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Charity Girl
Charity Girl examines one of the darkest periods in our history, when patriotic fervor and fear led to devastating consequences. During World War I, the U.S. government went on a moral and medical campaign, quarantining and incarcerating young women who were thought to have venereal diseases. They were called “charity girls”
Charity Girl examines one of the darkest periods in our history, when patriotic fervor and fear led to devastating consequences. During World War I, the U.S. government went on a moral and medical campaign, quarantining and incarcerating young women who were thought to have venereal diseases. Most were called “charity girls,” or working-class girls who happened to have had relationships with infected men. Through the eyes of one fictional charity girl, this novel explores an astonishing time.
Frieda Mintz, a Jewish seventeen-year-old bundle wrapper at Jordan Marsh in Boston, spends one impulsive night with an infected soldier. Soon after, she is tracked down and sent to a makeshift detention center, where she is subject to invasive physical exams, poor living conditions, and a creeping erosion of all she thought she knew about herself. Buoying her, though, is a cast of women as strong as they are diverse, and they soon teach one another about dependence, and eventually independence.
Charity Girl lays bare an ugly part of our past, when the government exercised a questionable level of authority at the expense of its citizens’ rights. The book casts long shadows and explores the most important, urgent questions of desire, freedom, and identity.
Charity Girl examines one of the darkest periods in our history, when patriotic fervor and fear led to devastating consequences. During World War I, the U.S. government went on a moral and medical campaign, quarantining and incarcerating young women who were thought to have venereal diseases. Most were called “charity girls,” or working-class girls who happened to have had relationships with infected men. Through the eyes of one fictional charity girl, this novel explores an astonishing time.
Frieda Mintz, a Jewish seventeen-year-old bundle wrapper at Jordan Marsh in Boston, spends one impulsive night with an infected soldier. Soon after, she is tracked down and sent to a makeshift detention center, where she is subject to invasive physical exams, poor living conditions, and a creeping erosion of all she thought she knew about herself. Buoying her, though, is a cast of women as strong as they are diverse, and they soon teach one another about dependence, and eventually independence.
Charity Girl lays bare an ugly part of our past, when the government exercised a questionable level of authority at the expense of its citizens’ rights. The book casts long shadows and explores the most important, urgent questions of desire, freedom, and identity.
323 pages, Hardcover
First published January 3, 2007
29 people are currently reading
716 people want to read
About the author
Michael Lowenthal
30 books38 followersMichael Lowenthal is the author of the novels Charity Girl (Houghton Mifflin, 2007), Avoidance (Graywolf Press, 2002) and The Same Embrace (Dutton, 1998). His short stories have appeared in Tin House, the Southern Review, the Kenyon Review, and Esquire.com, and have been widely anthologized, in such volumes as Lost Tribe: Jewish Fiction from the Edge (HarperCollins), Bestial Noise: The Tin House Fiction Reader (Bloomsbury), and Best New American Voices 2005 (Harcourt). Three of his stories have received "Special Mention" in Pushcart Prize anthologies. He has also written nonfiction for the New York Times Magazine, Boston Magazine, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Out, and many other publications.
The recipient of fellowships from the Bread Loaf and Wesleyan writers' conferences, the MacDowell Colony, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, and the Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers, Lowenthal is also the winner of the James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize. He teaches creative writing in the low-residency MFA program at Lesley University.
Before becoming a full-time writer, Lowenthal worked as an editor for University Press of New England, where he founded the Hardscrabble Books imprint, publishing such authors as Chris Bohjalian, W.D. Wetherell, and Ernest Hebert. He studied English and comparative religion at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1990 as class valedictorian.
Lowenthal lives in Boston, where he is an active former board member of the literary human rights organization PEN New England.
The recipient of fellowships from the Bread Loaf and Wesleyan writers' conferences, the MacDowell Colony, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, and the Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers, Lowenthal is also the winner of the James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize. He teaches creative writing in the low-residency MFA program at Lesley University.
Before becoming a full-time writer, Lowenthal worked as an editor for University Press of New England, where he founded the Hardscrabble Books imprint, publishing such authors as Chris Bohjalian, W.D. Wetherell, and Ernest Hebert. He studied English and comparative religion at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1990 as class valedictorian.
Lowenthal lives in Boston, where he is an active former board member of the literary human rights organization PEN New England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
April 11, 2013
This is an historical fiction book about a government detainment effort to rid America of venereal diseases via women who they deemed to be "of loose moral character" during WWI. Essentially, the government detained 30,000 women, of which 15,000 carried venereal diseases, and incarcerated them for months at a time. They were arrested for the "crimes" of dressing provocatively or walking through neighborhoods without an escort Only 1/3 of those arrested were ever charged with prostitution, and the majority were never charged of any offense. The book is about a character who contracts venereal diseases from an USA service man, then tries to find him(remarkably she fell in love with him). When she tries to find him, she's raped by another service man. After stumbling away from the rape, she's arrested for indecent clothing (being ripped from being raped). The arresting officer could do this on his own volition without any reason other than his own opinion. Another woman there was arrested because she was running away from her husband, who was prostituting her for money. It's a great story and a part of US history I didn't know about.
January 8, 2016
One of the things that I find disheartening about male authors take on female lead characters is that they tend to portray them either as batty loud mouthed women, that they themselves clearly would not find redeeming, or like little girls-- their own daughter maybe, who long to grow up and become real women. This was certainly an example of the latter.
I found my self vexingly connected to the character, hoping beyond hope that she would find her way through. Despite feeling frusterated by the fact that it seemed like she was consistently making all the wrong decisions. I think my attraction to her was probably very similar to what the author had intended, I felt like she was my little sister, who kept asking my advice and then ritually going against what I told her. Frusterating.
Yet I sucked it up and stuck through it, knowing, seeing the potential for a wonderfully happy ending, watching all her girlish enthusiasm and hope die away replaced with a bitter, sardonic realism and hopelessness. While the author did a great job making me relate to this horrible and unavoidable loss of innocence, I felt like the payoff was lacking. There was no redemption, no hope, and the author made you feel a fool for ever expecting there would be. Just a bitter lackluster ending that left you with a little hole inside of you.
