The Boston Girl Staar Test

Title: The Boston Girl
Serial: Fiction
Published past: Scribner
ISBN13: 978-1439199350
Purchase the Book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, IndieBound

Overview

The Boston Girl is told through the eyes of Jewish adult female growing up in Boston in the early on twentieth century. It is a coming-of-historic period story about family ties and values, near immigration and generational change, about friendship and feminism.

Addie Baum is The Boston Daughter, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for the result that America would take on three daughters. Growing upward in the North Finish –at the fourth dimension a teeming multicultural neighborhood—Addie's intelligence and curiosity pb her to a world her parents tin can't imagine, a earth of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high schoolhouse and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.

80-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-yr-onetime granddaughter, who has asked her "How did you get to be the woman you are today." She begins in 1915, the twelvemonth she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the class of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement business firm, to her get-go, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with pity for the naïve girl she was.

She remembers staying at Rockport Society, a sort of "fresh air fund" resort located in a seaside town north of Boston, where she makes friends, who are part of a life that spans World War I, the influenza epidemic, and the Slap-up Depression.

The Boston Daughter is a moving portrait of i woman's complicated life in twentieth century America, and a how a generation of women found their place in a changing world.

Praise

"Diamant infuses [The Boston Girl] with humor and optimism, illuminating a wrenching flow of American progress through the eyes of an irresistible heroine."
—People

"Strong female ties course this story's core. Through these relationships…Diamant brings to life a piece of feminism's forgotten history [and reminds us] there will always be those who try to prescribe what you should be. Good friends are those who assistance yous find out for yourself."
—Skillful Housekeeping

"Ravishing. . . . whip-smart, warm, and full of feeling… deeply pleasurable. . . you can't assist wanting to linger."
—Boston Globe

"Crisp, lively, clear, wry, affectionate, compulsively readable and very entertaining…The Boston Girl'south…[narrator] is supremely dauntless and bighearted — a marvelous office model no matter how y'all parse information technology."
—San Francisco Chronicle

"The Boston Girl convincingly traces the story of a scrappy, intelligent immigrant, who does more than than just survive the 20th century; she embraces information technology all—tragedies, joys, and the humdrum—with unflagging passion."
—Miami Herald

"Addie is…a good storyteller, and her descriptions of the homo destruction of World War I and the influenza epidemic … have an immediacy that blows away any historical dust."
—U.s.a. Today

"Anita Diamant's The Boston Girl introduces [a] woman of substance…[who] relates how growing upward in a time of gender inequality, strict family unit expectations, and a widening generation gap of social values made her a successful person."
—Boston Herald

"A vivid, affectionate portrait of American womanhood … Diamant has built her career on taking women seriously, and Addie Baum is another strong heroine with an irrepressible vox."
—Los Angeles Times

"Engaging… interesting, informative, and a skillful read."
—New York Journal of Books

"This compelling new novel by the author of the book club favorite The Red Tent (1997) also celebrates a woman'due south story."
—Dallas Morning News

"The story of every immigrant and the difficulties of adapting to and accepting an unfamiliar culture."
—Huffington Post

"A resonant portrait of a complex woman. . . [a] page-turning portrait of immigrant life in the early twentieth century…an inspirational read."
—Booklist

"Enjoyable fiction with a detailed historical backdrop."
—Kirkus

"Anita Diamant is known for her thought-provoking novels about women's lives, from Biblical times to the present 24-hour interval…The Boston Girl becomes the story of the 20th century and the ever-changing roles of women within it."
—BookPage

"Readers…volition feel lucky that they read this richly textured all-American tale."
—Historical Novel Social club

"An exploration of the immigrant experience, love, union and friendship, plus many significant world events, including World War I and II, Prohibition, the Spanish flu epidemic, civil rights and the sexual revolution. Through it all, family and friendship remain resilient."
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"A gripping story of a young Jewish woman growing up in early-20th-century Boston. . . A stunning look into the past with a plucky heroine readers will cheer for."
—Publishers Weekly

"Diamant offers impeccable descriptions of Boston life during those early years of the 20th century and creates a loving, caring atomic number 82 grapheme who grows in front of our optics."
—Library Periodical

Reading Grouping Guide

This reading group guide for The Boston Girl includes an introduction, word questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading grouping find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your chat and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Topics & Questions for Word

one. Early it is clear that Addie has a rebellious streak, joining the library group and running away to Rockport Lodge. Is Addie right to disobey her parents? Where does she get her courage?

2. Addie'southward mother refuses to run into Celia'southward death as anything but an blow, and Addie comments that "whenever I heard my mother'south version of what happened, I felt ill to my stomach" (folio 94). Did Celia commit suicide? How might the guilt that Addie feels differ from the guilt her mother feels?

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Excerpt

Ava, sweetheart, if you ask me to talk about how I got to exist the adult female I am today, what do you recollect I'm going to say? I'm flattered you lot want to interview me. And when did I always say no to my favorite grandchild?

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