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Marjorie Morningstar
Marjorie Morningstar is a love story. It presents one of the greatest characters in modern Marjorie, the pretty 17-year-old who left the respectability of New York's Central Park West to join the theater, live in the teeming streets of Greenwich Village, and seek love in the arms of a brilliant, enigmatic writer.
28 hours and 26 minutes
28 hours and 26 minutes
565 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
957 people are currently reading
10135 people want to read
About the author
Herman Wouk
163 books1,423 followersHerman Wouk was a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish American author with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.
Herman Wouk was born in New York City into a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia. After a childhood and adolescence in the Bronx and a high school diploma from Townsend Harris High School, he earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1934, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and studied under philosopher Irwin Edman. Soon thereafter, he became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell war bonds. He lived a fairly secular lifestyle in his early 20s before deciding to return to a more traditional Jewish way of life, modeled after that of his grandfather, in his mid-20s.
Wouk joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." Wouk served as an officer aboard two destroyer minesweepers (DMS), the USS Zane and USS Southard, becoming executive officer of the latter. He started writing a novel, Aurora Dawn, during off-duty hours aboard ship. Wouk sent a copy of the opening chapters to Irwin Edman who quoted a few pages verbatim to a New York editor. The result was a publisher's contract sent to Wouk's ship, then off the coast of Okinawa. The novel was published in 1947 and became a Book of the Month Club main selection. His second novel, City Boy, proved to be a commercial disappointment at the time of its initial publication in 1948.
While writing his next novel, Wouk read each chapter as it was completed to his wife, who remarked at one point that if they didn't like this one, he'd better take up another line of work (a line he would give to the character of the editor Jeannie Fry in his 1962 novel Youngblood Hawke). The novel, The Caine Mutiny (1951), went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. A huge best-seller, drawing from his wartime experiences aboard minesweepers during World War II, The Caine Mutiny was adapted by the author into a Broadway play called The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and was later made into a film, with Humphrey Bogart portraying Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, captain of the fictional USS Caine. Some Navy personnel complained at the time that Wouk had taken every twitch of every commanding officer in the Navy and put them all into one character, but Captain Queeg has endured as one of the great characters in American fiction.
He married Betty Sarah Brown in 1945, with whom he had three sons: Abraham, Nathanial, and Joseph. He became a fulltime writer in 1946 to support his growing family. His first-born son, Abraham Isaac Wouk, died in a tragic accident as a child; Wouk later dedicated War and Remembrance (1978) to him with the Biblical words, "He will destroy death forever."
In 1998, Wouk received the Guardian of Zion Award.
Herman Wouk died in his sleep in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17, 2019, at the age of 103, ten days before his 104th birthday.
Herman Wouk was born in New York City into a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia. After a childhood and adolescence in the Bronx and a high school diploma from Townsend Harris High School, he earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1934, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and studied under philosopher Irwin Edman. Soon thereafter, he became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell war bonds. He lived a fairly secular lifestyle in his early 20s before deciding to return to a more traditional Jewish way of life, modeled after that of his grandfather, in his mid-20s.
Wouk joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." Wouk served as an officer aboard two destroyer minesweepers (DMS), the USS Zane and USS Southard, becoming executive officer of the latter. He started writing a novel, Aurora Dawn, during off-duty hours aboard ship. Wouk sent a copy of the opening chapters to Irwin Edman who quoted a few pages verbatim to a New York editor. The result was a publisher's contract sent to Wouk's ship, then off the coast of Okinawa. The novel was published in 1947 and became a Book of the Month Club main selection. His second novel, City Boy, proved to be a commercial disappointment at the time of its initial publication in 1948.
While writing his next novel, Wouk read each chapter as it was completed to his wife, who remarked at one point that if they didn't like this one, he'd better take up another line of work (a line he would give to the character of the editor Jeannie Fry in his 1962 novel Youngblood Hawke). The novel, The Caine Mutiny (1951), went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. A huge best-seller, drawing from his wartime experiences aboard minesweepers during World War II, The Caine Mutiny was adapted by the author into a Broadway play called The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and was later made into a film, with Humphrey Bogart portraying Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, captain of the fictional USS Caine. Some Navy personnel complained at the time that Wouk had taken every twitch of every commanding officer in the Navy and put them all into one character, but Captain Queeg has endured as one of the great characters in American fiction.
He married Betty Sarah Brown in 1945, with whom he had three sons: Abraham, Nathanial, and Joseph. He became a fulltime writer in 1946 to support his growing family. His first-born son, Abraham Isaac Wouk, died in a tragic accident as a child; Wouk later dedicated War and Remembrance (1978) to him with the Biblical words, "He will destroy death forever."
In 1998, Wouk received the Guardian of Zion Award.
Herman Wouk died in his sleep in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17, 2019, at the age of 103, ten days before his 104th birthday.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 892 reviews
December 18, 2014
I clearly remember the summer I turned thirteen. My mom, knowing what an avid reader I was, brought home thrift store copies of the books Gone with the Wind and Marjorie Morningstar hoping I'd make a dent in them during the summer. I got through four chapters of each book and gave up. I'm so glad I did! I ended up finishing Gone with the Wind a few years ago, and was so awed by the in depth research and history that went into the novel.
Now after finishing Marjorie Morningstar, I am equally amazed at the depth of this novel! I don't think the thirteen- year-old me would have appreciated Wouk's message about Judaism and the evolving role of women in society during the 30s. I knew it was mainly about a young, beautiful girl trying to make a name for herself on Broadway while looking for love in all the wrong places. What surprised me was how frank Wouk was about sex, and the age old battle between traditional and bohemian lifestyles, or the diverging paths of the virtuous and the "fallen woman."
This was a big hunk of a book, but I promise that I carried it with me everywhere, including my current vacation. It was nearly impossible for me to step away from it. Marjorie and I became one person, and the enormity of each decision she made gave me anxiety attacks. Wouk was on to something here, and the fleshed out characters and dialogue were extremely engaging. I look forward to reading more of his work. This is definitely one of my all-time favorites.
Now after finishing Marjorie Morningstar, I am equally amazed at the depth of this novel! I don't think the thirteen- year-old me would have appreciated Wouk's message about Judaism and the evolving role of women in society during the 30s. I knew it was mainly about a young, beautiful girl trying to make a name for herself on Broadway while looking for love in all the wrong places. What surprised me was how frank Wouk was about sex, and the age old battle between traditional and bohemian lifestyles, or the diverging paths of the virtuous and the "fallen woman."
This was a big hunk of a book, but I promise that I carried it with me everywhere, including my current vacation. It was nearly impossible for me to step away from it. Marjorie and I became one person, and the enormity of each decision she made gave me anxiety attacks. Wouk was on to something here, and the fleshed out characters and dialogue were extremely engaging. I look forward to reading more of his work. This is definitely one of my all-time favorites.
March 7, 2023
UPDATE ….. because I read this years ago — with an added association with my first born daughter— (she read it at age 14)…..
I wanted to revisit this — in the AUDIOBOOK format ….
I already know the story well — but I just had a desire for the comfort of an oldie I loved.
Sooo — for over a week now — I’ve only been listening to about 1 or 2 hours a day …. enjoying the audio-delivery very much!!!
Wow! This was one of my favorite books --- I just noticed a GR's friend marked to read it.
I'd enjoy reading it again myself!
HINT: (to our local book club) --if anyone is reading this: This would be a great pick for a 'classic' pick month.
I wanted to revisit this — in the AUDIOBOOK format ….
I already know the story well — but I just had a desire for the comfort of an oldie I loved.
Sooo — for over a week now — I’ve only been listening to about 1 or 2 hours a day …. enjoying the audio-delivery very much!!!
Wow! This was one of my favorite books --- I just noticed a GR's friend marked to read it.
I'd enjoy reading it again myself!
HINT: (to our local book club) --if anyone is reading this: This would be a great pick for a 'classic' pick month.
September 22, 2021
It seldom happens that I abandon a book and a challenge, but that is precisely what Marjorie Morningstar meant for me today. I found this book terribly dated and totally uninteresting. Perhaps if I forced myself past the 100 pages I generally consider my decision point I would find something redeeming in the novel, and finishing the novel would mean putting “done” to my Old and New Challenge instead of making it unfinishable.
Perhaps Marjorie’s life becomes more interesting when she gets out of her teenage/college days, but I will never know. I refuse to push myself to read 500+ pages of this when I have so many books I am itching to get to. So, with apologies to all my friends who loved this book, it just wasn’t for me at all. What I found the most frustrating was that I kept comparing it to Alice Adams, another teenager with huge ambitions, and with every point of comparison finding it wanting.
Perhaps Marjorie’s life becomes more interesting when she gets out of her teenage/college days, but I will never know. I refuse to push myself to read 500+ pages of this when I have so many books I am itching to get to. So, with apologies to all my friends who loved this book, it just wasn’t for me at all. What I found the most frustrating was that I kept comparing it to Alice Adams, another teenager with huge ambitions, and with every point of comparison finding it wanting.
