Book Review: The Boston Girl

What better way to spend a Saturday, other than cuddled up on the couch watching Parenthood and writing...it only gets better because I am writing about books.

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant 

If you are in the mood for magnificent storytelling, this is the only thing you need. 

I wish, I yearn, to write like Diamant. How she crafted this story of past, present and future so flawlessly is beyond me. 

First, I have to start with why this book caught my eye, besides the fact that it was featured in People and all of my Goodreads recommendations. Anita Diamant is the author of The Red Tent, which is an unexpected favorite of mine that I read a couple years ago. So I knew there was a big chance I would love this book as well. 

The Boston Girl opens with Addie Baum, a woman in her eighties, who has just been asked by her granddaughter "what made you the woman you are today?" and Addie starts to tell her story.

Addie Baum grew up in the early 1900s in Boston. She experiences many  things, including poverty, oppressive, conservative parents and multicultural challenges Jewish families faced in America during that time. Addie's outlook on life is drastically different from her parents and I couldn't get enough of her endless curiosity. It leads her to the world of art, music, shorter skirts and climbing the job ladder that was virtually non-existent for women in that era among many other adventures. 

As I read along, Boston came alive in my imagination. I loved the friends that Addie meets as she discovers The Saturday Club, a place where women made life-long friendships and learn from each other about things the world around them was trying to keep them from. She grows through strange changes, she struggles with relationships, she loses loved ones...but her stories remains bright and entertaining throughout the entire book. 

Bottom line: I was never bored. I was mentally booking a trip to Boston. Wouldn't it be amazing to witness such growth and advancement in America? 

My favorite parts of the book were when Addie makes discoveries about life, love and success. She started working for her brother in law in a seamstress shop, she worked as a maid just so she could stay among friends in a summer boarding house, and later, took major risks to secure herself a job in a newspaper.

What I loved most about The Boston Girl is getting to know Addie as a young girl and then here and there, throughout the story, modern day Addie pipes up and and explains how those moments in her past shaped the woman she became.  

Here's my favorite passage: 

Read The Boston Girl. It's a satisfying tale that will leave you feeling inspired, and wanting to go back in time, to Boston, to adventure.