The Group
Mary McCarthy, 1963
★ 3.68 from 18k ratings on Goodreads
Eight Vassar friends graduate into 1930s New York and discover what their fine educations are actually for — careers, marriages, psychoanalysis, politics, and each other. Eight friends' talk crackles with wit and ambition, though the years drift at an uneven pace.
Feels like nostalgia, wonder and humor. About friendship, ambition and identity.
Who it’s for
You may enjoy this if you like sharp conversation about marriage, work, and friendship among educated women in 1930s New York. Be ready for a crowded cast and stretches where the pacing lags, plus candid sex talk that some readers find uncomfortable.
Why read it
McCarthy's wit and social precision make the friends' choices feel immediate, and the novel gives you a clear-eyed view of how private lives meet public expectations.
A page from the book
The year before the future arrived.
He would only come if she were unprepared. Or would he come only if she were prepared? With her lamp trimmed like the wise virgins? Christianity would tell her to buy food for two, but the pagans would say, ‘Don’t risk it.’ What readers say
Readers often find the book witty and absorbing, with candid treatment of sex and marriage drawing both admiration and discomfort. Many also complain about uneven pacing, too many characters, and emotional distance; some call it disappointing while others call it a favorite.
Mary McCarthy.McCarthy was orphaned at six and raised by a strict Catholic great-aunt, a childhood she later dissected in Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, to her family's horror.
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Group for me?
- You may enjoy this if you like sharp conversation about marriage, work, and friendship among educated women in 1930s New York. Be ready for a crowded cast and stretches where the pacing lags, plus candid sex talk that some readers find uncomfortable.
- What is The Group like?
- Eight friends' talk crackles with wit and ambition, though the years drift at an uneven pace. Feels like nostalgia, wonder and humor. About friendship, ambition and identity.
- What should I read after The Group?
- If you liked The Group, try The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman), Looking for Alaska (John Green) and Three men in a boat (to say nothing of the dog) (Jerome K. Jerome).
A taste of the feed
A confession in the tone of someone recommending a good restaurant.
Uccidere qualcuno è semplice. È quando si tratta di occultare la salma che viene il difficile. È così che finisci per farti beccare. Ma se incappi nel posto giusto, puoi tirare il fiato. È fatta. Io ho avuto la fortuna di trovare il posto perfetto. Ci vengo ancora, di tanto in tanto, solo per dare un’occhiata e controllare che sia tutto in ordine. Ma non c’è niente da vedere, e credo che mai ci sarà. A volte mi fumo una sigaretta. So che non dovrei, ma è l’unico vizio che mi è rimasto.
The Thursday Murder Club · Richard Osman
The case for being seventeen and certain nothing can end you.
When adults say, “Teenagers think they are invincible” with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.
Looking for Alaska · John Green
The short list of what a life actually needs, packed in one sentence.
Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.
Three men in a boat (to say nothing of the dog) · Jerome K. Jerome
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