July 2, 2008
This book grabbed me at the first paragraph. The synopsis above makes it sound so bland. It isn't. Herman Wouk is a skillful and talented author. His use of just the right word and inventive metaphors made this volume a joy to read. The characters were well fleshed out and fit the setting of the novel perfectly. The plot had enough rises and falls to keep the reader's interest throughout the over 500 pages. But best of all I liked this book for its glimpse into a culture and a world that existed not so long ago; while accurately portraying the struggles of a young girl trying to find her own place in this world.
December 14, 2022
I read The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk many years ago and always recommend it, but I have never read anything else by Wouk. Marjorie Morningstar has been on my shelf for many years, so I finally took it down. I am glad I did. I thought it was an excellent period piece. A Jewish girl coming of age in New York City in the 1930’s. Marjorie loves her family, so she is always struggling to find the balance between treating her parents with the respect she feels for them and rebelling against their ideas and expectations about her life. World events, the depression, the rise to power of the Nazi’s in Germany play a part in this story. There is also a timeless aspect to this story. Mother and father trying to be understanding and supportive as their child finds their way. Marjorie, finding her parents’ attitudes outdated, works to define her life. She often ignores her parents’ advice, but also ignores advice from her peers; she develops her own opinions and makes choices for herself. Of course, given the time period, the attitudes towards women’s ambitions and independence make for difficult reading, but I want a novel to accurately represent the culture and mores of the time, no matter how repugnant.
As Marjorie matures, her wants and needs change. While I understood the resulting changes in her behavior and decisions, some of the changes felt rushed, without foundation or unexplained. That was my only complaint about an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. I am amazed, though, at how many similarities I can see between Marjorie’s maturing and choices and my own, despite drastically different environs, upbringing and parents. There is insight to be found in every reflection.
As Marjorie matures, her wants and needs change. While I understood the resulting changes in her behavior and decisions, some of the changes felt rushed, without foundation or unexplained. That was my only complaint about an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. I am amazed, though, at how many similarities I can see between Marjorie’s maturing and choices and my own, despite drastically different environs, upbringing and parents. There is insight to be found in every reflection.
May 15, 2012
I listened to the Audible version of this book and that was the only reason I finished it. I choose this book because I loved "Winds of War" and "War and Rememberance" but Marjorie Morningstar was just unpleasant. If the relationship between Marjorie and Noel is love, I am happy to say I've never been in love, and don't want to be. Although there was some redemption in the end, I found it put me in a bad mood while listening. None of the main characters were likable, and Marjorie a sap, and Noel a manic/depressive weasel. I felt through out most of the book that the author was just showing off the varied "deep" philosopical insights he had. I was disappointed.
September 23, 2014
I liked it less and less as it went along. I felt compelled to finish it but wished I'd never gotten sucked in. It was just really irritating to watch Marjorie be pathetic and weak over and over and honestly I get so tired of novels where everyone is small and miserable.
July 25, 2020
This was a very beloved book in its time. and I can see why. For me, it was like watching a high budget black and white movie where the Men are suave and talk fast and the women sophisticated enough to catch their man by talking backwards while wearing high heels (all hail Ginger Rogers).
Originally written in the 1950s, this is set in the Upper Middle-Class Society of Jewish families living in 1930’s New York. Here parties are lavish, religious practices range from the most orthodox to the downright bacon-eating not kosher, and young teenage girls are dated by a mixture of University boys, Professionals, and Cads. Meanwhile, Europe is tumbling into a War, Hitler is going to invade Czechoslovakia and Nazis have just begun to be more proactive in their hatred of the Jewish populace.
Amongst all of this Majorie Morgenstein (Morningstar) has ambitions to become an actress, a fatal attraction for selfish but pretty Men who like to talk about themselves and their wants for paragraphs, pages, chapters, possibly 3/4 of this book? By the end, Majorie will eventually grow up and make her decision but she will not have an easy journey getting there.
This is a surprisingly well-written characterisation of the social dilemmas of a young woman growing up in a time when freedoms were just being allowed to women to pursue careers and other life paths and yet they were still expected to marry respectable Jews of their own class and settle down. This is probably why the novel became so beloved by Women of past generations as it incapsulates their own dilemmas and growth pains under similar societal pressures. It is perhaps going to date this book as younger generations will perhaps never quite understand how difficult this was.
However, my absolute favourite characters remain the secondary characters that do not quite fit within the sophisticated 1930s New York Society. I especially loved Uncle and Marsha, both are tragically drawn and highlight the sheer shallowness of the more “respectable” people around them and portray what it means to be human and not just playing your societal role.
I also really enjoyed and was surprised by a lot of the social commentary in this book, especially considering it was written in the 1950s and by a male writer. We have an exploration of the double standard of sex before marriage for men and women, there is a lot thought of the importance of religion (in this case Judaism) and it’s meaning in peoples lives, and there is the generational story of children rebelling against their parents' values only to circle around and embrace the same values themselves.
I really enjoyed reading about this slice of 1930’s Jewish America and Majorie brave attempt to circumnavigate it. It’s not a perfect novel but I think Majorie’s world will be with me for a few years to come.
Originally written in the 1950s, this is set in the Upper Middle-Class Society of Jewish families living in 1930’s New York. Here parties are lavish, religious practices range from the most orthodox to the downright bacon-eating not kosher, and young teenage girls are dated by a mixture of University boys, Professionals, and Cads. Meanwhile, Europe is tumbling into a War, Hitler is going to invade Czechoslovakia and Nazis have just begun to be more proactive in their hatred of the Jewish populace.
Amongst all of this Majorie Morgenstein (Morningstar) has ambitions to become an actress, a fatal attraction for selfish but pretty Men who like to talk about themselves and their wants for paragraphs, pages, chapters, possibly 3/4 of this book? By the end, Majorie will eventually grow up and make her decision but she will not have an easy journey getting there.
This is a surprisingly well-written characterisation of the social dilemmas of a young woman growing up in a time when freedoms were just being allowed to women to pursue careers and other life paths and yet they were still expected to marry respectable Jews of their own class and settle down. This is probably why the novel became so beloved by Women of past generations as it incapsulates their own dilemmas and growth pains under similar societal pressures. It is perhaps going to date this book as younger generations will perhaps never quite understand how difficult this was.
However, my absolute favourite characters remain the secondary characters that do not quite fit within the sophisticated 1930s New York Society. I especially loved Uncle and Marsha, both are tragically drawn and highlight the sheer shallowness of the more “respectable” people around them and portray what it means to be human and not just playing your societal role.
I also really enjoyed and was surprised by a lot of the social commentary in this book, especially considering it was written in the 1950s and by a male writer. We have an exploration of the double standard of sex before marriage for men and women, there is a lot thought of the importance of religion (in this case Judaism) and it’s meaning in peoples lives, and there is the generational story of children rebelling against their parents' values only to circle around and embrace the same values themselves.
I really enjoyed reading about this slice of 1930’s Jewish America and Majorie brave attempt to circumnavigate it. It’s not a perfect novel but I think Majorie’s world will be with me for a few years to come.
April 5, 2017
Marjorie Morningstar took me through sleepless nights for an entire week. At first I couldn't get a grip on the book, apart from finding it interesting. But for some or other reason I just continued reading it to try and find the final message (to me) in it. It kept pulling me back for some more nothingness! Reading the last sentence I sat speechless and totally lost for words! One half of my mind proclaim it a brilliant book but the other half said it was boring especially when the author himself at one point said: "You couldn't write a play about her that would run a week, or a novel that would sell a thousand copies. There's no angle."
But I kept thinking about the book, the way the author created the characters, the detail of everything. I finally felt I was Marjorie, in the end! In retrospect, it filled some voids in my own history as well. I realized suddenly that I REALLY REALLY enjoyed the book tremendously!!
But I kept thinking about the book, the way the author created the characters, the detail of everything. I finally felt I was Marjorie, in the end! In retrospect, it filled some voids in my own history as well. I realized suddenly that I REALLY REALLY enjoyed the book tremendously!!
June 10, 2010
I remember one summer day when I was a young teen, a movie by this name came on afternoon TV. My mother, passing through the family room, hurriedly turned it off and forbade me to watch it. In her eyes, it was too advanced in concept (translation: sex) for a girl my age. She didn't know, of course, that I was reading Lady Chatterley's Lover or Tropic of Cancer at babysitting jobs. In the long view, none of these books did much to prepare me for womanhood, but at 13, I was just trying to learn about sex.
Marjorie Morningstar was the #1 bestseller in 1955. When I finally read it in 1992, after having read Wouk's Youngblood Hawke, I found out what I had missed over thirty years earlier. It starts out great. Marjorie is a Jewish girl with stars in her eyes. She is all set to flaunt everything her mother tried to teach her and become an actress. She falls for Noel Airman, director of plays, a rebel against Judaism and society and a comet burning out. He is in fact another version of Youngblood Hawke, a novelist who meets a tragic end.
