Up the Sand Box!

by Anne Roiphe

Story of a pregnant New York housewife who offsets her unfulfilling days by fantasizing about adventures in darkest Africa and revolutionary forays with Fidal Castro.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Feminism

155 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 1971

About the author

Over a four-decade career, Roiphe has proven so prolific that the critic Sally Eckhoff observed, "tracing Anne Roiphe's career often feels like following somebody through a revolving door: the requirements of keeping the pace can be trying." (Eckhoff described the writer as "a free-thinking welter of contradictions, a never-say-die feminist who's absolutely nuts about children"). Roiphe published her first novel, Digging Out, in 1967. Her second, Up The Sandbox (1970), became a national best-seller and made the author's career.

Roiphe has since published seven novels and two memoirs, while contributing essays and reviews to The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, and others. In 1993, The New York Times described her as "a writer who has never toed a party line, feminist or otherwise." Her 1996 memoir Fruitful A memoir of Modem Motherhood was nominated for the National Book Award

From 1997 to 2002, she served as a columnist for The New York Observer. Her memoir Epilogue was published in 2008, and another memoir, Art and Madness, in 2011.

Reviews

[Megan Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

In another one of those lovely synchronicities, I started this book the morning after my husband and I had watched The Weather Underground documentary - and then the first "Out of Week" fantasy the narrator indulges in has her in a fairly similar group.

The book shifts between the "In the Weeks" - the ordinary doings of an intelligent woman with two children, a loving husband, but little support, and bored out of her mind in New York in the 1970s. The "Out of the Weeks," each of which describe a different fantasy of what she's doing instead - always still married, with children, but with the freedom to take on huge adventures and challenges.

The juxtaposition underscores how little goes on during her actual life, and the book ends on a decidedly melancholy note, as her two kinds of week seem to collide, but in the sense that even her dreams are constricting.

Unsettling and entertaining.

[Mathilda Ager · Rating 4 out of 5]

After watching the very strange 1970 film- which I enjoyed but was left with more questions than answers , this book shone light on some areas I was confused about. It is not identical to the film, and I would go as far to say that the film is toned down.

The story follows Margaret Reynolds, a New York housewife with two children, and a husband called Paul. Despite achieving well when at school, Margaret has married and had children, both of which have limited her. Spending her days at the park with a pram, or cooking whilst her husband progresses his education at University, Margaret is bored. So she begins to fantasise about what her life COULD have been, whilst also maintaining her joy in having children.

These fantasies are so strange, that I would label this book as the most unsettling book I’ve ever read. But I enjoyed it.

The plot has a simple basis, but incredibly complex undertones, and it is HIGHLY relevant to today. Namely, Margaret questions what it would be like to be male and how someone could transition into a male, talks about student protests in the midst of the Vietnam War, works with civil rights activists, and brushes upon other current affairs.

This work is an important contribution to feminist literature. Margaret’s thoughts are unfiltered and real, and it really gives us insight into the mind of a middle -class American woman in the early 1970s, her views on civil rights, disability, sexuality and gender roles.

At times her views could be considered controversial, and to a modern reader uncomfortable, especially regarding disability.

[Jen Steed Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was a weird one.

I really enjoyed the satire on the "modern housewife." The book was published in 1970, so I wouldn't have thought there would be much in common with today's women, but there certainly is. Still a lot of work to be done for women to truly be equals to men.

[Kim Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I was reading this book I remembered Emily Prager's short story collection "A Visit from the Footbinder" and the story "The Lincoln-Pruitt Anti-Rape Device: Memoirs of the Women's Combat Army in Vietnam." This story was my first experience with feminist fiction with a militant/political bent. I didn't know what to make of it. Feminism had never appealed to me growing up, probably because I didn't experience the struggle firsthand and because I'd never had to fight for my rights: the women in my life were strong and independent, my dad wanted only one thing for his daughters (that we follow our dreams) and my very old-fashioned grandpa had only one wish for our futures: that we graduate from college. The story stuck with me not only because it was violent and angry and bizarre, but because it made a statement about power. "Up the Sandbox" (published in 1970) does the same. In many ways it is similar to "Norma Jean, The Termite Queen" (which I just read) --- changing times, a dissatisfied housewife, a woman coming to terms with the responsibility of being a mother. Then it digresses. Chapter alternate: real life, fantasy life, real life, fantasy life, and so on. But these are no romance novel fantasies. For example, in one the main character, Margaret, is a journalist in Cuba and has an affair with Castro (it would be a spoiler to describe the twist); in another fantasy she is in Vietnam, and another the Amazon. And in each fantasy she is making a difference on a world stage level (or at least participating in a small act that gives her power in a bigger way, rather than just changing diapers). Like "Norma Jean" I feel that this book was as influenced by the unsettling uncertainty of social change as it was about fear --- so many dangers beyond on our individual control. The end of WWII and Hiroshima set up the possibility of unimaginable world-ending horrors, but I believe the 1970s (in its literature, in its movies) is where the fear of such horrors found its voice. This book is definitely one of those voices.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can just imagine Roiphe reading The Feminine Mystique, finishing it, pondering over it, and then writing this story. About a mother struggling with her malaise of life -- two kids, a husband who's needs come before hers, the stink and swelter of NYC in the summer (OK, well that is not Mystique-y, but it played a part in the story) -- and the ways she tries to snap out of her funk and be an individual and a fulfilled woman. The fantasy scenes were very clever and added a nice twist.

[KennyO · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in the Navy overseas and this was a BOMC selection ... or an alternate ... I don't remember. In any case, I do remember wondering why I bought the book and, still more, why I read it. It was just not my kind of book. I loaned it to a neighbor who spoke much more highly of it. An English major, I think.

[Caroline Toole · Rating 5 out of 5]

EDIT: i will always always love this book idc how dated it is it’s so comforting to meeee

also one of my favorite books for sentimental reasons...albeit terribly dated. thank god i’m a barbra streisand stan because otherwise i’d have no idea what this little gem of a novel was.