Persephone Books discussion

I'm a bit late this month, but here's the thread for this months read of Fidelity by Susan Glaspell, but better late than never.

Thanks, Tania! :) I'm maybe 1/3 through the book and the writing is great.

I enjoyed it a lot. And the ending was brilliant.

Found the time period and the setting appealing. Also thought the hypocrisy and gossip of small town life well written.

Yes, agreed on both comments - I liked the ending, it was very optimistic. And an excellent painting on small-town life - everyone was so judgy.
I marked a couple of pages - on pg 171 (kind of in the middle of ch 18), there was a section where Ruth was thinking about how she had changed since the affair, the loneliness and drawing back from people. I thought the description was so accurate and well-written. "Event people who had never 'heard' had the feeling she did not care to know them, that she wanted to be let alone. It crippled her power for friendship; it hurt her spirit. And it left her very much alone."
And in chapter 24 on pg 231, I liked the interchange between Ruth and Annie about children. Annie gives Ruth a more realistic view of having children -
"The night before she had said to Annie, 'You have your children. That makes life worth while to you, doesn't it?' And Annie, with that hard, swift look of being ruthless for getting at the truth - for getting her feeling straight and expressing it truly, had answered, 'Not in itself. I mean, it's not all. I think much precious life has gone dead under the idea of children being enough - letting them be all. *We* count - *I* count! Just leaving life isn't all; living it while we're here - that counts, too.'"