The Book Club for Troublesome Women

Set in 1960s America, a historical time and place that witnessed the second wave of feminism, Bostwick’s story centered on four women inevitably touches upon the impact of patriarchy, in ways both large and small, on their lives. Through layered characters and subtle narrative threads, Bostwick examines everyday life within a patriarchy through a lens that goes beyond painting men as villains and women as victims, focusing instead on how pervasive and nuanced gender discrimination and oppression can be.

From the outset, Bostwick illustrates the ways that patriarchy and the attendant discrimination affect women’s everyday lives. In the opening chapters, she introduces the four Bettys and offers glimpses into their background. Each one of them has been impacted by patriarchal ideas and practices in some way: Viv cannot get a birth control prescription without her husband; Bitsy feels obliged to give her husband a child even though she doesn’t want motherhood yet; Margaret faces Walt’s devaluation of her work; and Charlotte’s male psychiatrist, Dr. Barry, offers advice based not on her needs but on bringing her back into line in her marriage. However, rather than paint every man in the novel with the same brush, Bostwick offers a counterpoint with her depiction of Viv’s husband Tony.