Necessary Lies

Vidas Esquecidas é um livro escrito pela Diane Chamberlain e traduzido por Ana Mendes Lopes.

Este romance prendeu-me à leitura logo nas primeiras páginas. Não estivesse eu a ler outro livro em simultâneo, apesar do número de páginas, teria devorado este livro em muito pouco tempo. Por outro lado, gostei de prolongar a sua leitura, porque foi sempre um prazer voltar a retomar a sua leitura. É um livro intenso, que aborda questões sociológicas de famílias desfavorecidas, temas controversos como a “eugénia” e que nos revolta, choca, inquieta e comove. A "Eugenia" era um programa esterilização, muito utilizada durante a II Guerra com a ideologia de atingir a “pureza racial”, e que continuou a ser amplamente utilizada, show more mesmo após a II Guerra, em vários países. Entre 1929 e 1975 a Carolina do Norte esterilizou sete mil dos seus cidadãos. No total cerca de 65 mil americanos foram esterilizados em 33 Estados. Apesar de ser um tema abordado de forma fictícia, retrata acontecimentos que podemos situar em termos históricos e que nos ajudam a perceber e a consciencializar para estes programas de apuramento racial tão injustos e abomináveis.

A história decorre na Carolina do Norte, na zona de Grace County em 1960. Jane Forrester, recém-formada e casada com um médico, começa a trabalhar como assistente social, ainda que o marido preferisse que ela ficasse em casa e tivesse logo filhos, como a maior parte das mulheres dos seus amigos. Mas Jane não se identifica com essas mulheres e quer exercer a sua profissão.

Jane começa a prestar assistência a famílias muito pobres e, inicialmente com o desejo de mostrar as suas capacidades profissionais, acaba por se envolver emocionalmente nos casos que segue. A família que mais a comove e interessa é constituída por Ivy, a irmã (mãe solteira e esterilizada pela “eugénia”) e a avó.

À semelhança do livro O Segredo da Minha Irmã, a história é narrada alternadamente por duas personagens, neste caso, Ivy e Jane, o que torna a narrativa mais envolvente. Os capítulos são breves, mas intensos e, sempre que queremos saber como a história continua, passamos para a outra personagem, que, por sua vez, também nos envolve e absorve completamente.

Posso dizer que adorei este livro, até mais do que o anterior, tal a carga emocional e riqueza destas personagens, que nos sugam e nos levam com elas para as suas vidas complexas e únicas.

Que segredos escondem estas mulheres? Até que ponto Jane consegue separar a sua vida das vidas que assiste?

Uma leitura que aconselho vivamente! show less

I couldn't put this book down. It tells the story of Jane Forrester, a woman in 1960 working for the Department of Public Welfare in the deep south of America. She's new to the job and finds it hard to detach herself emotionally from the families she is dealing with. One of her families is the Hart family and in particular 15 year old Ivy and her 17 year old sister, Mary Ella. They work in tobacco fields and live in poverty. The biggest part of the story relates to a moral dilemma facing Jane, and this made the book such an interesting read, especially when you consider it's based on reality.

The book alternates between being told from the points of view of Jane and Ivy. I was never confused as to who was 'speaking' as each has a very show more distinctive voice. I raced through the story - Diane Chamberlain has such a human way of writing, enabling me as a reader to feel empathy with the characters. Add to that her ability to write such interesting and morally complex storylines and this guarantees a fab read. show less

As my first Diane Chamberlain book, all I can say is what took me so long?!?!

It was highly entertaining, a page turner (heard she's known for these) and definitely the type of story I would think about during the day, and eager to get back to at night. (only time I read)

I loved how she had the POV's of Jane, Ivy, and the beginning/ending with Brenna. Such a great, great way to lay out a story. I wondered who Brenna was, and when we get to find out, it's VERY satisfying. Chamberlain does such a good job of telling Jane and Ivy's story, that we sort of forget about Brenna until she's necessary again.

