The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes
Rating: 9.5/10
Publishing: Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House
ISBN: 978-0-399-56249-5
Copyright: (c) 2019 by Jojo’s Mojo Limited
I haven’t read many history-related novels lately. So I picked this book from the book section of Stop n Shop while doing my book-shopping for new reads. I read the back first, and I thought that it would be interesting. I read it, and it was indescribable.
“The Giver of Stars” takes place during the Great Depression. If you know your history, there were many economic issues during this decade; people homeless or living in poorly-built houses, people looking for jobs, and, of course, the dealing of racial segregation. Moyers vividly described the setting very well. It was like going back in time and learning about the lifestyle during the Great Depression.
Aside from racism and segregation, there are mentionings of gender dominance. For example, women were still being treated as minorities as blacks in the 1930s. In addition, while men had dominating jobs, women lacked white-collared jobs apart from being a wife, housekeeping, and bearing children. I find that inhumane, but unfortunately, that was how it was before the decade of women’s rights.
What do I think about this book? It taught me history.
Nothing’s better than learning what happened in the past, especially when you know about a real-life person who underwent these kinds of social issues.
This novel focuses on a woman named Alice Van Cleeve, nee Wright. She was initially born in England and emigrated to America, and married an American man named Bennett. Sadly, Alice’s marriage to Bennett was not a happy one. There was no love between the husband and wife, and they never even had sex once they tied the knot. To make matters worse, Bennett’s father, Geoffrey, has been abusive to Alice and forbidding her to leave the house.
Wanting to get her mind off her failing marriage, Alice decided to get a job as a traveling librarian. She and the other librarians rode on horses, carrying saddlebags full of books, and going from house to house to give books to those inhabitants. The main reason why Alice got this job is that she realized that people in poverty lacked education, and many of them were illiterate. So she and her friends, Beth, Isabelle “Izzy,” Sophia, and Margery, all decided to bring literacy to the poor.
Being a traveling librarian by horses may be a fun job for them, but what pisses me off is that some people in the book lack grammar and refuse to read. Whenever I read dialogues by characters that have bad grammar, I get irate. I’m very strict with grammar, and I do not tolerate poor grammar in books. But since this is taking place in the 1930s where education and literacy were limited, I guess I have to accept that that’s how people were back then. Still, reading poor grammar in novels gets me furious.
Even though this novel is mainly about Alice Van Cleeve, we learn more about other characters. For instance, Sophia was the only African-American librarian, and when Alice and Margery offered her a job at Margery’s library, Sophia refused because it was a white-only library. Sophia wasn’t comfortable working in a white-only environment, but after showing off her skills in fixing damaged books, she decided to accept it. It wasn’t easy for Sophia being the only black librarian. We see that Sophia fell victim to racism and breaking the laws of segregation. Fortunately, Margery and Alice stood up for Sophia. They defended her whenever people in the south discriminated against her for the color of her skin. I find that empowering.
There are themes of racism, sexism, and poverty; in addition, there are themes of female friendships. Alice has been bonding with the other traveling librarians. They team up to fight for their lives and stand up for themselves, which leads to significant empowerment for women against prejudice.
There are also themes of marriage fidelity. Alice had doubts about her loveless marriage with Bennett, and she became infatuated with Fred, one of those men who accommodates women from what they were going through. Alice wondered if being with Fred instead of Bennett would lead to adultery. I’d say what happened to Alice and Bennett’s marriage at the end, but I don’t want to reveal spoilers. Reading anything about adultery and fidelity reminds me of “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte. I want to read anything about trust and faith.
Lastly, I want to talk about pregnancy outside of marriage. You know “The Scarlett Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne? I’m guessing Moyes alluded to this piece of classic literature. Margery got pregnant by Sven, whom she is in love with despite not being married yet. Margery worried about how she would be prejudiced for being a pregnant and unmarried woman like Hester. If you know your literature, women back then would become ostracized for expecting babies while not married because babies born as bastards were considered taboo and sinful. People were strict about carrying children while married only.
Margery later gave birth to a baby girl named Virginia while being imprisoned for being accused of murder. I’d say more about the accusation of the alleged homicide, but you’re going to have to read the book yourself. I’m not revealing what happened next. Let’s just say that there is good news ahead. 😉
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It reminded me of the common themes you read in classic literature, and Jojo Moyes did a phenomenal job incorporating the 20th-century lifestyle in a book written in 2019. I love the characters. I love reading about the societal issues that happened in the past of prejudice. I love the themes as it takes me back to high school and college. It is nostalgic. I love Moyes’s writing style and the idea of bringing history to the past. I truly enjoyed this, and I loved how I learned more about historical figures and other real-life people.
I’m looking forward to reading more of Moyes’s works someday in the future. Hopefully, it will be as unique as “The Giver of Stars.”