I feel like the mother in the book was a good piece of symbolism for what the author himself must be like and the readers are his unwitting, helpless children, manupulated, left wanting and in the end hung out to dry.I think this book fulfilled its intention, unfortunately, I also feel a little cheated and angry for seeing this one through to the end.
I found my self vexingly connected to the character, hoping beyond hope that she would find her way through. Despite feeling frusterated by the fact that it seemed like she was consistently making all the wrong decisions. I think my attraction to her was probably very similar to what the author had intended, I felt like she was my little sister, who kept asking my advice and then ritually going against what I told her. Frusterating.
Yet I sucked it up and stuck through it, knowing, seeing the potential for a wonderfully happy ending, watching all her girlish enthusiasm and hope die away replaced with a bitter, sardonic realism and hopelessness. While the author did a great job making me relate to this horrible and unavoidable loss of innocence, I felt like the payoff was lacking. There was no redemption, no hope, and the author made you feel a fool for ever expecting there would be. Just a bitter lackluster ending that left you with a little hole inside of you.
I feel like the mother in the book was a good piece of symbolism for what the author himself must be like and the readers are his unwitting, helpless children, manupulated, left wanting and in the end hung out to dry.I think this book fulfilled its intention, unfortunately, I also feel a little cheated and angry for seeing this one through to the end.
July 28, 2024
This was a pretty depressing book. Dreams crushed by reality, minimal positive resolution. Maybe, too, I'm affected by the battle between conservative Christian ideals and liberal secularism played out on the pages, in an era when the conservative had the upper hand and abused it to a degree that would make the ACLU's head explode. It's scary to realize how recently America's Puritanical roots had that kind of power and sway. It's also interesting to see how this arch-conservatism backfired (notably via Prohibition), triggering the cultural revolution that would initiate what we think of as 20th Century culture. These last ideas aren't covered in the novel, but the excellent historical content (the novel is meticulously researched, marrying perfectly facts and mindset) inspired in me, at least, a bout of rumination.
Lowenthal is a masterful writer. His language is damn-near perfect. The plot is solid, characters fresh and believable. There's nothing to criticize in his craft. This is not the type of novel I usually read, but I enjoyed it. I don't think I can say anything better than that.
Lowenthal is a masterful writer. His language is damn-near perfect. The plot is solid, characters fresh and believable. There's nothing to criticize in his craft. This is not the type of novel I usually read, but I enjoyed it. I don't think I can say anything better than that.
October 5, 2011
I did not find this story to be particularly engaging, but I enjoyed learning about a chapter in America that I did not know about. I was surprised to learn that in 1918 America, the government imprisoned women who were deemed to be of low moral character and a public danger due to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. No matter that men—often the carriers of sexually transmitted diseases--were given a pass for engaging equally in casual and frequent sex.
Many, if not most of the characters in this book, were unappealing, some despicable: insensitive, mean, exploitative, and/or sadistic. For example, Dr. Slocum; the soldiers on the train that tricked Frieda into a situation where she was nearly raped; Felix Morse and his father; Rattigan the guard who exploited the girls for sex; Frieda’s mother; and even Alice the counselor who Frieda thought she could trust.
I never really connected with any of the characters, except maybe Frieda, and felt that none of the characters was developed in any depth.
Frieda learned early that, in her view, anyone who gives you something wants something in return. Overall, this was a pretty depressing story, not what I enjoy reading.
Many, if not most of the characters in this book, were unappealing, some despicable: insensitive, mean, exploitative, and/or sadistic. For example, Dr. Slocum; the soldiers on the train that tricked Frieda into a situation where she was nearly raped; Felix Morse and his father; Rattigan the guard who exploited the girls for sex; Frieda’s mother; and even Alice the counselor who Frieda thought she could trust.
I never really connected with any of the characters, except maybe Frieda, and felt that none of the characters was developed in any depth.
Frieda learned early that, in her view, anyone who gives you something wants something in return. Overall, this was a pretty depressing story, not what I enjoy reading.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : Charity Girl - Nevisande : Michael Lowenthal - ISBN : 618546294 - ISBN13 : 9780618546299 - Dar 323 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2007
November 18, 2008
I just can't do it. I can't wade through the cheap attempt at pornographic descriptors that make my head dizzy! Oh my god. Perhaps the book is good but I only got through 40 pages and can't take any more. If if takes you this long to develop a plot (if there is one), perhaps I should refer you to my beginner's creative writing course professor. He'd beat the crap out of your overfluffed story. I know it's unfair to generalize but, when reading books like this, I'm reminded why I dislike fiction so much.
March 9, 2008
Fictional book about venereal disease camps during WWI. Young girls who had tragic one night stands with soldiers are marginilized and dumped in with prostitutes into these camps that treat a womens' body as vectors of disease. I wanted it to piss me off but it came off as a little too easy on this part of history.
January 16, 2009
As some of you may know, I tend to read some pretty odd-content books. CHARITY GIRL was no exception. Not only was a good read and generally well-written, but it told of a relatively unknown chapter in US history of moral and medical campaigning that lead to the detainment of nearly 30,000 women at over 40 sites around the country.
Having left her home and Russian immigrant mother, Freida Mintz works Jordan Marsh shop girl and is smart and independent. She lives on her own, with her $8 a week pay and enjoys her nights out with BFF Lou.
Following a night with a US Army private leaving for WW1, Freida is left with more than the memory to remember him by. He has given her syphillis. She is tracked down by the Committee on Prevention of Social Evils Surrounding Military Camps and sent to a detention camp for prostitures and charity girls - or those thought to be either one - behind barbed wire and subjected to medical procedures and general moral ubraiding from the staff. (google/wikipedia charity girls, detainment camps, and WW1 for more info on that one)
A turn-of-the-century feel to it, CHARITY GIRL and its author Michael Lowenthal accurately describes this dark period of wartime history. Since penicillin has no yet been discovered, Freida is given substances like mercury, arsenic compounds, iodine and silver nitrate and put to work sewing, shoveling manure and gardening. She and the other girls in the house are re-educated about the ills of the flesh according to the Committee and the house staff, in an effort to rehabilitate her.
