Girl, Interrupted at Her Music, Jan Vermeer, 1658-1659.
Dear Y'all,
Again, I have read a book that has me asking why haven't I read this already? Where have you been all my life, Girl, Interrupted? I could really have used this book... but, that isn't to say I am not happy I found it, finally. As I was telling a pal, this book made me feel seen as they say; it was strumming my pain with its words. And, you, lucky you, can read it right now! In fact, take a chair by the light; I'll wait while you read it!
I especially love to read about women and their brushes with, or even full assimilation of, madness. Madness, as you know, is just a kiss away. But, let me cut to the nub of the matter: there are two types of books about women trying to get what they want. In the first type, the women are killed for trying to get what they want, or even for daring to ask. In the second type of book, the women survive. Girl, Interrupted, is of the second type.
I have lots of evidence of the literary death penalty for women who want. Here are just a few protagonists that are punished by death: Lily Bart, Daisy Miller, Marguerite Gautier, Catherine Earnshaw, Lilia Herriton, Edna Pontellier. I still haven't finished it, but I think Anna Karenina gets the big sleep, too.
Take heart, though, reader, because I have just read three other books where the woman is not put to death for asking for something. Now, Voyager, Butter, and Famesick. Happily, Charlotte, Rika, and Lena all 'make it' to the ends of their books, against all the odds, and Famesick isn't even fiction!
PS
Another kiss away. Does the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper make it? Offred? The woman in What Kingdom? Marie Cardinal makes it, in The Words to Say It. So does Leonora Carrington in Down Below, Therese and Carol in The Price of Salt.
