Dear Enemy by Jean WebsterCompleted: January 17, 2011
Reason for Reading: Carry on with the Series.
Jean Webster (1876-1916) was an American novelist, playwright, and social activist. During the start of the twentieth century (1912), Webster wrote "Daddy-Long-Legs", an epistolary, best-selling novel that she developed into a play. It met with much success, and the characters were sold as dolls, the money from which going to charities to help fund orphan adoptions. In 1915, Webster published the sequel, "Dear Enemy". Written in the same epistolary form, "Dear Enemy" met with best-selling acclaim as well. The novel is unique in that the story is propelled by crude, stick-figure animations, drawn by Webster herself, that add a whimsical air to the social issues addressed, the care of orphans and women's life choices in particular. Sadly, Webster died of childbirth fever in 1916, just a year after the success of "Dear Enemy".
Welcome to Six Sentence Saturday.
Where I try to express my thoughts on recent reads using only 6 sentences!!!!.
At the end of each review I will post a
rating scale of 1-5 using the cute and original (lol) Playing Cards.
Rating scale will be as follows:
5 of Hearts- You must read this book NOW!!
4 of Hearts- A great read, put it on your TBR list.
3 of Hearts- Glad I read but no big deal
2 of Hearts- Why did I finish this?
Joker Card - Don't bother (why did I?)
(I did post like this back in 2009. Thought I would bring it back once in a while in 2011. I stole it from Staci at Life in the Thumb.)
Dear Enemy is the sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs, which I read earlier this month and quite enjoyed. This book was very different in tone and nature, but was still told in the epistolary form. If you do not read this book expecting something similar, it is enjoyable and the narrator does entertain; but it is missing some of the magic that her previous work held. This book is about a woman who comes from a good background and takes over orphanage that Judy, the character from the previous book, used to live in; so she is pretty much the exact opposite of Judy when we met her. It is predictable and the story has essentially been done before, but it has its quirky moments and you will still get caught up in the story. I enjoyed how everything played out in the end and thought it was a satisfactory ending and the majority of the letters were sent to Judy, so you still found out what was going on with her, too.
I never knew there was a sequel to Daddy Longlegs! Glad to be forewarned not to expect the same book.
ReplyDeleteI know this book is predictable, but I love seeing all the cool things Sally does with her orphans to make their lives better. With all their new clothes, and the little Adirondack shacks for the boys -- I love this book so much. I am kicking myself for not bringing my copy with me to New York.
ReplyDeleteCarrie: Someone posted about it on my review or I probably never would have known either!
ReplyDeleteJenny: Yes, there are some really great aspects to this book. I enjoyed watching Sally progress through the letters into a very different person!