She captured the time frame so well, the poverty, the way wives were supposed to dote on husband's, and with her own social work background, show more I feel some of the storytelling was very authentic.

I have BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN (signed no less!), but I almost want to hold off reading that one and grab a couple others of hers to read first. I'm hooked! show less

The plot is simple enough: Jane, a social worker, finds herself assigned the case of two parentless teenage girls working on a tobacco farm, one of them having had a child already when she was barely 14. As it takes place in the early 1960s in North Carolina, the story obviously echoes the zeitgeist of the time, from racism to sexism and from classism to, indeed, eugenics, as it will be Jane's job to make sure that one of the girls, like her sister had already, be sterilised by the State.

Reflecting the bigoted era of a time we surely would like to be long gone, 'Necessary Lies' can be a tough read. I personally was taken aback by how, in fact, it often unsettled me or made me angry e.g. the subservience of most women to their husbands show more (Jane included), the entitlement of individuals coming from privileged background having no understanding of poverty, a junk science ignorant of how environment impact people's development (and so lives' trajectories) yet entrusted to be the moral compass to improve society etc.

Having said that, what is striking about how the author unravel her plot is how un-preachy she is. It could have been so easy indeed to fall into the obvious claptrap of judging such era by our own standards (even if we're barely better), and so give in to self-righteous outrage. There is, on the contrary, absolutely none of that here. In fact, Jane, for all her understanding and bravery in going against the grain of the time, is not without her own idiosyncrasies; and it's made very clear that most characters who otherwise fully support the 'Eugenics Program' do so, not because they are intrinsically bad or immoral, but because they truly believe that theirs is the human, decent, and compassionate thing to do. Beware, then, of the road to Hell paved with good intents...

I personally loved this book. It can feel like dragging on towards the end, yet Diane Chamberlain's handling of such a complex, difficult topic, by skilfully finding the right balance between emotions and rationally exposing an otherwise still widely unknown part of history (let's remember that it's American eugenics which had inspired the Nazis, with whom eugenics thinkers had more than a link...) can only be described as being masterful.

What is especially arresting is how many layers can be peeled off while reading. For example (and it's one among many!), I found it revealing to see Jane, the social worker and doctor's wife, taking the pill to afford herself a career, yet those job it is to advocate for other, poor women and girls, to be sterilised for supposedly being 'promiscuous' (hence 'feebleminded'). Classist hypocrisy is far from being new...

A very, very good read. show less

The story of a small southern, North Carolina town fifty years ago, and the darkest–and most hopeful places in the human heart.
After losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm. As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.

Jane Forrester takes the position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed. It isn't a good thing, buts She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients’ lives, which of course causes tension with her boss as well as her new husband. As Jane is drawn show more in by the women of Hart County, she begins to discover there are secrets in the small farm town...secrets much darker than she would have ever guessed. She soon finds that she must decide whether to take some drastic actions in order to help them, or to risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.

The story is set in the 1960's in rural Grace County, North Carolina. This was in the time when state-mandated sterilizations were taking place and racial tension were high. This book is the story of two young women who are at first, seemingly distant worlds apart, but both are haunted by tragedy. Jane and Ivy are now thrown together and must ask themselves: How can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?

This is an engaging and evocative story of a North Carolina state mandated program which was, believe it or not, still active in 1960. The vivid depictions of life and poverty on a tobacco farmland at that time are compelling and appear to be depicted quite realistically. You will learn more than you ever wanted to know about this sterilization program through these two well-drawn characters. Through Necessary Lies, Diane Chamberlain has written an unforgettable, thought-provoking story.

NOTE: I had to know a bit more about this North Caroline sterilization program, what seemed to me to have been an inhuman act that you would more expect to be taking place in Nazi Germany than in the United States of America. Here is what I found. I was appalled to say the least...especially when I have found out since that enough though this book was set in 1960, but this program had been going on in 32 of the states since 1913.