Although somewhat graphic - the detail is needed and required -CHARITY GIRL is an impressive and well-documented historical account of this time period.
Having left her home and Russian immigrant mother, Freida Mintz works Jordan Marsh shop girl and is smart and independent. She lives on her own, with her $8 a week pay and enjoys her nights out with BFF Lou.
Following a night with a US Army private leaving for WW1, Freida is left with more than the memory to remember him by. He has given her syphillis. She is tracked down by the Committee on Prevention of Social Evils Surrounding Military Camps and sent to a detention camp for prostitures and charity girls - or those thought to be either one - behind barbed wire and subjected to medical procedures and general moral ubraiding from the staff. (google/wikipedia charity girls, detainment camps, and WW1 for more info on that one)
A turn-of-the-century feel to it, CHARITY GIRL and its author Michael Lowenthal accurately describes this dark period of wartime history. Since penicillin has no yet been discovered, Freida is given substances like mercury, arsenic compounds, iodine and silver nitrate and put to work sewing, shoveling manure and gardening. She and the other girls in the house are re-educated about the ills of the flesh according to the Committee and the house staff, in an effort to rehabilitate her.
Although somewhat graphic - the detail is needed and required -CHARITY GIRL is an impressive and well-documented historical account of this time period.
June 29, 2012
Pretty good, but not great. Confession, I didn't know about this bit of history - that during World War I, girls & women who had or were suspected of having, sexually transmitted diseases, were rounded up & detained in treatment centers. This happened to thousands of women. So - maybe I would have enjoyed reading some non-fiction about this, better than I enjoyed the novel, because I did find the subject interesting. Lowenthal's writing is decent, but plot & characters both could be better. I didn't really get into the character of Frieda. In fact I felt like Lowenthal didn't really believe in any of his characters, himself. He wasn't carried away by any of them. Frieda seemed to swing wildly between wanting independence & wanting to be taken care of; between wanting a man & not. Maybe that would have been pretty typical for a girl her age, in her situation & time -but the writer didn't make me believe it. And the Felix character - I never did get a sense of whether he was a good guy or a bad guy, which was odd, given that the supporting cast were all very obvious. Nice Jewish dad, horrible Jewish mom. Matron with a soft spot inside. Predatory lesbian social worker (oh, no, really)?! Dickensian waif. Irish prostitute with heart of gold, sex-crazed black girls, etc. Yikes! The plot itself seemed uneven - racing ahead in spots, then slowing down to a trickle. Also, given Frieda's overall story arc, the ending seemed very tacked on. In the end I was frustrated - what did Frieda learn, what did her journey mean? I'm making this sound worse than it was - so I repeat that I sort of liked it - but I enjoyed reading it more than I enjoy looking back on it, if that makes any sense! (But - many thanks to Jessica for the book loan!)
October 12, 2008
This book is set during an ugly period of history that we were NOT taught in school. During WW1 women were unlawfully imprisoned (mostly prostitutes) and detained because they had STDs. The idea was to protect the soldiers so they could be healthy and go fight the Germans... Blame the women not the men.
These women were detained and "treated" for the illnesses. They had no rights and could have no contact with the outside world at all.
The story is about 17 year old Frieda who has a crush on Felix, a serviceman she meets while dancing. She goes to far only to find he has infected her and a service worker tells her this at her job which she promptly is fired from.
In her attempt to find Felix for his help, she is raped and arrested.
What I liked the most is her thoughts as she tries to understand what has happened and work through her shame and the degredation. Trying to find a future for herself. But she is a teen and she also has to face her unrealistic hopes of rescue and the happily ever after...
These women were detained and "treated" for the illnesses. They had no rights and could have no contact with the outside world at all.
The story is about 17 year old Frieda who has a crush on Felix, a serviceman she meets while dancing. She goes to far only to find he has infected her and a service worker tells her this at her job which she promptly is fired from.
In her attempt to find Felix for his help, she is raped and arrested.
What I liked the most is her thoughts as she tries to understand what has happened and work through her shame and the degredation. Trying to find a future for herself. But she is a teen and she also has to face her unrealistic hopes of rescue and the happily ever after...
June 21, 2013
I enjoyed the history that was included in this novel but the story aspect of the novel fell flat.
I didn't find myself loving any of the characters. Frieda, the main character, and a feisty young woman that runs away from her home to avoid an awanted marriage starts an independent life. But lo and behold she meets Felix; a meeting that changes her life forever. Personally I have a hard time identifying with or connecting with a woman that falls head over heels in love with a man she barely knows. Especially one that refuses to recognize the obvious. I wish the author had not made Frieda "weak" when in came to affairs of the heart but as strong in that as she was in other aspects of her life. The other thing I didnt' like about the novel was the book moved at one pace most of the way through and then near the end, years sped by quickly and a summary of Frieda's lfe was presented. Perhaps rather than just jumping through the years it might have worked to have an addendum or something proving a wrap up of Frieda's life.
I didn't find myself loving any of the characters. Frieda, the main character, and a feisty young woman that runs away from her home to avoid an awanted marriage starts an independent life. But lo and behold she meets Felix; a meeting that changes her life forever. Personally I have a hard time identifying with or connecting with a woman that falls head over heels in love with a man she barely knows. Especially one that refuses to recognize the obvious. I wish the author had not made Frieda "weak" when in came to affairs of the heart but as strong in that as she was in other aspects of her life. The other thing I didnt' like about the novel was the book moved at one pace most of the way through and then near the end, years sped by quickly and a summary of Frieda's lfe was presented. Perhaps rather than just jumping through the years it might have worked to have an addendum or something proving a wrap up of Frieda's life.
April 2, 2011
I'm really loving the historical fiction genre lately. I had no idea that during the War (WWI) there were "detention centers" for women thought to be "immoral" because they had STDs (in the book they were referred to as venereal diseases). They were trying to crack down on prostitution but as the author pointed out there was no way to tell the prostitutes from the "merely adventuresome" so they literally just locked everyone up, no trial or anything! The double standards were horrendous.
