58 pages • 1 hour read
The Book Club for Troublesome Women
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Chapters 9-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, gender discrimination, and death by suicide.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Help Wanted—Female”
Viv attends a job interview at a medical clinic in Washington, DC. Her prospective employer is a woman, Dr. Francesca Elena Giordano. Dr. Giordano asks Viv why she wants to take a job so far away from Concordia. Viv admits she has been rejected from places closer to home because she has six children and has been out of the workforce for 18 years. She also admits she’s expecting a seventh child later that year.
Dr. Giordano hires Viv because of her experience, particularly with combat medicine, though she admits she cannot pay much. She charges on a sliding scale because most of her patients are poor and can’t afford to pay much, if anything at all. To Viv’s questions, she explains that her Catholic upbringing led her to a life of service, and she doesn’t practice in a place where patients can pay more. Dr. Giordano reveals that she has a husband and two children herself as well.
Viv feels like she can understand Dr. Giordano, both her desire to serve and how she has juggled motherhood and a career. Without consulting Tony, Viv agrees to the job on the spot, and they decide that she can work part-time.
