The Odd Women

The Odd Women was my first (and hopefully not last!) Goodreads readalong. I had never heard of this book or George Gissing before this. It was enjoyable to read and the pages turned quickly. It started off with a bang, and then kind of dissolved into a mishmash of “who has the worst romantic relationship”. I have to admit that the book slowed down for me a couple of times, when ideas were being repeated and repeated. Still, I liked what the book had to say about women and making a life for themselves whether married or not. I highly suspect that what the reader takes from this novel will be highly dependent on the reader personally.
I felt myself cringing when the male characters had control of the narrative. Almost everything Widdowson and Barfoot had to say was about controlling or reigning in the women in their lives. There are no forward-thinking male characters in this story at all.
Few of the characters grow. Rhoda, to me, seemed to be the same as the Rhoda we meet at the beginning of the story. I'm not sure Monica grew much. She was stronger I guess. Poor Virgie.
In the end, it was a good read and has more interested to read works from this time period.