SPOILER:
As far as story, I think I enjoyed the beginning and middle more than they end. I think I am like Frieda (main character) in that despite all the evidence pointing to the unlikelihood of things working out they way Frieda had hoped for, I kept thinking that maybe, just maybe...they would. One of the major themes was not giving up hope, and the pros and cons of having that yearning spirit within in you. Frieda has it, and never really loses it.
SPOILER:
As far as story, I think I enjoyed the beginning and middle more than they end. I think I am like Frieda (main character) in that despite all the evidence pointing to the unlikelihood of things working out they way Frieda had hoped for, I kept thinking that maybe, just maybe...they would. One of the major themes was not giving up hope, and the pros and cons of having that yearning spirit within in you. Frieda has it, and never really loses it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 22, 2013
The reason it took me so long to finish this book is that I honestly don't like it. I would never ever read this book again. Then why, I hear you ask, did you rate it a 2 instead of an absolute 0? There are two reasons for this:
1. Historical context- I had no idea that something like this happened in the early 20th century and I was both shocked and intrigued. So points for the shady side of American history
2. Jo-she was basically the only character that I felt for. Everyone else in my opinion (particularly Frieda) just sucked. I think that her gruesome death as a result of a violent attempted abortion was extremely fitting. I even saw it coming when she seemed inordinately unbothered by Alice's FAILURE TO SYMPATHIZE.
Other than the above this book irritated me extremely, I'm surprised that I even finished it. The characters were irritating, the writing merely mediocre, character motivation incomprehensible and gah the sex scenes.
1. Historical context- I had no idea that something like this happened in the early 20th century and I was both shocked and intrigued. So points for the shady side of American history
2. Jo-she was basically the only character that I felt for. Everyone else in my opinion (particularly Frieda) just sucked. I think that her gruesome death as a result of a violent attempted abortion was extremely fitting. I even saw it coming when she seemed inordinately unbothered by Alice's FAILURE TO SYMPATHIZE.
Other than the above this book irritated me extremely, I'm surprised that I even finished it. The characters were irritating, the writing merely mediocre, character motivation incomprehensible and gah the sex scenes.
March 14, 2008
Another historical fiction which I kept expecting to descend into stereotype, but never quite fell over that cliff. The heroine had one night of passion and came up with a nasty VD. But the issue is really when this happened--during WWI, when many women, both prostitutes and others, were rounded up and placed in detention camps. Frieda is a wonderful character, and her reactions to her situation ring true. And it doesn't end completely perfectly (though for a while signs were pointing to a fairy tale ending)--which was exactly right.
September 13, 2009
Lowenthal is the master of metaphor - clever and original. The metaphors are what I love most about Lowenthal's books. This book (as well as his others) is obviously well-researched - a real strong point, and something that makes the stories all the more interesting and multi-dimensional. Informative about life in a different era. I'm biased as I've known the author since elementary school, but I still think it is a beautiful book.
March 12, 2013
This book was very depressing. Every time this girl tried to pick herself up, she got shoved down again. Unfortunately, it is historical fiction, so that's the way things happened to some women. I knew very little about how women could easily get labeled and fall into a system in the early 1900's so it was a good learning experience. On the other hand, it left me feeling down.
March 26, 2008
A lovely, if tragic, account of a little known misogyny in American history. Beautifully crafted, delicately considered.
September 18, 2015
Interesting...but I was hoping for a more satisfying ending to Frieda's story...
November 22, 2014
Frieda Mintz is a seventeen year old Jewish girl who works as a bundle wrapper in a department store after running away from her controlling mother, who wanted to marry her off to a much older man. Frieda is barely scraping by, but she's enjoying her life, which becomes even more exciting when she meets Felix Morse, a private in the Army, during a parade. They have one date, in which Felix takes her to a baseball game and, later, changes Frieda's life forever by giving her a sexually transmitted disease. Frieda's life quickly takes a turn for the worse - she loses her job and is unable to find a new one without a letter of reference from her former employer, she goes through the meager amount of money she's managed to save, she loses all of her "friends" (save one) at the department store, is nearly raped, and is eventually picked up and sent to a home for women who are infected with STDs.
I have a lot of thoughts about this book, so my review might seem a little disjointed.
First, I've had this book for something like six or seven years. I bought it shortly after its release (I believe in 2007?) and tried to read it then, but I never got past the first few pages. The author's writing style is a little different, and I just couldn't get into the story on my first try - but on the second try, I was instantly hooked.
I liked the character of Frieda, although it was a little hard to sympathize with the "love" that she felt for Felix instantly. Still, I guess I can give her a little leeway because she was rather sheltered growing up, and it was a different era then (filled with the knowledge that soldiers were being shipped overseas and might never return, which might up the quickening of "love"). And she did grow, from being incredibly naive and trusting to someone who sees the world more as it is.
I really liked the character of Jo, one of the girls that Frieda meets in the home.
And then there's Anna. Sigh. I have conflicted thoughts about Anna. She's one of the overseers of the girls in the home, and at first she seems rather sympathetic toward them. Ultimately, it is Anna who evaluates the girls and gives them the opportunity to either regain their lives or be classified as degenerates. She forms a friendship with Frieda, and that is when the trouble starts.
As for the historical context and situations, I found it fascinating. I don't read a lot of fiction set in the First World War era, but this book was interesting to me. The author obviously knows his era and throws in a lot of language, names, brands, and etc that really immersed me into the story and the time period. There is a lot of racism displayed against the Jewish characters (Frieda, Felix, one of the doctors at the home, and all of their families are Jewish), as well as a ton of sexism (not surprising - women don't even have the vote yet at this time). Unfortunately also not surprising, it is the women who are prosecuted, even though in some cases (like Frieda's), they just got involved with the wrong man, who then infected them. Most of the girls in the home just like a good time; only a few seem to be involved with prostitution, and even then, it's the only way that they can really survive at the time. They are being held in the home without charges, without a trial, and without representation, only because they have been found to have a sexually transmitted disease.
The ending felt rushed to me, and although Frieda learned some very important things, she was still quite naive.
Altogether, I am glad that I read this book (I'm not sure that I can say that I "enjoyed" it, because there is a lot of harshness in it).
