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The Bent Twig
1915. The Bent Twig is the first of Dorothy Canfield's novels to give fictional form to the Montessori method and to reflect in a novel the insights into education and human development that she received in Rome while visiting Maria Montessori. The home in which the twig of this novel, Sylvia Marshall, grew up is a Montessori home, where everyone takes part in home tasks, and the children learn by being included in adult activities. How very new these ideas were in middle America is shown by the contrast between the Marshall home and the rest of the community.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1915
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256 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
199 books140 followersAlso wrote under the name Dorothy Canfield.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early decades of the twentieth century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong education. Eleanor Roosevelt named her one of the ten most influential women in the United States. In addition to bringing the Montessori method of child-rearing to the U.S., she presided over the country's first adult education program and shaped literary tastes by serving as a member of the Book of the Month Club selection committee from 1925 to 1951.
(from Wikipedia)
Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early decades of the twentieth century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong education. Eleanor Roosevelt named her one of the ten most influential women in the United States. In addition to bringing the Montessori method of child-rearing to the U.S., she presided over the country's first adult education program and shaped literary tastes by serving as a member of the Book of the Month Club selection committee from 1925 to 1951.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 20, 2008
A peculiar reading experience, as the intellectual ideas Canfield explores here are quite dated. Canfield was interested in Montessori and socialism. The entire book is focused on the heroine's struggles in choosing between a life of amoral beauty or simplicity and comradeship. Guess which she chooses? It's actually a good read. Canfield's characters are interesting and complex enough to shine through the didactic tone.
June 15, 2021
It pains me to give a Dorothy Canfield Fisher book two stars. And, I’m being generous with that second star.
I read this with my reading buddy Elizabeth and it was painful. We pushed through it.
Both of us are big fans of Fisher and looked forward to this book.
Unfortunately it just dragged on and on. The heroine was unlikeable and I just wanted to smack her upside the head over and over again.
When we finally meet the decent gentleman of the book, he deserved better than Sylvia. He deserved a Lucy Maud Montgomery heroine.
The high points of this book were Sylvia’s early years, her parents, the family culture, and her sister Judith.
I read this with my reading buddy Elizabeth and it was painful. We pushed through it.
Both of us are big fans of Fisher and looked forward to this book.
Unfortunately it just dragged on and on. The heroine was unlikeable and I just wanted to smack her upside the head over and over again.
When we finally meet the decent gentleman of the book, he deserved better than Sylvia. He deserved a Lucy Maud Montgomery heroine.
The high points of this book were Sylvia’s early years, her parents, the family culture, and her sister Judith.
June 15, 2021
My friend and I slogged through this book together because generally we love Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Well, this must have been a one off for Miss Dorothy because it was a very boring book. The plot was all over the place. The main character was unlikeable. I did like a little bit of the book dealing with the early years of the main character, but, not enough to give the overall book more than one star.
July 19, 2015
“An American Edwardian Soap Opera in Slow Motion””
What comes to mind when you hear the term, the “bent twig?” Does it suggest a small branch whose normal direction has been accidentally thwarted or deliberately redirected in its growth? Now add the concept that this “twig” is actually a young, impressionable girl growing up in Edwardian America. Will she survive the attempts to experiment with her character formation--to ultimately mature into her true self, or undergo cruelly meddlesome social and emotional modeling--as per to someone else’s plan for her life?
Canfield’s 1915 literary soap opera of social and personal reformation introduces readers to a little girl named Sylvia, who grows into young adulthood first in the Midwest (in the French-named city of La Chance), then in the “finishing school” of her beloved Aunt Victoria in Lydford, VT.
Canfield includes many serious themes in her romanticized novel:
* Racism—that “disintegrating moral force in the national character”
* The subtle war for a woman’s purse by a luxury department store
* The stigma of Spinterism—that a young lady who is not married by the ripe age of 20 is doomed for governessing or outright social work.
* Financial morality: that one should not rest easy on luxuries earned by the toil and hardship of poorer classes.
* Social obligations to care properly for sick family members of all ages
* the danger (or comfort) from trust in Planchette’s Ouija board messages
At risk of being corrupted into a snob or at least a lady who marries for money and social position instead of for love, Sylvia Marshall undergoes many disappointments as her heart flutters for one beau then another. Often she is faced with choices of suitors who are older than she--in Vermont and also in Paris. Her sister, Judith, and her cousin, Molly, also are courted; dramatic emotional scenes result when one young lady switches beaus. Self-sacrificing Sylvia denies her heart on several occasions and demonstrates amazing filial respect for the upbringing of her modest parents.
