Check the Shelf Book Review: Spinster

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. That did not sway my opinion in the least.

Shannan’s Summary

Through personal story and the history of five women, Bolick goes on a journey of self-discovery.  While she often feels obligated to chase after marriage, Bolick is never quite convicted enough to actually get married.  By looking at marriage and Spinsters throughout history she looks at how the expectation of marriage was shaped through cultural necessity and how and why spinsters didn’t fit into the social norm.

First Off…

I saw this pop up a lot when it first came out and I was interested, if for no other reason than the title.  So when I saw it as an option to win on Library Things I had to try for it, and I won.

The Story:

What this book wound up being is not what I was expecting.  It was part Bolick’s memoir and part history of 5 women that influenced her life.  Bolick reflects on her time in and out of relationships, eventually coming to a personal realization that she is happier when she’s single.  She intermixes this time with a look at 5 women who have influenced her life as well as a historical look on marriage and societies view on “spinsters.”

Being a “spinster” I can relate to these mentalities and enjoyed looking at the different aspects of what societies view on the single women has been through the last century(+.) The five women she spoke about I had never consciously heard of, even though all of them were part of the writing world.  I completely get why Bolick would attach to these women who contributed to pushing the “spinster” envelope.  These five women, for better or worse, were counter-cultural in their lives.

One of my favorite parts of the book was toward the back, when Bolick is starting to come to a self-realization that she’s happier when alone.  She is taking in all the positives and negatives of being single and how something happens to people when they get married to make them forget the negatives.  Bolick says about a friend “Didn’t she remember that being single is more than just following your whims- that it also means having nobody to help you make difficult decisions, or comfort you at the end of a bad day?”  I think this was my favorite line and enjoyed just hearing the in’s and outs of someone else who enjoys being single.  While I don’t plan on being single forever.  I still hope God’s plans for my life lead to marriage one day, but I’m also not miserable living by myself.  I’m also in no hurry to put myself into a relationship for the sake of a relationship.  I’ve seen how that ends.

While Spinster is about singles and society the book isn’t trying to convince everyone to be single.  It’s trying to convince people not to let society define what happiness is for your life.   I would agree with this in as much as we  do allow social expectations to influence us, not always for the best.  However, coming from a biblical worldview, I can’t entirely agree with all the pieces she pulls together as options for happiness, since I think true happiness comes through relationship with Christ.

The Writing

I thought Bolick wrote in a connectable way. I’m not usually a history person, but the way she presented the details of the women and general facts I found interesting.  I thought she did a good job of weaving past, present, and facts so that you didn’t find yourself overwhelmed in any one category.  You could tell she had a journalist bent to her writing, but not so much that it felt dry or removed from the facts.  On the contrary, as a “Spinster” myself, I felt very connecting with some of the realities of singleness she was presenting.

In the End

I liked it.  I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read, but it is definitely interesting.  It introduced me to a lot of women I had never heard of and interesting information about how our culture has morphed into it’s current understanding of marriage. 

10 Second Summary:

1. Great world: I’m all about a well-developed world that’s different than what’s out in the world.
2. Creative Storytelling: The combination of photographs and words in this story add a whole new depth to book that I haven’t experienced through other books.
3. Slow Beginning: It takes a while to get into the story, but it’s worth it.

Paperback.  I personally enjoyed it since I am single.  So if you’ve got that going for you, or are interested in the history of singles vs married, I think you would find it an interesting read.