I have a lot of thoughts about this book, so my review might seem a little disjointed.
First, I've had this book for something like six or seven years. I bought it shortly after its release (I believe in 2007?) and tried to read it then, but I never got past the first few pages. The author's writing style is a little different, and I just couldn't get into the story on my first try - but on the second try, I was instantly hooked.
I liked the character of Frieda, although it was a little hard to sympathize with the "love" that she felt for Felix instantly. Still, I guess I can give her a little leeway because she was rather sheltered growing up, and it was a different era then (filled with the knowledge that soldiers were being shipped overseas and might never return, which might up the quickening of "love"). And she did grow, from being incredibly naive and trusting to someone who sees the world more as it is.
I really liked the character of Jo, one of the girls that Frieda meets in the home.
And then there's Anna. Sigh. I have conflicted thoughts about Anna. She's one of the overseers of the girls in the home, and at first she seems rather sympathetic toward them. Ultimately, it is Anna who evaluates the girls and gives them the opportunity to either regain their lives or be classified as degenerates. She forms a friendship with Frieda, and that is when the trouble starts.
As for the historical context and situations, I found it fascinating. I don't read a lot of fiction set in the First World War era, but this book was interesting to me. The author obviously knows his era and throws in a lot of language, names, brands, and etc that really immersed me into the story and the time period. There is a lot of racism displayed against the Jewish characters (Frieda, Felix, one of the doctors at the home, and all of their families are Jewish), as well as a ton of sexism (not surprising - women don't even have the vote yet at this time). Unfortunately also not surprising, it is the women who are prosecuted, even though in some cases (like Frieda's), they just got involved with the wrong man, who then infected them. Most of the girls in the home just like a good time; only a few seem to be involved with prostitution, and even then, it's the only way that they can really survive at the time. They are being held in the home without charges, without a trial, and without representation, only because they have been found to have a sexually transmitted disease.
The ending felt rushed to me, and although Frieda learned some very important things, she was still quite naive.
Altogether, I am glad that I read this book (I'm not sure that I can say that I "enjoyed" it, because there is a lot of harshness in it).
May 7, 2009
Charity Girl is set during World War I, and tells the story of Frieda Mintz, a young Jewish teenage girl who struggles with a cold and distant mother but has a wonderful and loving father. Unfortunately, things change within the family and Frieda is left alone to be raised by her mother who Frieda feels little connection to. Her mother is left to find a way to support them and takes in sewing jobs but this is not enough to cover their debts. She is approached by an older man who wants to marry Frieda and who is twice her age. Frieda is repulsed by this man and seeks to find a way to get out of this arrangement her mother has agreed to. She is able to find a job and develops a close relationship with Lou a girl she works with, who teaches Frieda how to manage her money and survive. Lou also shows Frieda how to have some fun and takes her to dances where they learn just what some men are looking for. Frieda meets a man named Felix, a private in the army and they have one evening of passion and meaningful memories.
Unfortunately, Felix passed on a terrible disease that will change the course of both of their lives. Frieda is young and naive and makes choices that put her in a situation that allows her to be easily tracked down and sent away to one of the detention centers. There she befriends many of the other patients and a social worker who takes interest in her case. She learns powerful lessons about love, loss, forgiveness, independence and strength of spirit.
In all honesty, I did not know about this historical time in our country where thousands of women were held in reformatories and detention homes, behind barbed wire, for months at a time. It is reported that the U. S. Government detained close to 30,000 women. There were no charges of a crime, no trial, and they were forced to endure medical treatment for venereal diseases. Many of the women were prostitutes, but a significant number of the women were not. They were called "charity girls". Hence the title of the book, the author describes "charity girls" as " those who "picked up" men for the sheer fun of it and for the attendant perks of nights on the town—and who by our contemporary standards, were doing nothing illicit or even unusual. " Frieda was considered a "charity girl". These events are truly shocking and mind boggling to realize that they actually occurred. Also, it has been reported that these actions did not cause a decline in the military's infection rate.
I was angry that the men were not held accountable for their own actions in spreading venereal disease in the story and during the real events of World War I. The women were blamed for "infecting" the men when often it was the other way around, especially for the "charity girls". Due to the men being needed to serve in the war, they were not detained in detention centers or reformatories while they were being treated.
I found this novel, engrossing and it grabbed my attention from the start. I read it in 2 days as I couldn't put it down. In reading the story, I could envision this historical time period with the wonderful details and descriptions that the author shared through his writing. I wanted to know what happened to Frieda. I was hoping for more in the end but in a sense the choices that Frieda makes are relative of that time period. Frieda may not have had many options after her experiences in the detention camp. I was hoping for Frieda to find that "true love" and passion that she deserved. I guess that I wanted Frieda to have a happily ever after story but that is not reality. I did like how in the end Frieda found her strength and intelligence as a women. I was very impressed that Michael Lowenthal, a male author, could capture so accurately the female characters perspectives and feelings.
Unfortunately, Felix passed on a terrible disease that will change the course of both of their lives. Frieda is young and naive and makes choices that put her in a situation that allows her to be easily tracked down and sent away to one of the detention centers. There she befriends many of the other patients and a social worker who takes interest in her case. She learns powerful lessons about love, loss, forgiveness, independence and strength of spirit.
In all honesty, I did not know about this historical time in our country where thousands of women were held in reformatories and detention homes, behind barbed wire, for months at a time. It is reported that the U. S. Government detained close to 30,000 women. There were no charges of a crime, no trial, and they were forced to endure medical treatment for venereal diseases. Many of the women were prostitutes, but a significant number of the women were not. They were called "charity girls". Hence the title of the book, the author describes "charity girls" as " those who "picked up" men for the sheer fun of it and for the attendant perks of nights on the town—and who by our contemporary standards, were doing nothing illicit or even unusual. " Frieda was considered a "charity girl". These events are truly shocking and mind boggling to realize that they actually occurred. Also, it has been reported that these actions did not cause a decline in the military's infection rate.