Sylisticly there are too many passages of moralizing--sermonettes on aesthetics, which do little to advance the languishing plot. Then after long pages of aesthetic “conversation,” sudden melodramatic events break the literary stagnation. Abrupt changes of locale may offer readers confusion, as the lovers maddeningly defer expressing their true passions. Authors enjoy showing off their familiarity with European watering holes. Expect both direct and indirect literary references to turn-of-the-century works. THE BENT TWIG proves a romance cum social reform, at a molasses pace.
July 19, 2015
What comes to mind when you hear the term, the “bent twig?” Does it suggest a small branch whose normal direction has been accidentally thwarted or deliberately redirected in its growth? Now add the concept that this “twig” is actually a young, impressionable girl growing up in Edwardian America. Will she survive the attempts to experiment with her character formation--to ultimately mature into her true self, or undergo cruelly meddlesome social and emotional modeling--as per to someone else’s plan for her life?
Canfield’s 1915 literary soap opera of social and personal reformation introduces readers to a little girl named Sylvia, who grows into young adulthood first in the Midwest (in the French-named city of La Chance), then in the “finishing school” of her beloved Aunt Victoria in Lydford, VT.
Canfield includes many serious themes in her romanticized novel:
* Racism—that “disintegrating moral force in the national character”
* The subtle war for a woman’s purse by a luxury department store
* The stigma of Spinterism—that a young lady who is not married by the ripe age of 20 is doomed for governessing or outright social work.
* Financial morality: that one should not rest easy on luxuries earned by the toil and hardship of poorer classes.
* Social obligations to care properly for sick family members of all ages
* the danger (or comfort) from trust in Planchette’s Ouija board messages
At risk of being corrupted into a snob or at least a lady who marries for money and social position instead of for love, Sylvia Marshall undergoes many disappointments as her heart flutters for one beau then another. Often she is faced with choices of suitors who are older than she--in Vermont and also in Paris. Her sister, Judith, and her cousin, Molly, also are courted; dramatic emotional scenes result when one young lady switches beaus. Self-sacrificing Sylvia denies her heart on several occasions and demonstrates amazing filial respect for the upbringing of her modest parents.
Sylisticly there are too many passages of moralizing--sermonettes on aesthetics, which do little to advance the languishing plot. Then after long pages of aesthetic “conversation,” sudden melodramatic events break the literary stagnation. Abrupt changes of locale may offer readers confusion, as the lovers maddeningly defer expressing their true passions. Authors enjoy showing off their familiarity with European watering holes. Expect both direct and indirect literary references to turn-of-the-century works. THE BENT TWIG proves a romance cum social reform, at a molasses pace.
July 19, 2015
November 25, 2015
Opening: Like most happy childhoods, Sylvia's early years lay back of her in a long, cheerful procession of featureless days, the outlines of which were blurred into one shimmering glow by the very radiance of their sunshine.
Montessori - who knew? Not I. So I had to find out:
Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who differ from each other.
Children possess an unusual sensitivity and intellectual ability to absorb and learn from their environment that are unlike those of the adult both in quality and capacity.
The most important years of childrens growth are the first six years of life when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.
Children have a deep love and need for purposeful work. They work, however, not as an adult for the completion of a job, but the sake of an activity itself. It is this activity which enables them to accomplish their most important goal: the development of their individual selves – their mental, physical and psychological powers.
Montessori - who knew? Not I. So I had to find out:
Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who differ from each other.
Children possess an unusual sensitivity and intellectual ability to absorb and learn from their environment that are unlike those of the adult both in quality and capacity.
The most important years of childrens growth are the first six years of life when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.
Children have a deep love and need for purposeful work. They work, however, not as an adult for the completion of a job, but the sake of an activity itself. It is this activity which enables them to accomplish their most important goal: the development of their individual selves – their mental, physical and psychological powers.
