The main problem that I found with this book was that I couldn't find enough time to read it. I actually missed my stop while reading it on the bus and actually considered staying on the route until the bus turned around and came back the other way - that's how much I enjoyed this book. I had seen the movie, Lost and Delirious, that was based on this book some time ago and was not particularly overwhelmed by the movie. It was good, but it didn't really make much of an impression on me. I picked up the book on a whim a few months ago and was a bit ambivalent about reading it until I cracked open the first page and read Susan Swan's introduction where she speaks about the movie versus the book - she was pleased with the adaptation, despite the fact that it changed so many things that were found in the book. And the reasoning behind the changes in the movie adaptation make sense. The introduction actually made consider watching the movie again and see if my opinion would change. Reading the book made me definitely want to give the movie another shot. From the first few pages I was sucked right into the story - the narrator is Mouse (Mary) Bradford, a wonderfully engaging young girl who is being sent to a girl's boarding school (Bath College) outside of Toronto in the 60s. The book is definitely a coming of age story for Mouse, but it`s also a very interesting look at gender, identity and the roles/social constructs of the 60s. Mouse is intelligent, humourous and insightful - and is an outsider from the begining, based on her distant relationship to the head mistress, being two years younger than her classmates, and the hump she has as a result of polio. At the school, she meets several girls, including her roomates Tori and Paulie, and the teachers - and when you get down to it, they are all ousiders in their own way, some conforming more than others. I couldn`t help but sympathize with all the characters - both primary and secondary. There is a fair bit of humour in the book, with some underlying tragedy, but there`s even more to think about as you get deeper into both Mouse and Paulie`s lives. Throughout the book, Mouse and Paulie express their dislike for women - but it`s not the gender that they dislike, it`s the roles that women are relegated to and the absense of power, authority or respect that women have that they dislike. How they deal with their disatisfaction of being stuck as female in the 60s is vastly different. Mouse declares that she will ``live as myself and nobody else, for now and always``, whereas Paulie takes a more drastic course of action. ETAI re-watched the movie. It still didn't leave much of an impression. If I hadn't known that the movie was based on the book, I never would have guessed. The screenplay was a bit too much of a departure for me. The book is better. Much better. Read the book.
I honestly don't know what I expected.I knew this was the basis for the film Lost and Delirious, so I had a general idea of what this book would be about going in.But ...Right away, I could tell this was inspired by the Parker-Hulme case (very loosely inspired, but undoubtedly inspired nonetheless). So I knew then that this book wasn't quite going to be what I expected.And then it got worse weird. I realize this book is over twenty years old at this point, so it's certainly dated in some ways. And the fact that it has a 1960s setting makes it even more so. But I just ... it's hard to say what made me uncomfortable without spoiling a lot of things, but it wasn't just Paulie's actions that were hard to read, but rather, it was the way how the book was almost trying to get us to agree with the arguments the characters made (view spoiler)[concerning Paulie's sanity, gender dsyphoria, etc (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about The Wives Of Bath (1998)?
I was turned on to this book because one of my favorite movies of all time, Lost and Delirious, is loosely adapted from it. First and foremost, the book is about gender roles and how each of the girls deal with becoming a woman in a society that pushes them to the side, and takes away opportunities from them. It also loosely deals with transgender issues and how such things were viewed in the 50's, although that portion is subjugated to the issues of the "lesser" female role. I was very impressed by the spectrum of attitudes embodied in this work, especially the symbolism behind Mouse's role models- her distant father Morley and the American President of the time, JFK. Definitely a good read, with lots of insight and interesting story line.
—Kellie
I don't think I've met a more lively first-person narrator than Mary "Mouse" Bradford and her sidekick Alice (Mary's pet name for the hump that is on her left shoulder - an effect of surviving polio). This book has so many quirks, it really kept me intrigued. 1963. JFK. Kong. Cross-dressing. Giant tricycles. This book is always a surprise. And, under all this is clearly a discussion about identity and acceptance that haunts you long after reading it. Now onto Western Light where I'll be reunited with Mouse once again!
—Julie Aquilina
Contrary to the title, this is a quintessential boarding school story as presented by the most appealing of narrators, Mary Beatrice "Mouse" Bradford. Mouse is thirteen and consigned to boarding school because of unresolved issues at home - a distant father (Morley) and a less than honest stepmother (Sal). When Mouse arrives in this new environment she is confronted in spades with the stereotypical expectations of the traditional British style single sex boarding school. Yet, there are a few unexpected surprises. Mouse demonstrates both maturity and confusion and understanding as she deals with the mystery of gender choice as presented by one of her roommates, the emotional and unreliable, Pauline Sykes. Events escalate quickly to a pretty stunning conclusion, albeit somewhat unbelievable in spite of Swan's determination to portray an accurate view of the 1960s as inspired by her own experiences at Toronto's Havergal College. A good read with some especially apt descriptors, particularly in her development of the character of Mouse.
—Anne
