’s 1968. The prestigious but cash-strapped Goode School in the town of Cape Wilde is run by its aging, philandering headmaster, Goddard Byrd, known to both his friends and his enemies as God. With Cape Wilde engulfed by the social and political storms of integration, coeducation and the sexual revolution, God has confidently promised coeducation “over my dead body.” And then, through a clerical error, the Goode School admits its first female student: Carole Faust, a brilliant, intractable fifteen-year-old black girl.
What does it mean to be the First Girl?
Carolyn Cooke has written a ferociously intelligent, richly sensual novel about the lives of girls and women, the complicated desperation of daughters without fathers and the erosion of paternalistic power in an elite New England town on the cusp of radical social change. Remarkable for the precision of its language, the incandescence of its images, and the sly provocations of its moral and emotional predicaments, Daughters of the Revolution is a novel of exceptional force and beauty.
What does it mean to be the First Girl?
Carolyn Cooke has written a ferociously intelligent, richly sensual novel about the lives of girls and women, the complicated desperation of daughters without fathers and the erosion of paternalistic power in an elite New England town on the cusp of radical social change. Remarkable for the precision of its language, the incandescence of its images, and the sly provocations of its moral and emotional predicaments, Daughters of the Revolution is a novel of exceptional force and beauty.
What Idgie Says:
While this tells an important story of the changes regarding racism, sex and feminism that occurred in the 1960s and 1070s of America, if you are a person that needs to like the characters to enjoy a book you might have a bit of a struggle. I found few of the characters to be truly likable.
I truly did enjoy the moment when Goddard finds out that not only a female, but a black female will be entering the hallowed halls of his school. It’s always good to see a bigot and all around icky person brought down by his own warped code.
This book does have a build up to the main story line and you spend time learning about earlier portions of the characters lives before you get to the heart of the tale.
It’s a thought provoking book that once again makes you realize how far we’ve come as society in recent years………..but still how much farther we could yet go.