I was angry that the men were not held accountable for their own actions in spreading venereal disease in the story and during the real events of World War I. The women were blamed for "infecting" the men when often it was the other way around, especially for the "charity girls". Due to the men being needed to serve in the war, they were not detained in detention centers or reformatories while they were being treated.
I found this novel, engrossing and it grabbed my attention from the start. I read it in 2 days as I couldn't put it down. In reading the story, I could envision this historical time period with the wonderful details and descriptions that the author shared through his writing. I wanted to know what happened to Frieda. I was hoping for more in the end but in a sense the choices that Frieda makes are relative of that time period. Frieda may not have had many options after her experiences in the detention camp. I was hoping for Frieda to find that "true love" and passion that she deserved. I guess that I wanted Frieda to have a happily ever after story but that is not reality. I did like how in the end Frieda found her strength and intelligence as a women. I was very impressed that Michael Lowenthal, a male author, could capture so accurately the female characters perspectives and feelings.
January 19, 2012
I can't decide if I really liked this book or if it was truly disturbing. I love American History. So much so that it was one of my majors in college. I know that history is often rewritten to cover up that which embarrasses or portrays in a negative light, however I cannot believe that something such as this, as recently as in my not so long deceased great-grandmothers' lifetime, I knew nothing about.
During WWI, thousands of young women (some prostitutes, some not) were rounded up and forced into treatment facilities (i.e., prison homes) in order to stop the spread of what was called "social diseases" among the soldiers. Charity Girl takes this story and tells it from the point of view of a 17-year old girl who lives on her own in Boston. Having escaped the oppressive rule of her Russian-immigrant mother and the arranged marriage to an unappealing man more than twice her age, she is living on her own and enjoying the freedom that she has to go dancing or march in a parade with her friends. She meets the presumed man of her dreams, Felix, and experiences a day of firsts--first baseball game, first love, first time driving a car--only to have the world come crashing around her ears a few days later. She first loses her job, then is attacked by someone who says he can take her to see Felix, and is later found to be guilty of undermining the military authority and infecting a soldier (when in fact, Felix infected her) and suddenly is in a world that she has no control over. Humiliating body examinations, being put down by the house matron and other 'residents', etc. She is holding to the hope that she will find a way out, but there is little hope to be found.
The pace of the book is uneven. It takes a bit to get going, and there are some fast-paced sections offset with some remarkably slow ones. As one commenter said, her pet peeve is men who try to write women characters, as they can come off as one-note and have idealistic extremes. I can see where this might evoke such feelings. But still, it was enjoyable, and it was informative, and it points out a shockingly atrocious part of American history that has been ignored.
I would have given this book four stars as a review, but then I found this: http://lowenthal.etherweave.com/publi.... It's a short essay by Lowenthal on how he stumbled across Sontag's writings on the treatment of women at this time, and how he came to write the book Charity Girl. I thought the essay was well presented and very thought out, and in actuality better written than the novel. Still, both are worthy reads!
During WWI, thousands of young women (some prostitutes, some not) were rounded up and forced into treatment facilities (i.e., prison homes) in order to stop the spread of what was called "social diseases" among the soldiers. Charity Girl takes this story and tells it from the point of view of a 17-year old girl who lives on her own in Boston. Having escaped the oppressive rule of her Russian-immigrant mother and the arranged marriage to an unappealing man more than twice her age, she is living on her own and enjoying the freedom that she has to go dancing or march in a parade with her friends. She meets the presumed man of her dreams, Felix, and experiences a day of firsts--first baseball game, first love, first time driving a car--only to have the world come crashing around her ears a few days later. She first loses her job, then is attacked by someone who says he can take her to see Felix, and is later found to be guilty of undermining the military authority and infecting a soldier (when in fact, Felix infected her) and suddenly is in a world that she has no control over. Humiliating body examinations, being put down by the house matron and other 'residents', etc. She is holding to the hope that she will find a way out, but there is little hope to be found.
The pace of the book is uneven. It takes a bit to get going, and there are some fast-paced sections offset with some remarkably slow ones. As one commenter said, her pet peeve is men who try to write women characters, as they can come off as one-note and have idealistic extremes. I can see where this might evoke such feelings. But still, it was enjoyable, and it was informative, and it points out a shockingly atrocious part of American history that has been ignored.
I would have given this book four stars as a review, but then I found this: http://lowenthal.etherweave.com/publi.... It's a short essay by Lowenthal on how he stumbled across Sontag's writings on the treatment of women at this time, and how he came to write the book Charity Girl. I thought the essay was well presented and very thought out, and in actuality better written than the novel. Still, both are worthy reads!
January 7, 2015
FIVE-STAR MATERIAL, ONE-STAR PRESENTATION.
“Limp with sudden languishment, Frieda drops her pencil; her fingers hold the shape of its absence.”—page 130
The best passage of CHARITY GIRL, by Michael Lowenthal comes not within the novel, but in the ‘Author’s note’ at the end of the book; when Lowenthal sets the historical context:
“During World War I, driven by an unprecedented alliance between military efficiency experts and antiprostitution activists, the United States government detained some thirty thousand women; more than fifteen thousand, found to carry venereal diseases, were incarcerated for months at a time. Because it was practically impossible to distinguish the criminal from the merely adventuresome, the government's crusade targeted women indiscriminately. They were arrested and taken into custody for the “crimes” of dressing provocatively or walking though certain neighborhoods without an escort. Only one third of the arrested women were ever charged with prostitution, the majority were detained without having been charged with any offense.”—page 299
Dynamite material. Right? Outrageous, fist-shaking injustice. Should make for captivating reading.
In the hands of a T. C. Boyle this novel would have sizzled with engaging characters, situations and events; and had me loving and hating it at the same time, I’m sure. It would, and should have have been, in other words, a real page turner.
Too many times while reading Michael Lowenthal’s rendition, though, I had to wonder why it seemed to be taking me so long to plow through? Had I forgotten how to read? Had my passion for reading somehow ‘languished'? The characters, the situations, and the events are all here; but the storytelling, I’m afraid, turned this whole novel—dare I say it, “limp with […] languishment.”
Recommendation: Find someone else’s version of this story to read. I hope to.
