This one is definitely comfort food. She is well aware that it would be easy for her to be laughed at, and thought old-fashioned or prudish, so she convinces her friends that she is carrying on with two men at the same time. Rosamund is aware that her social position has allowed her to make the choice to have child and career that would not be possible for others with less means and social connections. One must, of course, remember, it is and the contraceptive pill is available only to married women — a situation that continues until the same year in which abortion is legalized — so accidental pregnancies are an ever-present risk. She names her daughter Octavia and finds in her an unconditional love, the like of which she has never known. 
| Uploader: | Gujas |
| Date Added: | 7 December 2004 |
| File Size: | 60.25 Mb |
| Operating Systems: | Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/2003/7/8/10 MacOS 10/X |
| Downloads: | 56212 |
| Price: | Free* [*Free Regsitration Required] |
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Languages Nederlands Edit links. Mar 20, Bruce rated it it was amazing. It is the act of becoming a mother, which takes Rosamund by storm forcing her life into one direction, and creating its own extremes.
The interest in the book lies in how Rosamund will set about this, how it may change her, and the varying attitudes she will encounter.
The Millstone – the crucial s feminist novel | Books | The Guardian
This then was the climate inshould your knowledge of the era be a bit hazy. Margaret Drabble perhaps tends to concentrate more on smaller groups, characterisation and individual relationships, but this is a novel about growth.
She is in the middle of writing her thesis, I have wanted to read this for years, but was alwasys hoping that one day I would find it in a library to save me buying it. She names her mrgaret Octavia and finds in her an unconditional love, the like of which she has never known. There are repeated moments in the story where Rosamund continually judges women both in and out of the clinic based on their actions and looks as she tries to find something in common with other pregnant women.
Rosanmund notes his indifference, remembering that she too used to be like that, and feeling glad that she no longer feels this drablbe. She more interested in Elizabethan poets and her academic career. Written in the first-person, this poignant, minimalistic tale is about class positioning, accepted codes of behaviour and being a single woman bringing up a child in a still highly priggish England.
Killstone is at one and the same time inhibited, and inclined to confession.
The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
I held it tighter and closed my arms around it. Sadly, after a few months, Octavia is found to have a serious congenital heart defect, and needs surgery. Lydia, unfazed, shows what a true friend she is. Her baby is born requiring a surgery that is made easier to bear in part by a connection to margaet parents.
They are driven to do good works, to have a purpose, as so many were, postwar. Drabble has such a great way of writing, I can't wait to read my next book by her. Times may have changed in terms of the social acceptability of single parenthood, but it all rings very true for its time and many of her feelings around the time margzret the birth are pretty universal.
She is in the middle of writing her thesis, when a one night stand with a maryaret friend results in unplanned pregnancy.
But Rosamund digs her heels in. Published October 15th by Mariner Books first published Her parents selflessly allow her their flat while they temporarily moved out of the country; without this, she would have certainly been worse drabblle and so would her baby.
Jan 16, Rory rated it it was ok.
When she learns that she is pregnant, a whole new world opens up to her. I suppose rich people have private physicians, but the rest of us just go to the clinic.
The Millstone
This tension is a fire that Drabble stokes right up to the final pages of the novel. Nobody ever knew the details, although clearly these were underage girls.
It is beautifully written and in places manages to provide sharp social commentary alongside comic elements. Doesn't live up to its potential, such as it is.
The Millstone – the crucial 1960s feminist novel
I also love that early on in the book, Rosamund convinces her small friendship circle that she is sleeping with 2 men at once, when in fact she is sleeping with neither, and as both the men believe she is sleeping with the other man, neither of them pressure her into sleeping with them.
Retrieved from " https: But while Rosamund quickly comes to love her daughter, who she names after Octavia Hill, more trouble is around the corner when the child falls ill. I've been told countless times by the mothers in my family that men are wimps, compared with what women have to go through giving birth. However, the operation turns out to be successful, and Rosamund is allowed to take her daughter home after weeks of anxiety.
No comments:
Post a Comment