The Company of Women

This is a story definitely rooted in its particular place and time – the 1960’s and its clash of cultures: formal and polite and rigid Catholicism meets the secular and intellectual fervor at the time of the Vietnam War. Felicitas is the daughter of Charlotte, god daughter and companion of Elizabeth, Mary Rose, Clare and Muriel; the man in all of their lives is Father Cyprian, an emotionally cold priest around whom they all revolve.

This story is grounded in a deep understanding of Roman Catholicism and its myriad forms: sentimentality, devotion, rigidity, community and critical thinking. As Felicitas grows from an odd and melancholy child to a distant and rebellious college student, we learn of her layers of desire: first to show more acquire knowledge for its own beauty, but eventually to belong, to be in relationship, to not be outside of the world as she has always been. This journey is a difficult one for her and the reader as her fate is more evident to those who are watching from the outside.

I found the writing to be spare and elegant, the story to be deep and eventually satisfying. But I will say that I sometimes found it hard going given the despair I felt at Felicitas’s choices. Overall, a strong book about strong women trying to fit on the fringes of the life that is expected of them. show less

I am unsure whether my tastes have significantly changed or if I have misremembered this book. I remembered this book as an insightful, engaging story about a mother and a daughter struggling to adjust to the changes in society, both large and small, brought by the Vietnam War and Vatican 2. While this is certainly part of the story, this time I found the characters, especially Felicitas, Cyprian and Charlotte tedious. Perhaps the sixties did produce the seismic results experienced by Felicitas but for me the story seemed contrived and created to illustrate a point not a story consistent with the characters created.

Hmm. What can I say about this one. First off, I am not a catholic, so some of this was kind of lost on me. I found this book unusual. There is Father Cyprian with out a congregation. This makes him somewhat of a failure in my book, but he has a following of women who come to see him once a year. Seems weird to me. One of the women has a daughter, Felicitas. Felicitas goes away to college and begins doing all kinds of unspeakable things and loses her way. She gets pregnant, comes home and then her and her mother leave and go to live near the priest and raise the baby. In the end Felicitas gets married to an average kind of guy from the hardware store. He is a “simple” but a good person. There is also Muriel who lives next door to show more Father Cyprian and she is in love with him. The book is a portrayal of life in the 1960s and 70s.

I found this book a little too weird and dysfunctional for my taste. I am not sure what the writer was trying to get across to the reader? I found no one in the story that I could connect with. If you read this and like it let me know maybe you can explain it to me? I give this book 2/5 stars. show less

2091 The Company of Women, by Mary Gordon (read 2 Aug 1987) This is a 1980 novel. The story is about Father Cyprian, and women who are his friends, one of whom has a daughter, Felicitas, who is a good girl who goes bad. The language used by characters in the book is revolting and I really did not like many aspects of the book. I thought some of the Catholic aspects of the book good, but I was sickened by the ease with which Felicitas abandoned morality.

Weird but some good parts.
Noted during my 1980's attempt to read every book in my small town library.