Charity Girl

The protagonist of Michael Lowenthal’s engaging novel Charity Girl is one of the 50,000 women spuriously imprisoned by the U.S. Government during WWI. This sounds like a dull premise, but what bubbles up through the setup is a spirited, sexy romp through a Boston in the grip of war fever. Frieda Mintz, a 17-year-old Jewish shopgirl, likes fast cars, handsome young officers, dances, drinking, and the Red Sox; her resistance to parental authority and independent spirit mark her as something of a proto-feminist. The details of her arrest and exile to a women’s labor house have obvious parallels to the suspension of civil rights post-9/11, but Lowenthal wisely chooses not to force a political message onto his narrative. The period show more setting is vividly rendered without the overabundance of superfluous detail that makes so much historical fiction headache-inducing. What stays with the reader from Charity Girl is Frieda Mintz and her thirst for life.

From THE L MAGAZINE, January 17 2007 show less

Another of our "free" nation's shining moments -- during WWI, to protect the public health (really, mens' health) helpless, usually poor, lower class women with venereal disease were dragged from their homes, incarcerated in "girls homes," never faced any charges, and then put at the mercy of our somewhat rudimentary medical establishment to be "cured." This book made me really angry. Doesn't quite rank up there with the Tuskeegee experiment but close. Scary book. I liked the main character a lot -- she seemed very real to me. The lesser characters were equally well-drawn and although this was a difficult, upsetting read I would highly recommend it.

Fact-based fiction set during World War I. Frieda Mintz is a 17-year-old Jewish girl who rebels against her mother and her religion and convention and runs away, gets a job at a department store, and learns the art of letting herself be picked up by men so they will take her dancing and buy her things. She falls hard for one particular soldier and "goes the limit," and he leaves her with a venereal disease and then reports her to the authorities as the last person he had sexual relations with. Frieda is then quarantined at a detention center with other women in the same situation. These women take all the blame while the soldiers get off
scot-free. The main story is about the detained women and how they got there and how they survive or show more don't survive. Great story, good writing. show less

Tension-filled and brimming with period detail, this work about the WWI era US government plot to prevent the spread of venereal disease to soldiers by imprisoning women (in many cases detaining them in converted brothels) is one of the best novels I've read in years.

The story is told from the point of view of naive Frieda Mintz, who grows up and perseveres even as she is branded as "...a far greater menace to the welfare of society than many murderers serving life sentences..."

This horrifying look at a forgotten (purposely, I suspect) part of American history is also a surprising showcase for the author's ability to capture the little things that make up joy, and even pass on that feeling to the reader. Unfortunately, the story falls apart right at the climax, leaving its heroine in a pickle and then skipping ahead without ever explaining how on earth she got out of it. This omission cheats the reader out of both the emotions that this scene should have inspired and an understanding of the next steps in the process that these women went through. If the ending had been better handled this would have been a 5 star book but as it is I feel that 4 is a bit generous. 3 1/2 stars

Frieda Mintz is a seventeen year old Jewish girl who works as a bundle wrapper in a department store after running away from her controlling mother, who wanted to marry her off to a much older man. Frieda is barely scraping by, but she's enjoying her life, which becomes even more exciting when she meets Felix Morse, a private in the Army, during a parade. They have one date, in which Felix takes her to a baseball game and, later, changes Frieda's life forever by giving her a sexually transmitted disease. Frieda's life quickly takes a turn for the worse - she loses her job and is unable to find a new one without a letter of reference from her former employer, she goes through the meager amount of money she's managed to save, she loses show more all of her "friends" (save one) at the department store, is nearly raped, and is eventually picked up and sent to a home for women who are infected with STDs.

I have a lot of thoughts about this book, so my review might seem a little disjointed.

First, I've had this book for something like six or seven years. I bought it shortly after its release (I believe in 2007?) and tried to read it then, but I never got past the first few pages. The author's writing style is a little different, and I just couldn't get into the story on my first try - but on the second try, I was instantly hooked.

I liked the character of Frieda, although it was a little hard to sympathize with the "love" that she felt for Felix instantly. Still, I guess I can give her a little leeway because she was rather sheltered growing up, and it was a different era then (filled with the knowledge that soldiers were being shipped overseas and might never return, which might up the quickening of "love"). And she did grow, from being incredibly naive and trusting to someone who sees the world more as it is.

I really liked the character of Jo, one of the girls that Frieda meets in the home. Abused and forced to prostitute herself by her husband, Jo is eventually infected by someone and sent to the home. True to the time, once it is discovered that Jo is pregnant and her husband is tracked down, they insist that she return to her husband, even though Jo obviously doesn't want to go with him. Jo eventually attempts to give herself an abortion, which results in her death. She's a sad reminder of what can happen when women aren't given equal rights to men and abortion access is nonexistent.