After much emotional waffling, reminiscent of Bella in Twilight; after realizing that being a "bad girl" means you have to go to bed with the guy, Marjorie turns tail and settles for marriage, security and all the rest, just as Noel had predicted. (I never finished the Twilight Series and don't know what Bella decided.) I'm not sure what Wouk was up to here. Youngblood Hawke burned out from a relentless pursuit of art and fame, as is predicted for Noel. It's a depressing end, but in the 1950s and today, that is appropriate for a man. Are women not allowed to burn out? Can they not be comets?
Well, the double standard was the official line in the 1950s. Marjorie Morningstar was an enlightening read. Free love, feminism, and all the rest was just a decade away in 1955. And at least Wouk posed the questions.
March 16, 2018
I re-read my 1950's copy with Natalie Wood on the cover for years, until it fell apart. I was actually prompted to read this by a "Mad" magazine spoof, "Marjorie Morningkitten." I think it was "Mad." I love this book, with its vivid descriptions of Marjorie's wardrobe and aspirations, though I do find Wouk's portrayal of a female non-virgin heinously offensive now: "Never would he look at her the same way again." What a load of hypocrisy. Lost her cherry and is now damaged goods. This isn't my number one chick-lit book because it's intensely frustrating in the same way "Back Street" is. Only instead of dying in a French garret, she self-lobotomizes in the suburbs.
June 22, 2012
I requested this because everyone, but me seemed to have read it. Then I got the almost 600 page
monstrosity and there on the shelf it sat for a while. I felt like I was reading for years and years (actually I
was. the book starts when the character is 17 and ends when she is 23ish if I recall correctly) plus it was
hardbound so my wrists hurt. I guess I liked the story, but it was long and part of the length was due to a
particularly wordy character who I couldn't stand, namely because he didn't shut up and some scenery
descriptions that interrupted much more interesting dialogue. Wouk writes very, very well so no complaints
there. It is a coming of age story about a girl who grew up in the Bronx with her immigrant parents and
now they live on the upper west side where they continue to assimilate into non religious, less traditional,
American Jewish culture. Mainly the reader follows her dating and social life, experiencing those six years
in six hundred pages until she eventually marries. I wanted to kick her a lot and tell her to grow up. It starts
somewhere in the 1930's so I kept waiting for the depression to really hit and the war to come, but this isn't
really historical fiction, and Wouk didn't let the big bad world affect Majorie Morningstar too much. I liked reading about the time period, but I grew annoyed with the characters. The term high ball glass was used so much I took up drinking.
monstrosity and there on the shelf it sat for a while. I felt like I was reading for years and years (actually I
was. the book starts when the character is 17 and ends when she is 23ish if I recall correctly) plus it was
hardbound so my wrists hurt. I guess I liked the story, but it was long and part of the length was due to a
particularly wordy character who I couldn't stand, namely because he didn't shut up and some scenery
descriptions that interrupted much more interesting dialogue. Wouk writes very, very well so no complaints
there. It is a coming of age story about a girl who grew up in the Bronx with her immigrant parents and
now they live on the upper west side where they continue to assimilate into non religious, less traditional,
American Jewish culture. Mainly the reader follows her dating and social life, experiencing those six years
in six hundred pages until she eventually marries. I wanted to kick her a lot and tell her to grow up. It starts
somewhere in the 1930's so I kept waiting for the depression to really hit and the war to come, but this isn't
really historical fiction, and Wouk didn't let the big bad world affect Majorie Morningstar too much. I liked reading about the time period, but I grew annoyed with the characters. The term high ball glass was used so much I took up drinking.
February 20, 2016
An excellent detailed story. What is most memorable to me is I believe the book is autobiographical. Wouk is Wally. He had a lifelong crush on a girl who was always interested in someone else, who finally learned to give up on the impossible someone else and found another someone else.
What impresses me is Wouk's humility. He decided to write this story about his youthful crush, and has the insight to imagine her life as it was for her where he was only a minor character.
Wally the minor character who loved Marjorie has two key scenes. The first, the one time he gets to kiss her, and he says to himself he will have many things in life but he will never again be able to kiss Marjorie under the lilacs. The second is at the very end. He has become famous, Marjorie has become a suburban housewife, and he is determined to get her to admit how wrong she had been saying once back when that Noel was much more talented than he was. But his desire for revenge is thwarted because Marjorie doesn't remember saying that, she is now convinced in her mind that she knew even in the 1930's that Wally had great talent and was destined for fame.
An interesting personal sidelight. This book is how my brother met his wife. My brother was getting on a bus to go to a college ski weekend, and wondering who to sit with. He sees a woman reading Marjorie Morningstar and concludes she just might have an interesting mind, she certainly wasn't afraid of reading big books. That began their relationship. They will have their thirty second anniversary this year.
PS. 2016- In Sailor and Fiddler, Wouk discounts my theory that Marjorie was based on a youthful romance of his. She was based on his sister.
But I still wonder if the plot element of Wally and Marjorie's last meeting might have been borrowed from an old romance of his.
What impresses me is Wouk's humility. He decided to write this story about his youthful crush, and has the insight to imagine her life as it was for her where he was only a minor character.
Wally the minor character who loved Marjorie has two key scenes. The first, the one time he gets to kiss her, and he says to himself he will have many things in life but he will never again be able to kiss Marjorie under the lilacs. The second is at the very end. He has become famous, Marjorie has become a suburban housewife, and he is determined to get her to admit how wrong she had been saying once back when that Noel was much more talented than he was. But his desire for revenge is thwarted because Marjorie doesn't remember saying that, she is now convinced in her mind that she knew even in the 1930's that Wally had great talent and was destined for fame.
An interesting personal sidelight. This book is how my brother met his wife. My brother was getting on a bus to go to a college ski weekend, and wondering who to sit with. He sees a woman reading Marjorie Morningstar and concludes she just might have an interesting mind, she certainly wasn't afraid of reading big books. That began their relationship. They will have their thirty second anniversary this year.
PS. 2016- In Sailor and Fiddler, Wouk discounts my theory that Marjorie was based on a youthful romance of his. She was based on his sister.
But I still wonder if the plot element of Wally and Marjorie's last meeting might have been borrowed from an old romance of his.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2009
OK--I've finally finished it! This is my second reading--first time, I read it aged around 16 or 17 and from what i've been able to find on the Net, most female readers' reactions change quite drastically if they read the book a second time when they're older and married, perhaps also a mother.
Well, I'm 20 years older, married, a mother... But I see the book pretty much the same way I did then, the first time, which makes me wonder if a) I haven't changed that much or b) I was unusually astute teenager! :) Maybe both!
Marjorie Morningstar is in no way a great book, or a literary one, and yet undoubtedly it deserves a special place in 20th Century American writing. Wouk's prose is too loose, too pedestrian, too lazy, even, at odd times, and pretty often one wonders what happened to those 1950s book editors. On the other hand, his depiction of place, of that magical 1930s pre-war New York is sometimes magical and always compelling, though I do wonder why he dwelled so little on the Depression. Is it because Wouk was and is a clear conservative? is it because he cannot properly draw up an authentic picture of Roosevelt? Or is it simply a lack of literary talent? In the same vein, it's also strange how pretty much absent is the threat of Nazism and Hitler until almost the end, though, to Wouk's credit, he did a masterful job in this regard when he does finally get to it, in Marjorie's first European crossing and her meeting/relationship with Eden (and what a name!).
In many ways, M.M. is a classical mid-century young girl's coming-of-age novel, complete with rebellion,staid parents, 'foolish' (read: unrealistic) daydreams, seduction by a Rake and loss of virginity. I think to most of us who at a similar age had had similar passionate but fruitless/pointless love affairs with charming, egotistical 'geniuses' a la Noel Airman, their love affair's ending came without surprise. I did root for Marjorie's decision at that point, though, because what (some) modern women know today that probably women in those days did not is that a) love is not enough (it doesn't matter how much he loves you, it has to be the right sort of love from the right man) and that b) you can't change anyone or attempt to take over the direction in their lives. Basically, if Noel wanted to 'settle down', build a successful 9-5 career, get married and have kids, he had to do it because he wanted that for himself, not because he loved Marjorie and knew she wanted that, thus in that way he could properly have her. Also, Noel is annoying and quite a fool from almost our first introduction of him, and nearly all of his 'speeches' and 'theories' sound like Major Male BS to me today. Lastly, there's also the point of a girl's self-respect. The guy talked and talked and talked his head off to and around her, then went off and had sex with 'easier' females. Who wants that? She was well rid of him.
On the other hand, Marjorie herself, while an appealing character, had her ups and downs in the sympathetic department--and i guess this is a result of being a product of Wouk himself, a man who is clearly not A Girl's Best Friend. Wouk is basically a dire conservative and a reactionary who sees little authenticity in the fair sex and who, at least when he wrote the book, could imagine no other ending for a 'bad girl' than deformity and no other ending for a 'good girl' than a successful husband, a solid marriage, a house and kids in the suburbs. It's sort of funny and tragic simultaneously. But it's not funny that for the book's ending, when Marjorie finally marries the nice successful Jewish lawyer (with the right initials, M and S) he almost bolts because he can't stomach that she's already lost her virginity to Noel and, though he accepts her anyway, it's as a girl with a 'deformity'! Jesus...
