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lizbeeWhy did I read a 900-page potboiler from 1948? THERE'S BACKSTORY, OKAY So first of all, my flatmate and I were interested in watching Masters of the Air on AppleTV at the end of the month, but we were like, "Well, first we need watch Band of Brothers and The Pacific." I know some of you are in War Fandom and these are your canons, and I totally get the appeal of BoB, that was great. Like, it took a while, but eventually I could tell most of the men apart, and in any case, each episode had a clear narrative arc.
The Pacific. Was bad. The only men I could identify at any moment were Rami Malek and Australia's DILF Gary Sweet, so it was a whole lot of interchangeable men in khaki dodging explosions and shouting racial slurs. I mean, seriously, the Nazis in BoB were humanised more than the Japanese.
But I was looking forward to episode 3, "Melbourne", because it was filmed in the city almost the week I moved down here, and I remember marveling at the reproduction of wartime streets. And I was pretty sure there would be women in it. It would be a fun time!
I was wrong. There were women, and there were quite a lot of sex scenes, but it was ahistorical to an annoying degree, and the women were not people.
But this reminded me that I've never read Come In Spinner, held up as the book about the Australian homefront in WW2 from women's perspective. There was a bright, pastel-coloured, hairspray scented miniseries in 1988, which always put me off reading it because it looked so fluffy, but the latest edition was pastel-free and I figured, why not?
My friends. This book is talked about like it's a "women's novel" (nothing wrong with that, but there are implications of romantic tragedy, like a Joan Crawford or Bette Davis movie of the era). It's definitely a novel by and about women, but it's better described as "socialist melodrama", which is definitely not a genre I just made up. You've got your various romances and relationships, but ALSO every chapter sees someone give a speech about workplace rights, capitalist exploitation, housing shortages, women's rights, abortion rights and more. (If it's one of the villainous characters, they're calling for strikers to be shot, or blaming the housing shortage on foreigners -- because Australia has not learned a thing since the 1940s -- or proposing that African Americans be rounded up and put in KKK concentration camps after the war. Only they don't say "African Americans".)
I mean. It's absolutely a potboiler, I read all 900 pages in two days. Couldn't put it down, and have a lot of feelings about all the characters and the ways they're affected by the war and the patriarchy, and the lingering trauma of the Depression. One character's teenage sister runs away from home, falls into the hands of human traffickers and winds up in a brothel; another sister becomes pregnant to a married soldier, has an illegal abortion and dies. The only woman with any real autonomy is Dr Dallas McIntyre, a school teacher turned doctor, and even she remarks that she cannot legally have children without giving up her career and independence to marry. (Phryne Fisher fans will recognise Dr McIntyre -- Kerry Greenwood lifted her wholesale for the first book in that series, and then she became a regular in the TV adaptation, although Dr Dallas is enthusiastically heterosexual.)
It was a thoroughly good read; I completely understand why it was heavily edited when first published (and still created controversy) -- I'm very glad that James was able to reconstruct the original draft in the '80s, because I think it would have been a lot less substantial without the uglier plotlines. (I saw one GoodReads review complaining that an abortion is more scandalous and has more consequences than a sixteen-year-old girl being found in a brothel, and yes, I do believe that was the whole point.)
The Pacific. Was bad. The only men I could identify at any moment were Rami Malek and Australia's DILF Gary Sweet, so it was a whole lot of interchangeable men in khaki dodging explosions and shouting racial slurs. I mean, seriously, the Nazis in BoB were humanised more than the Japanese.
But I was looking forward to episode 3, "Melbourne", because it was filmed in the city almost the week I moved down here, and I remember marveling at the reproduction of wartime streets. And I was pretty sure there would be women in it. It would be a fun time!
I was wrong. There were women, and there were quite a lot of sex scenes, but it was ahistorical to an annoying degree, and the women were not people.
But this reminded me that I've never read Come In Spinner, held up as the book about the Australian homefront in WW2 from women's perspective. There was a bright, pastel-coloured, hairspray scented miniseries in 1988, which always put me off reading it because it looked so fluffy, but the latest edition was pastel-free and I figured, why not?
My friends. This book is talked about like it's a "women's novel" (nothing wrong with that, but there are implications of romantic tragedy, like a Joan Crawford or Bette Davis movie of the era). It's definitely a novel by and about women, but it's better described as "socialist melodrama", which is definitely not a genre I just made up. You've got your various romances and relationships, but ALSO every chapter sees someone give a speech about workplace rights, capitalist exploitation, housing shortages, women's rights, abortion rights and more. (If it's one of the villainous characters, they're calling for strikers to be shot, or blaming the housing shortage on foreigners -- because Australia has not learned a thing since the 1940s -- or proposing that African Americans be rounded up and put in KKK concentration camps after the war. Only they don't say "African Americans".)
I mean. It's absolutely a potboiler, I read all 900 pages in two days. Couldn't put it down, and have a lot of feelings about all the characters and the ways they're affected by the war and the patriarchy, and the lingering trauma of the Depression. One character's teenage sister runs away from home, falls into the hands of human traffickers and winds up in a brothel; another sister becomes pregnant to a married soldier, has an illegal abortion and dies. The only woman with any real autonomy is Dr Dallas McIntyre, a school teacher turned doctor, and even she remarks that she cannot legally have children without giving up her career and independence to marry. (Phryne Fisher fans will recognise Dr McIntyre -- Kerry Greenwood lifted her wholesale for the first book in that series, and then she became a regular in the TV adaptation, although Dr Dallas is enthusiastically heterosexual.)
It was a thoroughly good read; I completely understand why it was heavily edited when first published (and still created controversy) -- I'm very glad that James was able to reconstruct the original draft in the '80s, because I think it would have been a lot less substantial without the uglier plotlines. (I saw one GoodReads review complaining that an abortion is more scandalous and has more consequences than a sixteen-year-old girl being found in a brothel, and yes, I do believe that was the whole point.)
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Date: 2024-01-20 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-20 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-20 01:14 am (UTC)Well, we're back to Germany next show. Place your bets.
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Date: 2024-01-20 08:25 am (UTC)(Why doesn't Netflix ever rec me anything like this? Netflix terribly wants me to watch White Noise and May/December and every movie about rape and every movie with Benedict Cumberbatch in (fortunately there don't seem to be rape movies with Benedict Cumberbatch in)
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Date: 2024-01-20 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2024-01-31 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-20 06:15 am (UTC)I, too, ignored the miniseries when it came out. I did not know there was a book -- I've put it on the 'maybe' part of the TBR, so that if I encounter it in the wild, maybe I'll remember I was somewhat interested.
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Date: 2024-01-20 07:33 am (UTC)When Nicki Jenkins was running Circa Vintage, she got a bundle of dressed from the ABC that weren't vintage but reproduction vintage. I lent one to the celebrant at my wedding in 2002, and wore it myself to
It's the blue spotted number worn by one of the obnoxious customers in the salon in the first episode of the show. Lovely 1940s-style pleated crepe and rather stylish.
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Date: 2024-01-20 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-20 07:43 am (UTC)My urge to watch The Pacific, OTOH, remains zero.
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Date: 2024-01-20 08:20 am (UTC)That book sounds terrific!