This book was challenging for me and I could only read about 25 pages per day. I felt my educational level was lacking for that sort of reading/subject matter but it could also be the stilted language of the author. I admire how she stood up for her beliefs and all she attained. I was in awe of her perserverance in just about anything she set her mind to accomplish.
Here is a passage:
"There is still, I think, not enough recognition by teachers of the fact that the desire to think – which is fundamentally a moral problem - must be induced before the power is developed. Most people, whether men or women, wish above all else to be comfortable, and thought is pre-eminently uncomfortable process; it brings to the individual far more suffering than happiness in a semi-civilized world which still goes to war, Still encourages the production of unwanted children by exhausted, mothers, and still compels married partners who hate one another to live together in the name of morality."
"Thus, it was in St. Monica's garden, beside a little overgrown pool, where the plump goldfish slid idly in and out of the shadows, and the feathered grasses drooped their heavy heads to the water's edge, that I first visualized in rapt childish ecstasy a world in which women would no longer be the second-rate, unimportant creatures that they were now considered, but the equal and respected companions of men."
I'm not sure how to rate the book. For me it's a 3.5 for the material as well as my reading pleasure. I know there are rave reviews of this historical account but it was a labor to finish this book. Had it not been for JoAnn and our buddy read I may well have abandoned this very early on. Thank you, friend!
The time period is WW I and settings in England, Malta, Italy and France.
Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday. and The Classics Club.