My last point is in regards to Wally--an awful, awful character. He's young, annoying, affecting, full of hot air. I never doubted for a minute that he'd make it in the business (I've worked in Hollywood and have known countless young guys like him) but his obsession with Marjorie struck me as juvenile and the last chapter, in his voice, as the typical nerd-who-made-good. Well, so what? Just because a guy's an annoying nerd and you don't want him does not mean that, in later years when he returns as a successful adult, you now have to appreciate him differently. He's still a nerd, albeit a successful one--possibly, he's still annoying. and Wouk's Wally The Nerd himself admits to career success but a divorce...
Well, I'm 20 years older, married, a mother... But I see the book pretty much the same way I did then, the first time, which makes me wonder if a) I haven't changed that much or b) I was unusually astute teenager! :) Maybe both!
Marjorie Morningstar is in no way a great book, or a literary one, and yet undoubtedly it deserves a special place in 20th Century American writing. Wouk's prose is too loose, too pedestrian, too lazy, even, at odd times, and pretty often one wonders what happened to those 1950s book editors. On the other hand, his depiction of place, of that magical 1930s pre-war New York is sometimes magical and always compelling, though I do wonder why he dwelled so little on the Depression. Is it because Wouk was and is a clear conservative? is it because he cannot properly draw up an authentic picture of Roosevelt? Or is it simply a lack of literary talent? In the same vein, it's also strange how pretty much absent is the threat of Nazism and Hitler until almost the end, though, to Wouk's credit, he did a masterful job in this regard when he does finally get to it, in Marjorie's first European crossing and her meeting/relationship with Eden (and what a name!).
In many ways, M.M. is a classical mid-century young girl's coming-of-age novel, complete with rebellion,staid parents, 'foolish' (read: unrealistic) daydreams, seduction by a Rake and loss of virginity. I think to most of us who at a similar age had had similar passionate but fruitless/pointless love affairs with charming, egotistical 'geniuses' a la Noel Airman, their love affair's ending came without surprise. I did root for Marjorie's decision at that point, though, because what (some) modern women know today that probably women in those days did not is that a) love is not enough (it doesn't matter how much he loves you, it has to be the right sort of love from the right man) and that b) you can't change anyone or attempt to take over the direction in their lives. Basically, if Noel wanted to 'settle down', build a successful 9-5 career, get married and have kids, he had to do it because he wanted that for himself, not because he loved Marjorie and knew she wanted that, thus in that way he could properly have her. Also, Noel is annoying and quite a fool from almost our first introduction of him, and nearly all of his 'speeches' and 'theories' sound like Major Male BS to me today. Lastly, there's also the point of a girl's self-respect. The guy talked and talked and talked his head off to and around her, then went off and had sex with 'easier' females. Who wants that? She was well rid of him.
On the other hand, Marjorie herself, while an appealing character, had her ups and downs in the sympathetic department--and i guess this is a result of being a product of Wouk himself, a man who is clearly not A Girl's Best Friend. Wouk is basically a dire conservative and a reactionary who sees little authenticity in the fair sex and who, at least when he wrote the book, could imagine no other ending for a 'bad girl' than deformity and no other ending for a 'good girl' than a successful husband, a solid marriage, a house and kids in the suburbs. It's sort of funny and tragic simultaneously. But it's not funny that for the book's ending, when Marjorie finally marries the nice successful Jewish lawyer (with the right initials, M and S) he almost bolts because he can't stomach that she's already lost her virginity to Noel and, though he accepts her anyway, it's as a girl with a 'deformity'! Jesus...
My last point is in regards to Wally--an awful, awful character. He's young, annoying, affecting, full of hot air. I never doubted for a minute that he'd make it in the business (I've worked in Hollywood and have known countless young guys like him) but his obsession with Marjorie struck me as juvenile and the last chapter, in his voice, as the typical nerd-who-made-good. Well, so what? Just because a guy's an annoying nerd and you don't want him does not mean that, in later years when he returns as a successful adult, you now have to appreciate him differently. He's still a nerd, albeit a successful one--possibly, he's still annoying. and Wouk's Wally The Nerd himself admits to career success but a divorce...
March 25, 2020
So I have no idea where I saw this mentioned, but I put it on my to-read awhile back because I read a reference to it somewhere and had not heard of it. I am glad I did and glad I finally got around to picking it up.
It is a very well done snapshot of time from 1933-1940 and takes the reader from Marjorie's 17th year through her wedding at 24. The whole thing is a great picture of this beautiful (if slightly frivolous time) in between WWI and WWII when New York was glamour and glitz and women had some power and independance.
While lots of it makes me cringe, such as: "All girls, including you, are too goddamn emancipated nowadays. You get the idea from all the silly magazines and movies you're bathed in from infancy, and then from all the talk in high school and college, that you've got to be somebody and do something. Bloody nonsense. A woman should be some man's woman and do what women are born and built to do--sleep with some man, rear his kids, and keep him reasonably happy while he does his fragment of the world's work," it is also a product of its time. And even though Marjorie is "Shirley" and becomes the suburban "soccer mom" her struggles and choices are real for her and in her experience. They are also not entirely obsolete. Marjorie is a "good girl" and almost loses her man in the end by not being a virgin. But at least she isn't a virgin. The moral of the story is not that she should have saved herself, but that she needed to be true to herself throughout.
So much of it is timeless, especially all the relationship details. I loved the description of Marjorie's parents attempting evaluate their daughter: "This kind of discussion went on all the time between the parents. They could take either side with ease. It all depended on which one started to criticize the daughter."
I loved the description of South Wind; it reminded me of Club Med and the lovely vacation spots where the staff is entertaining and full of their own drama and look down their noses on the paying guests.
Noel is such a great character. Obviously manic depressive, he is a genius but incapable of pulling anything together. I think Rothmore's description was my favorite: "Maybe he's so afraid of being a failure he won't put his back into anything, so he can always tell himself that he's never really tried." Their relationship was a bit tiresome (more so for Marjorie than for me, the lowly reader), but it feels like the archetype for all the tragic/comic lovers that come after. Recently I've been watching Cheers on Netflix and as much as I am bored and tired by Sam and Diane, Noel and Marjorie are the cookie cutters by which they were drawn.
Unfortunately, though, Noel is brilliant about everything but himself. He clearly is the petulant teenager at the seder dinner (and then runs off to Europe in a tantrum) and again when Marjorie catches up with him in Paris he gives a great treatise about the immaturity and inability to Peter Pan as 22 forever, but then insists on taking her out and around to simply illustrate that he has not actually changed and never will.
Ultimately, we all change; we all grow up and our memories of ourselves and those we knew in the past warp with time. I think Wally's diary best expresses this change in memory: "I know now that she was an ordinary girl, that the image existed only in my own mind, that her radiance was the radiance of my own hungry young desired projected around her." We are each our own and our perceptions of others is never quite accurate.
Overall it is dense and at times boring, but quite compelling and left a beautiful picture in my mind of a long ago time in which women were both flowers to be trampled and goddesses to be worshiped.
It is a very well done snapshot of time from 1933-1940 and takes the reader from Marjorie's 17th year through her wedding at 24. The whole thing is a great picture of this beautiful (if slightly frivolous time) in between WWI and WWII when New York was glamour and glitz and women had some power and independance.
While lots of it makes me cringe, such as: "All girls, including you, are too goddamn emancipated nowadays. You get the idea from all the silly magazines and movies you're bathed in from infancy, and then from all the talk in high school and college, that you've got to be somebody and do something. Bloody nonsense. A woman should be some man's woman and do what women are born and built to do--sleep with some man, rear his kids, and keep him reasonably happy while he does his fragment of the world's work," it is also a product of its time. And even though Marjorie is "Shirley" and becomes the suburban "soccer mom" her struggles and choices are real for her and in her experience. They are also not entirely obsolete. Marjorie is a "good girl" and almost loses her man in the end by not being a virgin. But at least she isn't a virgin. The moral of the story is not that she should have saved herself, but that she needed to be true to herself throughout.
So much of it is timeless, especially all the relationship details. I loved the description of Marjorie's parents attempting evaluate their daughter: "This kind of discussion went on all the time between the parents. They could take either side with ease. It all depended on which one started to criticize the daughter."
I loved the description of South Wind; it reminded me of Club Med and the lovely vacation spots where the staff is entertaining and full of their own drama and look down their noses on the paying guests.