And then there's Anna. Sigh. I have conflicted thoughts about Anna. She's one of the overseers of the girls in the home, and at first she seems rather sympathetic toward them. Ultimately, it is Anna who evaluates the girls and gives them the opportunity to either regain their lives or be classified as degenerates. She forms a friendship with Frieda, and that is when the trouble starts. Although it's never confirmed in so many words, Frieda eventually suspects that Anna is a lesbian and that Anna is attracted to her. Although Frieda doesn't share Anna's regard, she does view Anna as a friend, and Frieda decides that she wants to use Anna to get out and get her education. Eventually Frieda pushes Anna too far, and Anna lashes back, which makes her take on the role more as a predatory lesbian than anything, and I hate that. I can understand that Anna had hoped that she could have more than friendship with Frieda, but once the "relationship" between them is irrevocably severed, Anna pretty much gives up on all of the girls. Coincidentally, or not, at the same time, the girls learn that their stay in the "home" is just until they are cured from the STDs - they still face criminal charges, with the threat of institutionalization for years - or life - for their "crimes." Frieda wonders if this comes about because of her, but that's not confirmed, either. Ugggggh. I liked Anna until this point, and then I just felt betrayed that the character would become like that.

As for the historical context and situations, I found it fascinating. I don't read a lot of fiction set in the First World War era, but this book was interesting to me. The author obviously knows his era and throws in a lot of language, names, brands, and etc that really immersed me into the story and the time period. There is a lot of racism displayed against the Jewish characters (Frieda, Felix, one of the doctors at the home, and all of their families are Jewish), as well as a ton of sexism (not surprising - women don't even have the vote yet at this time). Unfortunately also not surprising, it is the women who are prosecuted, even though in some cases (like Frieda's), they just got involved with the wrong man, who then infected them. Most of the girls in the home just like a good time; only a few seem to be involved with prostitution, and even then, it's the only way that they can really survive at the time. They are being held in the home without charges, without a trial, and without representation, only because they have been found to have a sexually transmitted disease. In the end, it is revealed that they still all face criminal charges, and that they will likely be put into an institution for years. Some of them, those who are viewed as likely to become prostitutes, may be committed for life. Wow. Meanwhile, the soldiers that infected them never face any charges - they are simply taken to the doctor, treated, and allowed to continue their normal lives. That's something that doesn't make it into the history books much, and I'm glad to have read this book and seen what could happen to girls in this situation.

The ending felt rushed to me, and although Frieda learned some very important things, she was still quite naive. She ended up marrying someone she barely knew because she thought he might be the only person to ever ask her. Umm. Okay.

Altogether, I am glad that I read this book (I'm not sure that I can say that I "enjoyed" it, because there is a lot of harshness in it). show less

In all honesty, I did not know about this historical time in our country where thousands of women were held in reformatories and detention homes, behind barbed wire, for months at a time. It is reported that the U. S. Government detained close to 30,000 women. There were no charges of a crime, no trial, and they were forced to endure medical treatment for venereal diseases. Many of the women were prostitutes, but a significant number of the women were not. They were called "charity girls". Hence the title of the book, the author describes "charity girls" as " those who "picked up" men for the sheer fun of it and for the attendant perks of nights on the town—and who by our contemporary standards, were doing nothing illicit or even show more unusual. " Frieda was considered a "charity girl". These events are truly shocking and mind boggling to realize that they actually occurred. Also, it has been reported that these actions did not cause a decline in the military's infection rate.

I was angry that the men were not held accountable for their own actions in spreading venereal disease in the story and during the real events of World War I. The women were blamed for "infecting" the men when often it was the other way around, especially for the "charity girls". Due to the men being needed to serve in the war, they were not detained in detention centers or reformatories while they were being treated.

I found this novel, engrossing and it grabbed my attention from the start. I read it in 2 days as I couldn't put it down. In reading the story, I could envision this historical time period with the wonderful details and descriptions that the author shared through his writing. I wanted to know what happened to Frieda. I was hoping for more in the end but in a sense the choices that Frieda makes are relative of that time period. Frieda may not have had many options after her experiences in the detention camp. I was hoping for Frieda to find that "true love" and passion that she deserved. I guess that I wanted Frieda to have a happily ever after story but that is not reality. I did like how in the end Frieda found her strength and intelligence as a women. I was very impressed that Michael Lowenthal, a male author, could capture so accurately the female characters perspectives and feelings.

Read my whole review on my blog at
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