“Alice’s body boasts a slender, muscular austereness, her high pragmatic hips like fine woodwork.”—page 159 (I’m still scratching my head over the concept of ‘high pragmatic hips’—let alone they’re being ‘like fine woodwork’.)
NOOKbook edition, 303 pages
“Limp with sudden languishment, Frieda drops her pencil; her fingers hold the shape of its absence.”—page 130
The best passage of CHARITY GIRL, by Michael Lowenthal comes not within the novel, but in the ‘Author’s note’ at the end of the book; when Lowenthal sets the historical context:
“During World War I, driven by an unprecedented alliance between military efficiency experts and antiprostitution activists, the United States government detained some thirty thousand women; more than fifteen thousand, found to carry venereal diseases, were incarcerated for months at a time. Because it was practically impossible to distinguish the criminal from the merely adventuresome, the government's crusade targeted women indiscriminately. They were arrested and taken into custody for the “crimes” of dressing provocatively or walking though certain neighborhoods without an escort. Only one third of the arrested women were ever charged with prostitution, the majority were detained without having been charged with any offense.”—page 299
Dynamite material. Right? Outrageous, fist-shaking injustice. Should make for captivating reading.
In the hands of a T. C. Boyle this novel would have sizzled with engaging characters, situations and events; and had me loving and hating it at the same time, I’m sure. It would, and should have have been, in other words, a real page turner.
Too many times while reading Michael Lowenthal’s rendition, though, I had to wonder why it seemed to be taking me so long to plow through? Had I forgotten how to read? Had my passion for reading somehow ‘languished'? The characters, the situations, and the events are all here; but the storytelling, I’m afraid, turned this whole novel—dare I say it, “limp with […] languishment.”
Recommendation: Find someone else’s version of this story to read. I hope to.
“Alice’s body boasts a slender, muscular austereness, her high pragmatic hips like fine woodwork.”—page 159 (I’m still scratching my head over the concept of ‘high pragmatic hips’—let alone they’re being ‘like fine woodwork’.)
NOOKbook edition, 303 pages
May 6, 2008
Not bad. The story follows a young woman in Boston in 1917-1918 as she a) makes a life for herself after fleeing a repressive home, b) has unsafe sex with a serviceman and contracts STDs and c) is picked up by the authorities when she tries to see her "beau" and is incarcerated in a quarantine center.
The good: it looks at a phenomenon that few people are aware of. As a history buff, I knew about crackdowns on brothels and prostitution near military bases during the Great War. However, I was unaware of the practice of just picking up random women. Further, the author creates some interesting characters (although he also has a problem with having to make every character flawed). Finally, the writing is engaging and the story doesn't really drag at any point.
The bad: Unfortunately, the main character is almost unbelievably stupid and self-centered, while still be introspective enough to realize that what she is doing is self-destructive. Further, the author tries too hard to make the sympathetic characters flawed. For example, an apparently dedicated female social worker is also hinted at as being a predatory lesbian. Why? Well, because everyone has to have a flaw, right? Finally, while I think one is supposed to come away from the book thinking that government policies of the time were terrible and discriminatory towards women, he fails. When one considers that the protagonist would have most likely died of her illness (or at least been crippled, syphilis is not much fun) if she had not been put in quarantined and that the majority of the inmates seem to be even worse (that is, they are prostitutes or just don't care about the diseases they spread) one can come away from the book wishing for a little more mandatory quarantining.
In the end, even with the above caveats in mind, the book is worth a read and a good discussion.
The good: it looks at a phenomenon that few people are aware of. As a history buff, I knew about crackdowns on brothels and prostitution near military bases during the Great War. However, I was unaware of the practice of just picking up random women. Further, the author creates some interesting characters (although he also has a problem with having to make every character flawed). Finally, the writing is engaging and the story doesn't really drag at any point.
The bad: Unfortunately, the main character is almost unbelievably stupid and self-centered, while still be introspective enough to realize that what she is doing is self-destructive. Further, the author tries too hard to make the sympathetic characters flawed. For example, an apparently dedicated female social worker is also hinted at as being a predatory lesbian. Why? Well, because everyone has to have a flaw, right? Finally, while I think one is supposed to come away from the book thinking that government policies of the time were terrible and discriminatory towards women, he fails. When one considers that the protagonist would have most likely died of her illness (or at least been crippled, syphilis is not much fun) if she had not been put in quarantined and that the majority of the inmates seem to be even worse (that is, they are prostitutes or just don't care about the diseases they spread) one can come away from the book wishing for a little more mandatory quarantining.
In the end, even with the above caveats in mind, the book is worth a read and a good discussion.
February 15, 2013
I read this book for my library's book group, otherwise I probably wouldn't have picked it up (isn't that the great thing about book groups? :D). When we discussed this book this past week, all of the women in the group agreed that Lowenthal did an excellent job of portraying what it would be like for a woman during the WWI era to be coping with a venereal disease. He "got into Frieda's head" very well, and while a bit of an odd story, it was told very well.
The reason I say it's an odd story is because no one in my group, myself included, realized that during World War I, women who had STDs were basically imprisoned and treated for them, and treated like criminals for "spreading the disease to the boys who were going to the Front." However, in Frieda's case, it was her soldier that was the one who gave her the STD, not the other way around... but any story like that was treated as a lie by the matrons of the houses in which the women and girls were kept.
This book was also a very interesting commentary on the society of the day. What is proper for girls then? What are the different levels of society? What is rape culture, then and now, and how has it changed? So on and so forth. Our group got into a very lively discussion about those questions and some others.
The reason I am only giving this book two stars (although it is closer to 2.5) is because I didn't care for the writing style (told in present tense) and also because the story itself was... strange. I can't really put my finger on why - there was more strangeness to it aside from not knowing the history - but it was just a very odd tale. Not to mention that the description of the treatments was graphic as well as the descriptions of the STDs themselves. A little too high on the gross factor for me to really enjoy it.
The reason I say it's an odd story is because no one in my group, myself included, realized that during World War I, women who had STDs were basically imprisoned and treated for them, and treated like criminals for "spreading the disease to the boys who were going to the Front." However, in Frieda's case, it was her soldier that was the one who gave her the STD, not the other way around... but any story like that was treated as a lie by the matrons of the houses in which the women and girls were kept.