Noel is such a great character. Obviously manic depressive, he is a genius but incapable of pulling anything together. I think Rothmore's description was my favorite: "Maybe he's so afraid of being a failure he won't put his back into anything, so he can always tell himself that he's never really tried." Their relationship was a bit tiresome (more so for Marjorie than for me, the lowly reader), but it feels like the archetype for all the tragic/comic lovers that come after. Recently I've been watching Cheers on Netflix and as much as I am bored and tired by Sam and Diane, Noel and Marjorie are the cookie cutters by which they were drawn.
Unfortunately, though, Noel is brilliant about everything but himself. He clearly is the petulant teenager at the seder dinner (and then runs off to Europe in a tantrum) and again when Marjorie catches up with him in Paris he gives a great treatise about the immaturity and inability to Peter Pan as 22 forever, but then insists on taking her out and around to simply illustrate that he has not actually changed and never will.
Ultimately, we all change; we all grow up and our memories of ourselves and those we knew in the past warp with time. I think Wally's diary best expresses this change in memory: "I know now that she was an ordinary girl, that the image existed only in my own mind, that her radiance was the radiance of my own hungry young desired projected around her." We are each our own and our perceptions of others is never quite accurate.
Overall it is dense and at times boring, but quite compelling and left a beautiful picture in my mind of a long ago time in which women were both flowers to be trampled and goddesses to be worshiped.
December 26, 2011
One of the major influences on my own writing, and probably the one book that convinced me to give fiction writing a fair shot alongside technology and business books. Wouk expertly captures the essence of the period about which he writes. One can read the story today, or any time since about the late 1960s or early 1970s, and the "purity factor" would seem dated and probably even insulting to most women. However, if taken in the context of the time period in which the story is set (15-20 years before it was published in 1955) that aspect of the story should be less annoying.
FWIW I finally saw the movie about a year ago (late 2010), and it pales in comparison to the book. Even great movies such as Gone With the Wind and The Godfather are, in my opinion, not as good as the books but the gap between book and movie for Marjorie Morningstar is a BIG one.
One final point: Marjorie Morningstar (the book) was a sensation when it was published. Wouk and a background sketch of Marjorie were on the cover of Time Magazine in September, 1955. One might think of it as The Bridges of Madison County of its day, i.e., transcending publishing into pop culture.
FWIW I finally saw the movie about a year ago (late 2010), and it pales in comparison to the book. Even great movies such as Gone With the Wind and The Godfather are, in my opinion, not as good as the books but the gap between book and movie for Marjorie Morningstar is a BIG one.
One final point: Marjorie Morningstar (the book) was a sensation when it was published. Wouk and a background sketch of Marjorie were on the cover of Time Magazine in September, 1955. One might think of it as The Bridges of Madison County of its day, i.e., transcending publishing into pop culture.
August 24, 2012
Herman Wouk captures the period (1930's to 1940's) quite well. It is a well-written, if overly long, story of a dreamy, gorgeous young, Jewish girl whose parents want the best for her (wehich may mean marrying a doctor and living in the suburbs). Marjorie is pursuing her dream of becoming an actress and meets the quintessential Peter Pan himself: Noel Airman, ne'er-do-well son of an important Judge Ehrman. Every man who meets Margie falls in love with her, but Margie is set on Airman - how the love affair plays out, I won't spoil, but we watch as Marjorie grows up and meets Mark Eden on a ship crossing, handles her woebegone love Wally, throws over her first love, experiences Paris right before the war, and ends up with the right choice, afterall. What was tedious was Wouk's philosophizing, his discussions of Freudian psychology and the meandering thoughts of both Airman and Eden. With the right editor the book could have been as powerful, perhaps more powerful, if there had been 100-150 pages less. Most Jews of a certain age who read the book will feel a kinship with one or another of the characters - Margie's social climbing parents, her quirky friend Marsha, the besotted Wally, the high and mighty Airman, the South Wind summer experience, defiance of parental expectations and the final coming to terms with who we are -really.
March 12, 2011
This could easily be 5 stars. Marjorie Morgenstern struggles for her desire for a career and her family's and culture's desire for her marriage. First published in 1955, it is reflective of New York Jewish society of the 1930s. That a man of that era would so readily portray how a woman could want something different is, I think, somewhat remarkable. The Women's Movement was yet unborn, to my knowledge, but certainly Wouk was aware of what has always been those women who wished for something more.
In addition to the career versus marriage aspect, is the historical sex versus virginity question. Again, the timing of this book for this subject and that it was written by a man surprised me. As women we know ourselves and women authors have been willing to make us stretch our horizons, make us think. Wouk doesn't get it perfect, but he does a pretty darn good job.
His style is quite easy and the novel is difficult to lay aside for sleep or whatever else interrupts a good book. My one argument (and I must have one else it would be 5 stars) is that the love interest isn't worthy of the agony she is willing to go through for it. Women apparently fell all over themselves for Noel Airman. Perhaps he is what men think women want. "Leave him, leave him alone," I thought.
In addition to the career versus marriage aspect, is the historical sex versus virginity question. Again, the timing of this book for this subject and that it was written by a man surprised me. As women we know ourselves and women authors have been willing to make us stretch our horizons, make us think. Wouk doesn't get it perfect, but he does a pretty darn good job.
His style is quite easy and the novel is difficult to lay aside for sleep or whatever else interrupts a good book. My one argument (and I must have one else it would be 5 stars) is that the love interest isn't worthy of the agony she is willing to go through for it. Women apparently fell all over themselves for Noel Airman. Perhaps he is what men think women want. "Leave him, leave him alone," I thought.
June 30, 2019
Yes, Herman Wouk's death prompted me to read this one. So first, Goodreads stars -- I went to the bottom of the scale to figure out where this experience should rate. Only the 1-star is negative; three of the star ratings are positive and the 2-star is a wishy-washy it was o-kaaayy. So 1 star it is, this is not a good book. Novels that date are novels that aren't about real people; that is why they've dated. They are about something else, passing fads, authors' personal conceptions (often misconceptions), ideologies, what have you. Marjorie Morningstar is dated. Yet its copyright is only 1955, 60 years ago, when John Cheever and Isaac Bashevis Singer were writing; unlike the lively experiences of reading them, the feeling here is strictly museumish. I persisted with this, despite its dullness, but after 240 pages, halfway through, I found the characters too uninteresting to spend further time with. I skipped to the last chapter and got the resolution of the interminable story line. There are many false notes, where I felt the character had not done or said what I was reading, but author Wouk had imposed it for his own purposes. And there are good scenes that are spoiled when the author adds a sentence or paragraph to underline the point of what we had just understood from the action and dialogue. As a kid, I had read Wouk's Youngblood Hawke, and enjoyed it; it led me to the real writer, Thomas Wolfe, and I enjoyed reading him for a while. But, alas, I am not a kid anymore and this book did not work for me as an adult.
February 18, 2011
I tried hard, but I just can't stick it with this one. I guess I just can't read Wouk. I've tried a couple of his others. He knows how to write, but he's too long-winded for me.
If you're going to like Marjorie Morningstar, you have to be familiar with (or at least care about) all the 1930s class distinctions in Manhattan and NYC in general. The characters obsess endlessly about who lives east or west of certain streets or landmarks, and what it means about their social standing. Bleh.
If you're going to like Marjorie Morningstar, you have to be familiar with (or at least care about) all the 1930s class distinctions in Manhattan and NYC in general. The characters obsess endlessly about who lives east or west of certain streets or landmarks, and what it means about their social standing. Bleh.
May 17, 2019
I must have read Marjorie Morningstar as a teenager, which would have been in the late 1960’s. It was published in 1955, when I was just 4 years old. To be honest, I don’t recall what it was about, but I remember loving it. So, just now on May 17, 2019, as I read that Herman Wouk died today at 103, it stirred in me a “remembrance”, leading me into a circuitous rediscovery of all things Herman Wouk.
Wouk was famous for writing: The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, Marjorie Morningstar and The Caine Mutiny, which won a Pulitzer Prize, among many other books, including, This Is My God, a popular explanation of Judaism from a Modern Orthodox perspective. He also helped popularize themes that writers like Philip Roth later tackled. In all, Wouk wrote 24 books. His last, Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author, was published January 5, 2016.
In my meandering, I learned that Wouk, before beginning to write novels had
for five years starting in 1936, written jokes and sketches for the popular radio host Fred Allen. He began writing books after Pearl Harbor when the 26-year-old enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific. In his off hours, Wouk began to write. He didn’t just write books, he wrote sagas, The Winds Of War and War and Remembrance (I read both) were each about a thousand pages long. Marjorie Morningstar was a mere 500+ pages. Those of us, of a certain age will remember the tv miniseries of The Winds Of War and War and Remembrance, the first in 1983 and the second in 1988. Although they were made several years apart, both were directed by Dan Curtis and both starred Robert Mitchum as Captain Victor "Pug" Henry, the main character. I would venture to say that many more people saw the miniseries than read the books. But, despite the length, I remember the books were well worth the reading.