The North Carolina sterilization program was driven by the belief in eugenics, which was a pseudoscience that claimed to improve society by promoting the "better" traits of the human population. The program aimed to reduce the number of individuals with mental illnesses and disabilities, as well as to prevent the spread of poverty through controlled reproduction. The Eugenics Board of North Carolina was responsible for overseeing the sterilization process, which was often coercive and aimed at benefiting the public good. The program was characterized by its negative eugenics approach, which discouraged reproduction by individuals with genetic defects or "undesirable" traits. Those "undesirable traits" included color, sexual identity, parentage nationality, and the one that I somewhat understood...health issues.

The biggest question I had was WHO determines what those "undesirable traits are" and what exactly is the end result supposed to "improve"? Sorry, I got so caught up in the entire horrible idea of this program that I almost forgot the rest of the story:) show less

I'm surprised that the welfare dept. admitted it was a eugenics program. Bringing Ivy birth control tools is one thing, as is persuading young women on the rolls to get a tubal ligation, or young men to become "asexualized." But sterilizing Mary Ella against her knowledge is a whole 'nother. She's certainly not that feeble-minded. It comes down to choice. I happen to think that I should have been sterilized before I had any of my children (not that I don't love them now) but treating people like dogs--encouraged to breed if the father is a doctor, sterilized if they're poor--is so wrong that it dehumanizes everyone.

I'm grateful that Chamberlain didn't tell us the most awful stories. As she said in her notes, this could have been a book show more for voyeurs, a story that would make us feel so superior, so wise. Instead these people did act in good faith (mostly) and we're dangerously close to doing things now that will be seen as outrageous fifty years from now. We must remain vigilant.

Not a five star book. The characters often spoke too wisely, as the author was so earnest in getting the themes across to us. And I think the Gardiner subplot was egregious. But it's certainly an engaging read... I couldn't put it down and read it in one night when I was supposed to be sleeping. Made for book club (especially for this library book club in bible belt Missouri), lots to discuss. I imagine it would be a good movie, too.

The root theme is, of course, poverty. If Nonnie had enough money for healthier food, and if the girls didn't have to work so hard, and if Mary Ella had better prenatal care, they wouldn't be in such a mess. Nonnie is my age ferpeetsake! And yet we still don't fund social service programs to near the extent we fund one corner of the Pentagon!

The root cause of poverty is inadequate education. I won't open that can of worms here as there are so many ways to talk about what that means. But in the book it's glaringly ridiculous. Girls who get pregnant are kicked out of school. If the dad wants to stick around and help, welfare benefits are reduced below the woefully low levels the family already gets. And that has not changed much, I know.

I am glad the author reminded us that IQ tests are totally fallible, and especially back then had not a whole lot of relevant accuracy for the 'colored' or the poor or the rural folk. Nonetheless, Lita scored 115... imagine how smart she *really* is!

One thing Chamberlain did wrong imo was imply that breast-feeding can be difficult and a bottle is fine. It totally is not fine. Breast milk has the perfect nutrition for the baby. Nursing is usually ridiculously easy (no heating the bottle at the stove in the middle of the night!) and can be learned on the occasions it's not. It's healthier and cheaper for mom, too. And of course it's good for the parent-child bond. show less

This was another case of going into a book completely blind, not even having read the synopsis of the book. I picked it because I had previously read a book by this author and it was available for check out. I wasn't expecting as dark and deep a story as this but was pleasantly surprised that it was as good as the other book I read by her. Whenever I hear people talk about the "good old days," I want to smack them over the head with books like this one where the reality of what was going on in the 50's and 60's was not happiness and sunshine for so many people. This book is about the forced sterilization of black women in the US and was as heartbreaking as it was infuriating. As you can imagine, there is a lot of misogyny, racism and show more overall lack of respect for lives that weren't white and financially sound. It was a disturbing read but a good one that I highly recommend. show less