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A review by juliebihn
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh--I really think that requires SPIRIT.
I'm not very well-read, so I knew very little about this book going in. I was very surprised that a book from 1912 (and an epistolary book at that!) could be so accessible and seem almost modern. Imagine my shock when our plucky heroine twice enjoys "chicken and waffles"!
Jerusha's musings are filled with amusing lines, including a few jabs/complaints about the lack of women's suffrage:
Or this one is so snarky!
Or this one, which could be a Twilight Zone episode:
But maybe I was most surprised that a book from 1912 could get away with a few lines that strike this modern reader as going one step farther than mere irreverence:
(There may or may not be some literary significance there since Jerusha is writing all of her letters to a mostly benevolent man she's never met--she doesn't even know his name--so she's imagining him...but still!)
I will say that I put the eBook from Project Gutenberg on my Kindle to read it, and it omitted the illustrations. I only later looked up the illustrations, upon finding out that this is often classified as a children's book (reading it without the illustrations, I had no idea!). I do find the illustrations charming overall! But the book hit me very differently when I saw simple drawings by a childish college girl, given the ending,
Oh, and how depressing that she can sell a short story for! Many markets pay that today, in 2022 dollars. And last I checked, a shop girl of the era made about $7 a week...!
I think I've started rambling, too. Sorry about that! I found this a quick and breezy read, and I think anyone with any interest in the 1910s or history in general will find it worth a look. I'd probably also recommend it to anyone wanting to write an epistolary novel, or a slice-of-life novel, or if they just want to work on their first-person voice.
I'm not very well-read, so I knew very little about this book going in. I was very surprised that a book from 1912 (and an epistolary book at that!) could be so accessible and seem almost modern. Imagine my shock when our plucky heroine twice enjoys "chicken and waffles"!
Jerusha's musings are filled with amusing lines, including a few jabs/complaints about the lack of women's suffrage:
The only way I can ever repay you is by turning out a Very Useful Citizen (Are women citizens? I don't suppose they are.) Anyway, a Very Useful Person.
Or this one is so snarky!
I don't suppose it matters in the least whether they are stupid or not so long as they are pretty? One can't help thinking, though, how their conversation will bore their husbands, unless they are fortunate enough to obtain stupid husbands. I suppose that's quite possible; the world seems to be filled with stupid men; I've met a number this summer.
Or this one, which could be a Twilight Zone episode:
Don't you think it would be interesting if you really could read the story of your life--written perfectly truthfully by an omniscient author? And suppose you could only read it on this condition: that you would never forget it, but would have to go through life knowing ahead of time exactly how everything you did would turn out, and foreseeing to the exact hour the time when you would die. How many people do you suppose would have the courage to read it then? or how many could suppress their curiosity sufficiently to escape from reading it, even at the price of having to live without hope and without surprises?
But maybe I was most surprised that a book from 1912 could get away with a few lines that strike this modern reader as going one step farther than mere irreverence:
I find that it isn't safe to discuss religion with the Semples. Their God (whom they have inherited intact from their remote Puritan ancestors) is a narrow, irrational, unjust, mean, revengeful, bigoted Person. Thank heaven I don't inherit God from anybody! I am free to make mine up as I wish Him. He's kind and sympathetic and imaginative and forgiving and understanding--and He has a sense of humour.
(There may or may not be some literary significance there since Jerusha is writing all of her letters to a mostly benevolent man she's never met--she doesn't even know his name--so she's imagining him...but still!)
I will say that I put the eBook from Project Gutenberg on my Kindle to read it, and it omitted the illustrations. I only later looked up the illustrations, upon finding out that this is often classified as a children's book (reading it without the illustrations, I had no idea!). I do find the illustrations charming overall! But the book hit me very differently when I saw simple drawings by a childish college girl, given the ending,
Spoiler
although the ending didn't really come as a surprise to this modern reader. But I was uncomfortable with the age gap to begin with, and the drawings somehow amplify it to me and make it even creepier.Oh, and how depressing that she can sell a short story for
Spoiler
$50I think I've started rambling, too. Sorry about that! I found this a quick and breezy read, and I think anyone with any interest in the 1910s or history in general will find it worth a look. I'd probably also recommend it to anyone wanting to write an epistolary novel, or a slice-of-life novel, or if they just want to work on their first-person voice.