He was sometimes criticized by the New York Times and others as basically being lightweight in his writings of these wartime sagas, but others said, he was profound but in an accessible way. This is an example from one section of War and Remembrance where he reflects on the Holocaust:
"The accounts I have heard of what the Germans are doing in camps like [Auschwitz] exceed all human experience. Words break down as a means of describing them. ... The Thucydides who will tell this story so that the world can picture, believe, and remember may not be born for centuries. Or if he lives now, I am not he."
In looking back, I realize that’s his books were part of my education about the horrors of the Holocaust”.
The NPR obituary said: “Herman Wouk, 'The Jackie Robinson Of Jewish-American Fiction,' Dies At 103, 10 days shy of his 104th birthday. He was famous for having written sprawling World War II novels, and for his portrayal of Jewish Americans in the novel Marjorie Morningstar. He died in his sleep Friday at his home in Palm Springs, Calif.
Wouk was famous for writing: The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, Marjorie Morningstar and The Caine Mutiny, which won a Pulitzer Prize, among many other books, including, This Is My God, a popular explanation of Judaism from a Modern Orthodox perspective. He also helped popularize themes that writers like Philip Roth later tackled. In all, Wouk wrote 24 books. His last, Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author, was published January 5, 2016.
In my meandering, I learned that Wouk, before beginning to write novels had
for five years starting in 1936, written jokes and sketches for the popular radio host Fred Allen. He began writing books after Pearl Harbor when the 26-year-old enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific. In his off hours, Wouk began to write. He didn’t just write books, he wrote sagas, The Winds Of War and War and Remembrance (I read both) were each about a thousand pages long. Marjorie Morningstar was a mere 500+ pages. Those of us, of a certain age will remember the tv miniseries of The Winds Of War and War and Remembrance, the first in 1983 and the second in 1988. Although they were made several years apart, both were directed by Dan Curtis and both starred Robert Mitchum as Captain Victor "Pug" Henry, the main character. I would venture to say that many more people saw the miniseries than read the books. But, despite the length, I remember the books were well worth the reading.
He was sometimes criticized by the New York Times and others as basically being lightweight in his writings of these wartime sagas, but others said, he was profound but in an accessible way. This is an example from one section of War and Remembrance where he reflects on the Holocaust:
"The accounts I have heard of what the Germans are doing in camps like [Auschwitz] exceed all human experience. Words break down as a means of describing them. ... The Thucydides who will tell this story so that the world can picture, believe, and remember may not be born for centuries. Or if he lives now, I am not he."
In looking back, I realize that’s his books were part of my education about the horrors of the Holocaust”.
The NPR obituary said: “Herman Wouk, 'The Jackie Robinson Of Jewish-American Fiction,' Dies At 103, 10 days shy of his 104th birthday. He was famous for having written sprawling World War II novels, and for his portrayal of Jewish Americans in the novel Marjorie Morningstar. He died in his sleep Friday at his home in Palm Springs, Calif.
June 6, 2018
I just realized that I never marked this as book I read......and read a long, long time ago, indeed. I was 15 or 16 when my mother told me I could read her copy of Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar. That was not quite 50 years ago. I think (hope) I still have the book on my shelves somewhere! I don't remember everything about it, but I remember enough that I could still outline the plot for someone who might be curious. I also remember the last name of the man Marjorie ended up marrying in the end, because I had a friend named Margie _______ at that time, and thought it was funny to read of a character with that name, though it was a common last name in our town. (I don't want to say the name or I would be spoiling the ending of the book.)
Marjorie had big dreams, and those dreams included leaving behind her traditional, sheltered life as a young Jewish girl in NY in the late 1930's. Herman Wouk, who also wrote The Winds of War, and other great novels, wrote very readable novels. He was one of the contemporary greats of his time. Marjorie Morningstar was a romantic novel, especially for its time, and risqué for a teenaged girl reading her first such novel. I know I loved it.
Marjorie had big dreams, and those dreams included leaving behind her traditional, sheltered life as a young Jewish girl in NY in the late 1930's. Herman Wouk, who also wrote The Winds of War, and other great novels, wrote very readable novels. He was one of the contemporary greats of his time. Marjorie Morningstar was a romantic novel, especially for its time, and risqué for a teenaged girl reading her first such novel. I know I loved it.
August 20, 2009
This is like the 1930s version of Reality Bites--good girl dabbles in a bohemian lifestyle, and finds herself torn between the artistic jackass she loves and the nice Jewish boys that bore her.
While I was repeatedly stunned by how much Wouk gets it right, even for a book set in the 1930s (sexual politics between men and women, class politics in a melting pot nation, backstage politics of the theater), I was frustrated by the lack of a clear story arc. There are definitely parts of the novel that drag, and those parts should have been heavily edited.
I'm definitely torn by the ending, however. While it's probably the most realistic option, it's also the biggest letdown. I almost feel as if the author had no idea how to wrap up his 500+ page opus, and made something up as quickly as possible.
To sum it up, the book has the feel of a newspaper serial turned into a novel. It's separated into several parts, and I think it could have made several fine novels if separated, but rather disjointed when put together.
While I was repeatedly stunned by how much Wouk gets it right, even for a book set in the 1930s (sexual politics between men and women, class politics in a melting pot nation, backstage politics of the theater), I was frustrated by the lack of a clear story arc. There are definitely parts of the novel that drag, and those parts should have been heavily edited.
I'm definitely torn by the ending, however. While it's probably the most realistic option, it's also the biggest letdown. I almost feel as if the author had no idea how to wrap up his 500+ page opus, and made something up as quickly as possible.
To sum it up, the book has the feel of a newspaper serial turned into a novel. It's separated into several parts, and I think it could have made several fine novels if separated, but rather disjointed when put together.
August 13, 2016
Thank you god, I finally came to the end of this 600 page beast. I loved the 1950’s feel of the novel, with many of the scenes so true to life, and Who can ever forget “Neville the Devil” biting the judge at the Seder. I didn’t love any of the major characters, and couldn’t wait for the misery to end.
April 22, 2012
Read this over one weekend when I was about 12 or 13. I wanted to be Marjorie Morningstar. "Nough Said? I need to re-read this at age 50. I'm smiling just thinking about how much I loved and how I devoured this book. Perfect coming of age "drama" for a "tween" growing up on New York's Upper West Side. Wonder what my end of 9th grade daughter would thnk about this book...Hmm...We'll see...
February 28, 2007
Dated in some ways, but well-written and timeless in others. One of my favorites.
February 16, 2017
To be fair, I get the crux of this book. I get and understand that Herman Wouk was trying to explain how difficult it was for a young (white) woman in the 1930s to vie for independence and individuality and have those desires collide with her strict Jewish upbringing and the gender roles of the time period. I get that Wouk tried to explain this reality by turning the young woman’s narrative on its head and gave it melancholic twists and littered it with toxic misogyny, making a novel that is unaware of how it makes a strong case of why we need feminism so damn badly. Even in its most painful and sexist moments, Wouk is dead-on about how a woman can become a victim of her gender and her social status.
I get I do.
Your twenties, the years of wandering around trying to “adult” are not the best years of your life, and I will forever preach this gospel.
Still with all this ‘getting’, this novel still left a bad taste in my mouth.
I was actually enjoying this book from the start. Wouk is a fantastic writer, long-winded and in desperate need of an editor, but his prose was flavored just right, his dialogue witty and funny to where I was turning pages. Then something happened, this book stopped being a “story” and it started becoming a soapbox for the author. As I kept reading I got the feeling Wouk knew someone like Marjorie Morgenstern and that this book was his catharsis for being acquainted/involved with her. But this story wasn’t some reflective binge into romantic nostalgia. Wouk’s Marjorie was not the one who “got away”. No, Wouk’s Marjorie is the one he could never get. As the book progresses it’s pretty obvious that Wouk was turned down by a Marjorie Morgenstern or two and that he’s still pretty salty about it. I mean, if you weren’t tipped off by the pages and pages of mansplaining monologues that sword fight their way into Marjorie’s story, it becomes obvious through the character of Wally Worken, who is pretty much a thinly disguised version of a young Wouk.
Aside from blatant wish-fulfillment, the message is simple, Wouk has met/known girls like Marjorie Morgenstern and knows that they are mannequins of their environment. They are doomed because they are beautiful, marginally talented, privileged, and are told from birth that their only purpose in life is to marry ‘boring’ Jewish boys who are doctors and lawyers. With such balls and chains Marjorie is set up for complacency and well, failure. Even when she tries to combat that, and tries to elbow her way into a bohemian theater lifestyle with highball raised high and cigarette perched between her polished fingers, she is still shackled to her identity as a textbook “good girl”.
As realistic as this is, I don’t need 500+ pages of this. What would’ve made this exploration of “doomed womanhood” more interesting was if Wouk wasn’t so condescending about it and if he had made a better heroine to sympathize and root for. Not once did I sympathize or root for Marjorie. She is about as vapid and basic as they come. She has nary an insight on anything, flippant about everything around her (I actually cringed at her dumbnut insights towards Nazi occupation…) and she spends most of her time waiting for a man to give her dimension and flavor.
…and unfortunately the man she waits for is Noel Airman.