September 17, 2015
It's rare to find a book that tells the entire life story of a single character rather than just alluding to her past. I thought it would be dull, but it gave me such an understanding of Sylvia and her family that I understood every decision and every mistake she made. And when the end of the book came around, I was so thrilled at her happiness because I knew everything she overcame to get there. Dorothy Canfield Fisher is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
August 31, 2011
The first three-quarters of this novel are superb. It's an old-fashioned novel of ideas, especially regarding education at all levels, from pre-school to higher education. (The word Montessori is never mentioned, but apparently Fisher was an early proponent of the concept.) The other major issue is distribution of wealth and how money affects those who have a lot of it.
The story, set in an unnamed college town west of the Mississippi before WWI, concerns a professor of economics, his remarkable wife, and their three children, living an existence based on vaguely socialistic principles in defiance of what the local academic community considers proper: no servants, growing their own food, having the girls wear simple homemade shifts. This almost idyllic existence sets up a conflict for the oldest daughter, Sylvia, when she reaches college age and discovers that despite her beauty and accomplishments, not a single sorority will have her because her family is seen as "queer." Then the son of a senator (known to be a corrupt womanizer) becomes enthralled with her and she is swept off her feet by suddenly being a social success. As her innate integrity wars with her desire to be accepted, the book is fascinating.
Things bog down, however, when the locale shifts to Paris, where Sylvia is taken by her wealthy aunt. Unlike her sister, who embraces a nursing career, Athena can't find a way to use her advanced degree (this is 1915 after all) and drifts into an idle existence. Both of her suitors are very wealthy, and I found some of the portrayal of the issues surrounding a bit tedious. Other than that, this is an extremely well-written book, available for pennies on the Kindle.
The story, set in an unnamed college town west of the Mississippi before WWI, concerns a professor of economics, his remarkable wife, and their three children, living an existence based on vaguely socialistic principles in defiance of what the local academic community considers proper: no servants, growing their own food, having the girls wear simple homemade shifts. This almost idyllic existence sets up a conflict for the oldest daughter, Sylvia, when she reaches college age and discovers that despite her beauty and accomplishments, not a single sorority will have her because her family is seen as "queer." Then the son of a senator (known to be a corrupt womanizer) becomes enthralled with her and she is swept off her feet by suddenly being a social success. As her innate integrity wars with her desire to be accepted, the book is fascinating.
Things bog down, however, when the locale shifts to Paris, where Sylvia is taken by her wealthy aunt. Unlike her sister, who embraces a nursing career, Athena can't find a way to use her advanced degree (this is 1915 after all) and drifts into an idle existence. Both of her suitors are very wealthy, and I found some of the portrayal of the issues surrounding a bit tedious. Other than that, this is an extremely well-written book, available for pennies on the Kindle.
September 4, 2009
I really, really enjoyed this book. It follows a child named Sylvia Marshall and her family as she grows up. She is faced many times with the decision to follow they way she was raised in humble, loving, hard-working surroundings or follow the more wealthy and leisurly alternatives that become available to her. It is a coming of age story and a love story. Many of the ideas in this book are still so applicable to today. I was very pleasently surprised by the book as my copy is very old and it didn't have any synopsis of the story for me to have any kind of expectation or knowledge of what it would be. Dorothy Canfield is a great writer and you quite easily immerse yourself into her world. I would definately recommend this book to anyone.
July 28, 2016
"Who am I, an obscure, poverty-stricken music-teacher out of the West, to fancy that I have but to choose between two such men, two such fortunes?"
You may be obscure, poverty-stricken, et al, but you're also the drippy lead character in an underwhelming romantic novel. Rather frustratingly, you are additionally present at a few well-done scenes, just enough to have kept me reading, but not enough to make me happy about having done so.
More in-depth review to follow.
You may be obscure, poverty-stricken, et al, but you're also the drippy lead character in an underwhelming romantic novel. Rather frustratingly, you are additionally present at a few well-done scenes, just enough to have kept me reading, but not enough to make me happy about having done so.
More in-depth review to follow.
May 30, 2010
I'm halfway through this wonderful novel, my first by this author, and thought I'd see what other readers had written about it on goodreads. Surprisingly to me, one mentioned its Montessori and socialist underpinnings...certainly it's a more modern (I hesitate to use that word, though) view of life, society, than I would have thought even existed in 1916, the year this book was published.
I am really enjoying, no other word for it, Canfield's exploration of educational methods. As well, her descriptions of a rich home life, of a righteously angry nine-year-old, oh, of lots of different things, are so completely enjoyable to read and ponder.
