What Every Woman Knows
by J. M. Barrie
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In this lively and engaging four-act play, Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie tackles the touchy subject of women's roles in marriage with his trademark wit and insight. In an agreement more akin to a business transaction than a whirlwind romance, the Wylies secure the engagement of their good-hearted but plain daughter Maggie to an up-and-coming law student. Over the years, Maggie quietly works her magic behind the scenes, engineering her husband's stratospheric rise. But will it be enough to show more win his love and respect?. show less
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Notes: My comments on this story contain a few spoilers, I placed warnings above the particular paragraphs.
Also, I categorized this as a 'Funny Read'. It's not a split-your-sides, laugh-out-loud read, but it is rather witty, once you get into it.
So I started reading this knowing nothing about the book, except that it was written by the bloke who wrote Peter Pan... (Mind you, I wasn't expecting something like the boy who didn't want to grow up.)
SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.
In short, it's about a man who, in order to be able to pay for his education to become a minister (and later has even political ambitions), promisses to wed a girl (who's a few years older than him). In return, her family pays for his education. show more
Years later, he's in politics, they're married and he falls in love with another woman. Also, it turns out his speeches ar not that great, without the delicate help from his wife... I won't tell whom he'll end up with.
THIS PART IS FAIRLY SPOILER FREE.
It took me forever to read these 80 pages (well, about 3 days, really. But I only managed to read a couple of pages at a time, so it felt like ages).
What kept tripping my reading flow up the first couple of pages was the 'dambrod', mainly because the Dutch word is 'dambord'. (the 2 reversed letters kept triggering my brain to scream 'typo!', even though it's correct).
But, it turned out to be a really interesting, and fairly funny read, once you get used to the form (it's written more or less like a play, with sort-of stage instructions.).
I did have a hard time figuring out Maggie. Did she just have an inferiority complex? Or was she just madly in love with John? Or was she an ambitious woman?
SPOILER ALERT, AGAIN (but, in my opinion it doesn't really influence the enjoyment of the story...)
I thought it was a shame Barrie didn't delve a bit deeper into her motives for standing by John like she does. On the other hand, it might be interpreted as part of 'the mystery that is woman', and part of the answer to the queastion the title raises...
This novella is food for thought, really, and definately worth a read! show less
Also, I categorized this as a 'Funny Read'. It's not a split-your-sides, laugh-out-loud read, but it is rather witty, once you get into it.
So I started reading this knowing nothing about the book, except that it was written by the bloke who wrote Peter Pan... (Mind you, I wasn't expecting something like the boy who didn't want to grow up.)
SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.
In short, it's about a man who, in order to be able to pay for his education to become a minister (and later has even political ambitions), promisses to wed a girl (who's a few years older than him). In return, her family pays for his education. show more
Years later, he's in politics, they're married and he falls in love with another woman. Also, it turns out his speeches ar not that great, without the delicate help from his wife... I won't tell whom he'll end up with.
THIS PART IS FAIRLY SPOILER FREE.
It took me forever to read these 80 pages (well, about 3 days, really. But I only managed to read a couple of pages at a time, so it felt like ages).
What kept tripping my reading flow up the first couple of pages was the 'dambrod', mainly because the Dutch word is 'dambord'. (the 2 reversed letters kept triggering my brain to scream 'typo!', even though it's correct).
But, it turned out to be a really interesting, and fairly funny read, once you get used to the form (it's written more or less like a play, with sort-of stage instructions.).
I did have a hard time figuring out Maggie. Did she just have an inferiority complex? Or was she just madly in love with John? Or was she an ambitious woman?
SPOILER ALERT, AGAIN (but, in my opinion it doesn't really influence the enjoyment of the story...)
I thought it was a shame Barrie didn't delve a bit deeper into her motives for standing by John like she does. On the other hand, it might be interpreted as part of 'the mystery that is woman', and part of the answer to the queastion the title raises...
This novella is food for thought, really, and definately worth a read! show less
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James Matthew Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, was born on May 9, 1860, in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland. His idyllic boyhood was shattered by his brother's death when Barrie was six. His own grief and that of his mother influenced the rest of his life. Through his work, he sought to recapture the carefree joy of his first six years. Barrie came to show more London as a freelance writer in 1885. His early fiction, Auld Licht Idylls (1888) and A Window in Thrums (1889), were inspired by his youth in Kirriemuir. After publishing a biography of his mother Margaret Ogilvy and the autobiographical novel Sentimental Tommy, about a boy living in a dream world (1896), he concentrated on writing plays. The Admirable Crichton (1902), the story of a butler who becomes king of a desert island, helped to establish Barrie's reputation as a playwright. Meanwhile, he began to relive his childhood by telling the first Peter Pan stories to the sons of his friend, Sylvia Llewellyn Davies. The play Peter Pan was first performed in 1904 and published as a novel seven years later. Its imaginative drama, featuring the eternal boy's triumph over the grownup Captain Hook, idealizes childhood and underscores adults' inability to regain it. These resonant themes made it a classic of world literature. Barrie's later work shows his increasingly cynical view of adulthood, particularly in Dear Brutus (1917). Often considered his finest play, it concerns nine men and women whose caprices destroy a miraculous opportunity to relive their lives. Barrie married the former Mary Ansell in 1894. They divorced in 1909, never having any children. Barrie died in London on June 19, 1937. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- What Every Woman Knows
- Original publication date
- 1908
- Related movies
- What Every Woman Knows (1934 | IMDb)
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 109
- Popularity
- 298,899
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.27)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 20
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 10