Marjorie surrendering her heart and all sense along with it to Noel sent me into rage spells. The book blurb doesn’t lie. Noel is a destructive force in Marjorie’s young, naïve life and it’s pathetic and excruciating to read pages and pages of Marjorie pine after this pompous rambling loser who in reality is verbally and emotionally abusive as he gaslights and shames Marjorie to high hell. I mean anyone who types up a 20-page breakup letter of loathsome philosophies and rants and ends it with “…and go to hell, Marjorie Morgenstern” is an asshole. I’m just baffled at how a lot of readers have called this story “romantic” and have swooned over Noel. I mean we’ve all had crushes on and been in relationships with hot jerks before. I admit to always finding the jerks in John Hughes films more appealing than the twerpy good guys we're supposed to be rooting for (John Bender, Hardy Jenns and Steff are my personal top 3 of "The John Hughes Hot Jerks" ). And I’ll never forget the Adonis in my 11th grade history class who was a complete ass who only talked to me for test answers which I gladly gave because damn his beautiful grey-blue eyes…still these are boys you look at, boys you fantasize about, not pursue with fierce abandon because get ready to check into the heartbreak hotel if you do.
Another annoying aspect is how Marjorie is often described as knock-down “beautiful” and a “fantastic actress”. She is so breathtakingly beautiful that men, young and old, fall to her charms and looks within seconds of meeting her. There’s even a real eye-rolling part where all her wannabe paramours show up at an engagement party with women named “Marjorie” (Get it? Because they can’t get over Marjorie Morgenstern...good grief). To boot Marjorie has to have a stereotypical fat friend who’s there to constantly stroke her ego by telling her over and over how “beautiful” and “talented” she is. This little detail reminded me of a terrible roommate I had once who said she only was friends with ugly or fat women so she’d feel better about herself. (Women can be so vile to each other…)
As for her much vaunted acting skills, Marjorie proves she’s no Bette Davis, she’s not even in Veronica Lake’s league. All throughout she struggles to find serious work and is often roaming around New York City watching her schoolmates and friends get married and never really auditioning for anything. I’ll admit, Marjorie fresh out of college and just wandering around was where I began to feel a connection with her, albeit it was short-lived. I too am still going through that feeling of not knowing what the hell to do, wanting to do ten million things, and just wanting that little paper degree to really mean what it says it means. Still Marjorie’s blues ain’t like mine. Marjorie never works on perfecting her craft. She never struggles or grapples with being an aspiring Jewish actress in a competitive field. She’s always in good company, even when the characters are shady. She’s never starving, never homeless, she’s never in any real danger. Almost everyone she runs into was Jewish and nice. Her changing her last name to “Morningstar” seemed a way to abate her “Jewishness”, but it didn’t really mean anything --- and that’s the realization --- Marjorie Morningstar didn’t mean a damn thing in the end. Change her name and she still was a mediocre actress who got in over her head among the vapid NYC theater world.
For some reason, while I was reading this brick of a book I kept thinking of Legally Blonde. Yes, laugh at my weird brain, but I’m bringing up Legally Blonde as it’s about the most feminist movie that people never talk about because it’s drenched in shades of pink. Elle Woods was pretty and superficial, someone who had everything handed to her, but she wasn’t stupid. Even when she chased a jerk boyfriend to Harvard, she discovered she had more worth and got a law degree, fighting misogyny and stereotypes along the way --- plus as a bonus, she got a better man in the end! This is what Marjorie Morningstar was missing: Marjorie actually standing up for herself and taking charge of her life. Sure she
I understand that women are often geared and groomed to be wives and breeders. Sometimes our dreams are put on hold because the biological clock sounds. Even though this book is dated by its 1955 date stamp and its 1930s setting, old-fashioned expectations and desires of those times continue to creep into the 21st Century. Feminism movements be damned, gender roles are still a bitch to budge, and even though I’m the first to pump a fist and sing “Express Yourself” over and over relishing in my singledom, I still want to have my wedding cake and eat it too someday and do fear that I may have to sacrifice something or work harder to get that considering I’m not exactly the type of woman men race towards. I see women to this day try to ‘get chosen’ whether it be online or out in public, throwing themselves on men just to be considered as “somebody”. One true line in this book was Noel describing Marjorie’s pathetic friend, Marsha, who marries an old geezer as a survival tactic (“Marsha has never had too much to offer has she? With Carlos she traded sex for attention. Now it’s youth for security. When you haven’t got charm or good looks your bargaining power is limited”) The hustle is for real for the single ladies, and Wouk throws the ice cold reality of it here.
Maybe that is why I disliked this book. Maybe I just didn’t want to face the bitter realness that is embedded in this book. Or maybe I was looking for something else in this book and since I didn’t find it I had my pitchfork out? Whatever the complex feelings I have after reading this book, I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless you need more motivational fuel to keep on fighting the patriarchy or need a sobering account on why you need to step far and away from hot jerks, especially artistic hot jerks named Noel.
I get I do.
Your twenties, the years of wandering around trying to “adult” are not the best years of your life, and I will forever preach this gospel.
Still with all this ‘getting’, this novel still left a bad taste in my mouth.
I was actually enjoying this book from the start. Wouk is a fantastic writer, long-winded and in desperate need of an editor, but his prose was flavored just right, his dialogue witty and funny to where I was turning pages. Then something happened, this book stopped being a “story” and it started becoming a soapbox for the author. As I kept reading I got the feeling Wouk knew someone like Marjorie Morgenstern and that this book was his catharsis for being acquainted/involved with her. But this story wasn’t some reflective binge into romantic nostalgia. Wouk’s Marjorie was not the one who “got away”. No, Wouk’s Marjorie is the one he could never get. As the book progresses it’s pretty obvious that Wouk was turned down by a Marjorie Morgenstern or two and that he’s still pretty salty about it. I mean, if you weren’t tipped off by the pages and pages of mansplaining monologues that sword fight their way into Marjorie’s story, it becomes obvious through the character of Wally Worken, who is pretty much a thinly disguised version of a young Wouk.
Aside from blatant wish-fulfillment, the message is simple, Wouk has met/known girls like Marjorie Morgenstern and knows that they are mannequins of their environment. They are doomed because they are beautiful, marginally talented, privileged, and are told from birth that their only purpose in life is to marry ‘boring’ Jewish boys who are doctors and lawyers. With such balls and chains Marjorie is set up for complacency and well, failure. Even when she tries to combat that, and tries to elbow her way into a bohemian theater lifestyle with highball raised high and cigarette perched between her polished fingers, she is still shackled to her identity as a textbook “good girl”.
As realistic as this is, I don’t need 500+ pages of this. What would’ve made this exploration of “doomed womanhood” more interesting was if Wouk wasn’t so condescending about it and if he had made a better heroine to sympathize and root for. Not once did I sympathize or root for Marjorie. She is about as vapid and basic as they come. She has nary an insight on anything, flippant about everything around her (I actually cringed at her dumbnut insights towards Nazi occupation…) and she spends most of her time waiting for a man to give her dimension and flavor.
…and unfortunately the man she waits for is Noel Airman.
Marjorie surrendering her heart and all sense along with it to Noel sent me into rage spells. The book blurb doesn’t lie. Noel is a destructive force in Marjorie’s young, naïve life and it’s pathetic and excruciating to read pages and pages of Marjorie pine after this pompous rambling loser who in reality is verbally and emotionally abusive as he gaslights and shames Marjorie to high hell. I mean anyone who types up a 20-page breakup letter of loathsome philosophies and rants and ends it with “…and go to hell, Marjorie Morgenstern” is an asshole. I’m just baffled at how a lot of readers have called this story “romantic” and have swooned over Noel. I mean we’ve all had crushes on and been in relationships with hot jerks before. I admit to always finding the jerks in John Hughes films more appealing than the twerpy good guys we're supposed to be rooting for (John Bender, Hardy Jenns and Steff are my personal top 3 of "The John Hughes Hot Jerks" ). And I’ll never forget the Adonis in my 11th grade history class who was a complete ass who only talked to me for test answers which I gladly gave because damn his beautiful grey-blue eyes…still these are boys you look at, boys you fantasize about, not pursue with fierce abandon because get ready to check into the heartbreak hotel if you do.
