I didn’t think I’d ever be able to enjoy Historical Fiction. I always thought that public school had completely drained out every aspect of enjoy there is in those kinds of books. The Boston Girl changed every opinion that I originally had about the whole genre.
At first I had no interest in reading it, I know what Boston is like, I grew up in the cities thriving streets. When my grandma showed up at my sister’s graduation party, holding the book in her hand, ready to give it to me, I forced a smile on my face and took it from her graciously. After that I just let it sit on my shelf for a few weeks, letting it rot among the other books. That was until my teacher handed out the summer reading list and I saw it in the most recommended section. When I got home that very night I went right up to my room and immediately opened the book to the first page, only to be thrown into Addie Baum’s life.
The story begins, and goes back to throughout the novel periodically, with Addie recounting her young adult years to her 22 year old granddaughter, a recent graduate of Harvard.
Addie starts in 1915 when she is fifteen years old. This year is a very important time for Addie, seeing that before this she was always locked up in her small apartment that she shared with her parents and older sister. Addie describes joining the settlement house, a place in Boston where women could get together and hold lectures and classes. It is here that our main character creates her first friendships and is able to find her voice in a world where she thought she could never speak her mind.
Story after story blow by in what feels like an instant. Her first love, multiple deaths in her immediate family that seem to never end, getting the job of her dreams and fighting to be an independant women yet not cut ties to her family entirely.
It is a lot thrown your way in a not very long book. While her life can be interesting, there aren’t many ways for the reader to keep interested in the book. The only reason that I stuck with The Boston Girl is because of Addie’s strength. Looking back at the tale, I realize that the time she grew up in was much different then it is now, but women still need to fight for the right to be heard, and that is exactly what Addie Baum did. She became a journalist who didn’t stop until the paper let her write about the harder things that most people thought women couldn’t do. No matter how hard they tried to, Addie didn’t let her parents hold her back from finding who she is.
Anita Diamant managed to create a character that everyone, boys and girls, should strive to be.