The Book Club for Troublesome Women: A Novel

This book gives a good look into the challenges women face in balancing home, career, and purpose. I could really relate to the characters wanting to have It all, and have It all included different things for each character, but that underlying desire was the same.

Fair read not spectacular maybe 3 stars

Four dissatisfied sixties-era housewives form a book club turned sisterhood that will hold fast amid the turmoil of a rapidly changing world and alter the course of each of their lives. By early 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan, Viv Buschetti, and Bitsy Cobb, suburban housewives in a brand-new "planned community" in Northern Virginia, appear to have it all. The fact that "all" doesn't feel like enough leaves them feeling confused and guilty, certain the fault must lie with them. Things begin to change when they form a book club with Charlotte Gustafson--the eccentric and artsy "new neighbor" from Manhattan--and read Betty Friedan's just-released book, The Feminine Mystique. Controversial and groundbreaking, the book struck a chord with an entire generation of women, helping them realize that they weren't alone in their dissatisfactions, or their longings, lifting their eyes to new horizons of possibility and achievement. Margaret, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Viv are among them. But is it really the book that alters the lives of these four very different women? Or is it the bond of sisterhood that helps them find courage to confront the past, navigate turmoil in a rapidly changing world, and see themselves in a new and limitless light?

Fun and important read. Timely for me at this phase in my life. A great reminder that its never too late to amend your life course.

This is a cute story and I enjoyed reading it although it felt a bit slow at times. As far as a book club goes, we felt like there was not a lot to hash out during the meeting. It is very much a what you see is what you get kind of story.