Another annoying aspect is how Marjorie is often described as knock-down “beautiful” and a “fantastic actress”. She is so breathtakingly beautiful that men, young and old, fall to her charms and looks within seconds of meeting her. There’s even a real eye-rolling part where all her wannabe paramours show up at an engagement party with women named “Marjorie” (Get it? Because they can’t get over Marjorie Morgenstern...good grief). To boot Marjorie has to have a stereotypical fat friend who’s there to constantly stroke her ego by telling her over and over how “beautiful” and “talented” she is. This little detail reminded me of a terrible roommate I had once who said she only was friends with ugly or fat women so she’d feel better about herself. (Women can be so vile to each other…)
As for her much vaunted acting skills, Marjorie proves she’s no Bette Davis, she’s not even in Veronica Lake’s league. All throughout she struggles to find serious work and is often roaming around New York City watching her schoolmates and friends get married and never really auditioning for anything. I’ll admit, Marjorie fresh out of college and just wandering around was where I began to feel a connection with her, albeit it was short-lived. I too am still going through that feeling of not knowing what the hell to do, wanting to do ten million things, and just wanting that little paper degree to really mean what it says it means. Still Marjorie’s blues ain’t like mine. Marjorie never works on perfecting her craft. She never struggles or grapples with being an aspiring Jewish actress in a competitive field. She’s always in good company, even when the characters are shady. She’s never starving, never homeless, she’s never in any real danger. Almost everyone she runs into was Jewish and nice. Her changing her last name to “Morningstar” seemed a way to abate her “Jewishness”, but it didn’t really mean anything --- and that’s the realization --- Marjorie Morningstar didn’t mean a damn thing in the end. Change her name and she still was a mediocre actress who got in over her head among the vapid NYC theater world.
For some reason, while I was reading this brick of a book I kept thinking of Legally Blonde. Yes, laugh at my weird brain, but I’m bringing up Legally Blonde as it’s about the most feminist movie that people never talk about because it’s drenched in shades of pink. Elle Woods was pretty and superficial, someone who had everything handed to her, but she wasn’t stupid. Even when she chased a jerk boyfriend to Harvard, she discovered she had more worth and got a law degree, fighting misogyny and stereotypes along the way --- plus as a bonus, she got a better man in the end! This is what Marjorie Morningstar was missing: Marjorie actually standing up for herself and taking charge of her life. Sure she
I understand that women are often geared and groomed to be wives and breeders. Sometimes our dreams are put on hold because the biological clock sounds. Even though this book is dated by its 1955 date stamp and its 1930s setting, old-fashioned expectations and desires of those times continue to creep into the 21st Century. Feminism movements be damned, gender roles are still a bitch to budge, and even though I’m the first to pump a fist and sing “Express Yourself” over and over relishing in my singledom, I still want to have my wedding cake and eat it too someday and do fear that I may have to sacrifice something or work harder to get that considering I’m not exactly the type of woman men race towards. I see women to this day try to ‘get chosen’ whether it be online or out in public, throwing themselves on men just to be considered as “somebody”. One true line in this book was Noel describing Marjorie’s pathetic friend, Marsha, who marries an old geezer as a survival tactic (“Marsha has never had too much to offer has she? With Carlos she traded sex for attention. Now it’s youth for security. When you haven’t got charm or good looks your bargaining power is limited”) The hustle is for real for the single ladies, and Wouk throws the ice cold reality of it here.
Maybe that is why I disliked this book. Maybe I just didn’t want to face the bitter realness that is embedded in this book. Or maybe I was looking for something else in this book and since I didn’t find it I had my pitchfork out? Whatever the complex feelings I have after reading this book, I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless you need more motivational fuel to keep on fighting the patriarchy or need a sobering account on why you need to step far and away from hot jerks, especially artistic hot jerks named Noel.
January 19, 2009
I was very surprised at this book. For one thing, Herman Wouk writing something like this, given his usual genre. The second was that I thought it might be a piece of fluff, a young girl wanting to be an actress, writing her stage name over and over in different penmanship. BUT..it was not a light novel in the least. I'm not sure if my perspective on it isn't due to my advanced age. Although I'm happily married, I've always suspected that, for the older women at any wedding, their tears flow less from happiness and more from melancholy, knowing what is coming in the young bride's life and her innocence of that fact -- and how many of her dreams will be dashed. Marjorie had the clear realization for just a second on her wedding day, aware that she was giving in, giving up, and settling. She had turned into a Shirley. The chief male character, Noel, is a self-absorbed bad boy; not only the downfall of women now but for the ages, it seems. Being blinded by love and thinking the man is a genius and cause for pursuit is another. His arrogance made me actually put the book down in disgust in parts and I really wanted to scream at Marjorie for being such an idiot and a doormat. For Noel, it's the old human (male?) frailty of not wanting what you have until it is gone, a very sad theme. What I truly wonder about this book is Noel's philosophic, at times maniacal, meanderings. It could be Wouk is just so brilliant that he is able to make Noel's arguments a bi-product of his character as he has fleshed him out; I wonder more, though, if these are personal opinions and philosophies of his own. I think it has to be the former, however, because he too clearly sees what is often difficult to see in one's own thinking and that is when the logic is grandiose and going off the rails. I've known people who could make arguments like the ones in this book (although mostly they've been stoned, admittedly) -- zealous, secret-of-the-universe arguments -- that all fall flat in the next day or two. Wouk is a superb craftsman and the arguments against Marxism, Freud, Hitler were what suprised me most and that I loved about the book. That, and the ending. I thought I saw what was coming three different times in the last 50 pages and was wrong on all counts. That alone, to me, made this read compelling and so worth the time. There is nothing light about "Marjorie Morningstar" at least from the vantage of age. I wish I had read it in a book club so that I could get a take on how readers much younger than myself as well as those my age saw it. So... please weigh in, goodreads people! In the meantime, I will be on the hunt for my next Herman Wouk book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2023
In fairness to my reading habits I thought that "Marjorie Morningstar" by Herman Wouk would be a female version of Moss Hart's "Act One", the brilliant autobiography about a Jewish youngster growing up in the shadow of a Broadway marquee and fatally bitten by the bug that hits creative people who move heaven and earth to reach the top of the Broadway heap. And for a while it was. Marjorie Morningstern dreams of becoming Marjorie Morningstar. She's got the looks, the ability, and social-climbing, well-meaning parents that she can easily manipulate to get her way. And, like Moss Hart, she takes a job (over her parents dead body) as a camp director in the Borscht Belt where she learns how to put on a show. Unfortunately she also meets HIM. Noel Airman has a similar job in the more prestigious resort just across the bay. He has everything that Marjorie is looking for including talent enough to actually reach his dreams. And he is not shy in telling Marjorie his dream. Over and over. At nauseating length. in their on-again-off-again romance he pours all this drivel into her adoring ears. At one break-up he writes Marjorie a twenty page letter which was cruel and unusual punishment to the reader. When he escapes to Europe to get away from her you can't help but cheer. Inexplicably, she chases him to Europe. She sails on the Queen Mary and meets a nice man. Thank heavens! Except that I had forgotten that an ocean voyage takes about seven days. Turns out that this new beau is Noel's equal in banal speeches. At this point I started reading the first sentence of each paragraph. If Marjorie Morningstar was not going to end these relationships I would. I'm not sure what finally happened to Marjorie but (Spoiler alert), after reading only one sentence per paragraph I don't think her name ever made it to the Broadway marquee. I also don't think I will read another Herman Wouk novel. Much as I liked "The Caine Mutiny" and "The Winds of War", after "Marjorie Morningstar" I think I'm sufficiently Wouk.
January 19, 2016
Hard to rate. When it worked, it made me want to read more...but it didn't always work. For one thing, it was too long. It was repetitive, and one sweet fat Jewish boy kept merging into the next, leaving me wondering why one would not have sufficed. (Ditto many other characters.) If you want to know the lifestyle of a person of this class in 1935, it's interesting, but the mores here are so removed from our own, it's a little like reading science fiction about life on another planet. There's really no plot. It's more like a diary of seven years of dates of a pretty girl.
But it's written by a man and, moreover, I would guess, a man who hates and fears women in his deepest heart. When he thinks of women fighting wars, piloting jets, and heading police departments today, I suspect he shudders. Or maybe he's more modern now, but when he wrote this, he felt disdain. For pretty girls, for fat girls, for girls who liked to dance, for "unnatural" girls who wanted careers, for girls who put out and for girls who did not, for girls who talked too much and girls who talked too little. Once upon a time, girls turned themselves inside out to win such a twit of a man, and you realize it makes sense they spent their lives high on gin and Valium because that perfect in between place he demanded was as thin as a hair and kept shifting at his whim. I kept thinking it was too darned bad for Marjorie that she wasn't a lesbian.
Still, every once in a while, there was something terrific itn this meandering tome, like the uncle or the bizarrely funny Passover Seder.
But it's written by a man and, moreover, I would guess, a man who hates and fears women in his deepest heart. When he thinks of women fighting wars, piloting jets, and heading police departments today, I suspect he shudders. Or maybe he's more modern now, but when he wrote this, he felt disdain. For pretty girls, for fat girls, for girls who liked to dance, for "unnatural" girls who wanted careers, for girls who put out and for girls who did not, for girls who talked too much and girls who talked too little. Once upon a time, girls turned themselves inside out to win such a twit of a man, and you realize it makes sense they spent their lives high on gin and Valium because that perfect in between place he demanded was as thin as a hair and kept shifting at his whim. I kept thinking it was too darned bad for Marjorie that she wasn't a lesbian.
Still, every once in a while, there was something terrific itn this meandering tome, like the uncle or the bizarrely funny Passover Seder.
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