An interesting tag from Amazon for this book is Faculty Families. And that's true - the father of the family is a professor at a state university.
*spoiler alert
OK, so at the end Sylvia gets her man...ah, but which one? This comes about after an almost unbelievable series of events, which tie all the loose ends together a bit too neatly.
I am really enjoying, no other word for it, Canfield's exploration of educational methods. As well, her descriptions of a rich home life, of a righteously angry nine-year-old, oh, of lots of different things, are so completely enjoyable to read and ponder.
An interesting tag from Amazon for this book is Faculty Families. And that's true - the father of the family is a professor at a state university.
*spoiler alert
OK, so at the end Sylvia gets her man...ah, but which one? This comes about after an almost unbelievable series of events, which tie all the loose ends together a bit too neatly.
September 15, 2018
This book was a constant reminder not to judge a book or a film by present-day cultures and standards. Written in 1915 and set in a small state college town in Vermont, it explored many different aspects of a young woman's growth to adulthood. It has much to say about class structure and social issues, some of the same ones our country is still experiencing, including coal mining and monopolies. There is much about making judgments of people without really getting to know them. It deals with the shock and grief of losing the parent one is closest to and finding the meaning of one's life as we make choices. I thought Sylvia was a great spokesperson for Canfield's ideas.
I found myself looking back to my youth at times parallel to what Sylvia is experiencing decades earlier. Thought-provoking and satisfying book.
I found myself looking back to my youth at times parallel to what Sylvia is experiencing decades earlier. Thought-provoking and satisfying book.
July 3, 2011
It's been a week or so since I finished the book, and, somewhat to my surprise, I often find myself recalling certain scenes or phrases from the story. I did find it rather overwrought and also didactic at times, but it has its strong points too, with memorable characterization of even relatively minor characters. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that I found the father's reaction to something toward the end of the book so out of character as to be unbelievable (as I found the extremity of quite a few of the emotions/behaviors throughout the book). And yes, overwrought--you can practically hear the melodramatic sound track. Still--I read it all, and it had some good little nuggets, and I enjoyed the details of the time and setting.
May 14, 2012
I just finished "The Bent Twig" this morning. At this point, I think it was a very worthwhile read, but I'm not sure if I actually liked it. I think that some of the issues that it explores, especially the aesthetic ideals that Sylvia is drawn to, must have become pretty irrelevant just a few years later, in the face of WWI. It's that glimpse of those completely foreign ideals that makes the book interesting, but idea that anyone could take living a beautiful life to such an extreme, or could be so conflicted about such nonsense, is so far from the modern mind, that it's hard to sympathize with Sylvia as a character.
March 17, 2015
This book was always going to find favour with me, simply because I identified with the father who, despite social pressures to conform, did not, and his family had a richer life for it. Aside from that, it is a book about being true to yourself (first you have to decide what kind of self you are as opposed to the more temporary person we think we are, and project to the world at any one point in time). It takes the whole book for Sylvia to get there, but that's the journey of the book! I mark it down a bit, because the emotions are somewhat dated now and that can make it hard to take seriously at times.
June 29, 2017
Yes, this book is old fashioned. And a bit preachy. It reminded me of reading Louisa May Alcott - interesting and developed characters that transcend the moral perspective of the author and live in your memory. I really enjoyed this book (and I'll admit that I find the moral universe appealing and somehow comforting).
August 17, 2018
I read it! I actually became quite fond of the characters. Really disappointed in the end- I felt only Sylvia’s storyline was tied up. I think it’s era specific though that the book finishes abruptly. The childhood sculpting of their characters was very interesting. I look forward to the email from good reads to see what they suggest I read after this.
November 2, 2010
This book started off so well, and very open-minded and liberal-thinking for a book written in 1915. But the end of the book had the main character acting in a way I don't think she would, too blind to some of the behavior around her. It was flat and preachy at the end.
May 17, 2012
I remember this author was popular when I was a kid. I looked her up and she lived in Vermont all her adult life and many of her books are set there. She brought the Montessori School to America, her father was President of Ohio state, and this book was surprisingly very good - even today.
September 15, 2009
This was one of the best fictional books I have read in a while. Written almost 100 years ago, the themes are still pertinent today.
Read
February 7, 2010Very long book, interesting characters. I liked it, but I can't decide how much.