This book was also a very interesting commentary on the society of the day. What is proper for girls then? What are the different levels of society? What is rape culture, then and now, and how has it changed? So on and so forth. Our group got into a very lively discussion about those questions and some others.
The reason I am only giving this book two stars (although it is closer to 2.5) is because I didn't care for the writing style (told in present tense) and also because the story itself was... strange. I can't really put my finger on why - there was more strangeness to it aside from not knowing the history - but it was just a very odd tale. Not to mention that the description of the treatments was graphic as well as the descriptions of the STDs themselves. A little too high on the gross factor for me to really enjoy it.
February 12, 2012
Frieda is just another working Jewish girl in New York City during World War I. She is a bundle wrapper at Jordan Marsh in ladies’ undergarments and very happy with her job and her life. She and her friend, Lou, visit the weekly dances with soldiers and are popular dance partners. One evening Frieda meets a handsome young doughboy and impulsively spends the evening with him. Weeks later she is visited by a stern woman who accuses Frieda of giving the soldier a venereal disease. Frieda is sent to a medical institution where she is quarantined with other “fallen” women who have passed diseases onto soldiers. She is accused of unpatriotic behavior and must be rehabilitated before being let out into society again. The fellow inmates and one sympathetic social worker are the only support system Frieda has as she faces numerous indignities in the detention center.
The little known historical period and the brutal unfair treatment of teenage women will pique interest. Readers will also rally around Frieda and her feisty, but not anachronistic, attitude toward the medical sciences and her own future.
8 on the Wow Factor scale for the writing and unique voice of the character.
The little known historical period and the brutal unfair treatment of teenage women will pique interest. Readers will also rally around Frieda and her feisty, but not anachronistic, attitude toward the medical sciences and her own future.
8 on the Wow Factor scale for the writing and unique voice of the character.
January 27, 2015
Here's a novel that's been in my stack for a few years, since my days earning my MFA at Lesley University. One of my teachers and readers was Michael Lowenthal, who struts his literary and character sensibilities in this finely crafted tale. (What I remember most about Michael's teaching, aside from his amiable style, was his penchant for story structure diagrams, something I've incorporated into my own teaching!) "Charity Girl" is set in a dark moment of America's history during World War I, when some 15,000 women were quarantined and wrongfully detained for months at a time, to prevent them from fraternizing with soldiers and spreading venereal disease, a personal rights atrocity that falls in the same category as the wrongful detainment of Japanese after Pearl Harbor. Lowenthal tells the story of Frieda Mintz, whose coming of age is complicated by these war-time cleansing efforts, and who is arrested for being close to a military base. Tossed into a detention center with other girls, a few prostitutes, but most not, Frieda is what they call a "charity girl" or one who gives it away for free. Compelling, surprising throughout.
December 5, 2007
The protagonist of Michael Lowenthal’s engaging novel Charity Girl is one of the 50,000 women spuriously imprisoned by the U.S. Government during WWI. This sounds like a dull premise, but what bubbles up through the setup is a spirited, sexy romp through a Boston in the grip of war fever. Frieda Mintz, a 17-year-old Jewish shopgirl, likes fast cars, handsome young officers, dances, drinking, and the Red Sox; her resistance to parental authority and independent spirit mark her as something of a proto-feminist. The details of her arrest and exile to a women’s labor house have obvious parallels to the suspension of civil rights post-9/11, but Lowenthal wisely chooses not to force a political message onto his narrative. The period setting is vividly rendered without the overabundance of superfluous detail that makes so much historical fiction headache-inducing. What stays with the reader from Charity Girl is Frieda Mintz and her thirst for life.
From THE L MAGAZINE, January 17 2007
From THE L MAGAZINE, January 17 2007
February 4, 2008
This book introduced me to a bit of history I managed to miss, despite the numerous history and women's history classes I took along the way. Who knew women deemed "oversexed" if they had a venereal disease were rounded up and locked in detention centers (converted brothels) during WWI--to keep the men safe! Apparently, the men had nothing to do with the spread of STDs. The title comes from the name given to women who weren't prostitutes, but who were thought to have slept with maybe just one man before he shipped out, out of charity or pity. These women were thought to be on a slippery slope. The novel's epigraph reads, "Charity causes half the suffering she relieves, but she cannot relieve half the suffering she has caused," and is interesting to consider once one has finished the book. The heroine has a great spirit and I thought she and the time were beautifully depicted. This is a quick-paced read, but there's a lot to think about as you go along.
March 26, 2008
Based on the true experiences of large numbers of young women during the WWI who had, or were suspected of having venereal diseases, caught by government authorities and locked up in asylums where they were subjected to a variety of useful and not so useful treatments, and when cured, turned over to the courts for potential prosecution as prostitutes. In "Charity Girl" we meet young Frieda who has fled her home where her mother was forcing her into marriage to a much older man. Getting a job as a shopgirl, Frieda and her new girlfriend Lou, go dancing with soldiers, and Frieda ends up going off with a young man one night. Not long after, she loses her job when a government agent comes looking for her at work, since she was reported to be a possible carrier of a "social disease." Frieda is both overly naive, while at the same time having entered into the sexual relationship by choice, and it is her naivete that leads to her further troubles.
January 8, 2011
Well, considering I read this in one day, I'd say I liked it. I just couldn't put it down! My favorite part of this book is that it wasn't at all what I expected, based on the reviews. I was surprised that it follows one character as closely as it did, which, of course, makes it a good novel. Though it's written in 3rd person, Freida's viewpoint is clearly shown, and it's an important one. However, despite her difficult life and trying circumstances, she isn't a pathetic or tragic protagonist. A story like this could be idealized (think "Eveline" by Joyce) or over-naturalized (like Stephen Crane's "Maggie"), but Charity Girl is neither one. It's real but not heartbreaking. It has a happy ending, but not a cliche one. As a student of writing, this is the kind of book I like to read because it shows me that good books should be written. (Also, I like the amount of vocabulary words I've used in my classes that are in it: a shocking amount! Love.)
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