The Book Club for Troublesome Women

The formation of the book club kicks off the action in The Book Club for Troublesome Women, and as it evolves, the club becomes a setting where the women discuss life-transforming ideas and help each other through important changes in their lives. While the book club itself is essential to the plot, one very specific book informs the central themes of the novel: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. The women dub their book club the “Betty Friedan book club” and refer to themselves as “Bettys” after Friedan, paying homage to the author of the first book they read together.

Published in 1963, the same year as the novel’s events, Friedan’s bestselling book went on to become “one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century” (Michals, Debra. “Biography: Betty Friedan.” National Women’s History Museum, 2017). Friedan’s writing, which focused on the dissatisfaction that suburban housewives felt with their limited gender roles, resonated with millions of American women, including the book club members. The book was seminal in propelling women into the fight for gender equality in America, and the Bettys represent this rebellion against social norms each in their own way: Margaret takes a job despite her husband’s initial displeasure; Viv returns to the work force after an 18-year break, unusual for both mothers and career women of the time; Bitsy revels in the freedom that her divorce grants her despite social messaging that a woman’s place is beside a man; and Charlotte reclaims power over her own life through her divorce and subsequent settlement.

However, Friedan’s text is not presented as the first or final word on feminism in the novel. Through the character of Helen Babcock, the bookstore owner, Bostwick clarifies that The Feminine Mystique was preceded by other feminist texts that paved the way for Friedan’s work. Helen offers the Bettys further reading that includes revolutionary feminist texts like Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). While the former preceded Friedan’s writing by a mere decade, Wollstonecraft’s work is revolutionary for having been published at the end of the 18th century. However, Friedan’s book did have an enormous impact, acting as a catalyst for the second wave of feminism in America (“Feminism: The Second Wave.” National Women’s History Museum, 18 Jun. 2020).

Hints of this impact are evident in the book: Bostwick highlights both the undeniable and significant impact of Friedan’s ideas on the characters’ lives and the shortcomings of Friedan’s perspective. A common critique of Friedan’s work, both at the time and after the era, is that she focused entirely on issues facing “primarily white, middle-class, educated, heterosexual women” (Michals). Even as Friedan opens their eyes, the Bettys remain aware of this fact: Viv notes the exclusion of single mothers and women of color from The Feminine Mystique, while Margaret contemplates its equal relevance to men. In this way, Bostwick uses Friedan’s historic text as context for her novel, but in sensitive and nuanced ways—as an opening for exploration, rather than a definitive answer on the issue of feminism.