May 8, 2010
Wonderful! Dorothy Canfield Fisher is an author I discovered through Amazon Kindle's Recommended for You listings. I so enjoy her books - and this one especially.
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July 30, 2011im not really finished i just stopped after i gave up on trying to keep track of all the bazillions of characters and the meandering plotline. :P
July 28, 2012
This was really, really good - much more subtle than I feared it might be on the basis of having read Understood Betsy, her classic for children. And compellingly readable.
May 6, 2013
Revealing picture of what people were wrestling with the early twentieth century.
October 9, 2024
This is a wonderful book - somewhere between Austen and Montgomery but a little more dark.
It starts slow but it is so worth reading from cover to cover in one fell swoop.
...A few hours later. I've been thinking about some of the negative reviews here, and it just breaks my heart. For one - it's not boring! I can barely believe someone found this boring. I was facinated by everything in it and hung on the edge of my seat, shaking and perspiring.
Someone else said the ideas discussed are outdated. That's not true. Education and socialism are still hot issues, though I strongly OPPOSE socialism. It is clear now that socialism is stupid, but people are still crazy about it. But that is not the point. THIS IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT SOCIALISM. This is a book about people and principles. The struggles discussed in the book are still very relevant, even if some of them have taken a different shape. People still choose money over meaning. People still marry for the wrong reasons. People still shun and shame people for not conforming to the norm. Other people still stand strong to their principles in the face of that shunning and shaming. And then there are simply the timeless struggles of growing up. These too are present. In many ways, the times we are living in are a caricature of the times she describes. Then there are the things which were particular to the time. Well, that's HISTORY and history is a good thing to learn. I think anyone who is interested in early twentieth century America will enjoy this book.
I hope you will give this thrilling novel, which ought to be much more of a classic than David Copperfield, a fair chance.
It starts slow but it is so worth reading from cover to cover in one fell swoop.
...A few hours later. I've been thinking about some of the negative reviews here, and it just breaks my heart. For one - it's not boring! I can barely believe someone found this boring. I was facinated by everything in it and hung on the edge of my seat, shaking and perspiring.
Someone else said the ideas discussed are outdated. That's not true. Education and socialism are still hot issues, though I strongly OPPOSE socialism. It is clear now that socialism is stupid, but people are still crazy about it. But that is not the point. THIS IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT SOCIALISM. This is a book about people and principles. The struggles discussed in the book are still very relevant, even if some of them have taken a different shape. People still choose money over meaning. People still marry for the wrong reasons. People still shun and shame people for not conforming to the norm. Other people still stand strong to their principles in the face of that shunning and shaming. And then there are simply the timeless struggles of growing up. These too are present. In many ways, the times we are living in are a caricature of the times she describes. Then there are the things which were particular to the time. Well, that's HISTORY and history is a good thing to learn. I think anyone who is interested in early twentieth century America will enjoy this book.
I hope you will give this thrilling novel, which ought to be much more of a classic than David Copperfield, a fair chance.
November 19, 2025
Fisher was so ahead of her time,
who wouldn't love a socialist hero who saves trees and gives away his fortune to build good schools?
who wouldn't love a socialist hero who saves trees and gives away his fortune to build good schools?
July 12, 2022
I found reference to this book in another book (Kindle) I was reading. I wanted to fill out my knowledge a bit on Montessori and the Edwardian era so found this for pennies on Amazon.
It’s worth that.
Held my interest up until the main character’s college years where she begins changing (as did I). College changes many viewpoints for some people. And I get that life bogs down and times but unfortunately reading that in “slow- mo” does become tedious.
I skimmed along a bit to the forest fire. The story picked up pace again for me and finished to the end. Its so full of minute descriptions that it does take a while, but in the end, I found it quite worth the effort.
It’s worth that.
Held my interest up until the main character’s college years where she begins changing (as did I). College changes many viewpoints for some people. And I get that life bogs down and times but unfortunately reading that in “slow- mo” does become tedious.
I skimmed along a bit to the forest fire. The story picked up pace again for me and finished to the end. Its so full of minute descriptions that it does take a while, but in the end, I found it quite worth the effort.
Read
April 9, 2013Loved this book! It made me want to go be a lumberman in Vermont! Shining with socialist virtue!
May 7, 2013
A tad overwrought, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews