Unmentionables

Loewenstein does a marvelous job of drawing readers right into the time period and the setting. It's 1917, America has entered World War I, women are struggling for equal rights, and the small town seems to be the backbone of the country. In Unmentionables, small towns are more like the last bastion of traditions and ideas that need to change: the place of women in the world, war, racism to name a few. What I liked is the fact that these topics were woven seamlessly into the narrative. There wasn't any preaching.I picked up this book because I'd really enjoyed Loewenstein's Dust Bowl era mystery, Death of a Rainmaker. At the outset, I was lulled into thinking Unmentionables was going to be a light, enjoyable read of little consequence. I was very wrong. Each character has his or her own unmentionable secrets and desires, and each character is allowed to develop more fully than readers initially expect. Loewenstein's descriptive powers are wonderful: for example, I've tucked away the description of Mrs. Sieve to savor over and over again.If you're in the mood for well-written historical fiction that gives you a vivid setting and characters whose interwoven lives make you think about life and love and hate and all sorts of things, I recommend you find a copy of Laurie Loewenstein's Unmentionables. It's a winner.

This book is an interesting and skillfully-rendered tale about the change in American culture, post-WWI. In this historical novel, Laurie Loewenstein masterfully pits many kinds of characters against one another, as a rural community grapples with the changes that are inevitable, as their town and rural culture enter a more global society.Before the invention of radio, television and the Internet, small town families, neighbors and friends depended on one another for physical and emotional support, as long as everyone thought along the same cultural and social lines. Outsiders, existentialists, non-conforming races, and any variety of nare-do-wells were not welcome and often bullied, shunned or run out of town, by their communities. Not much different than today's city neighborhoods and towns. This novel is a tale of one such small, Midwestern town, at the turn of the 20th century,However, change and slow-moving globalization was afoot. With the advent of the Chautauquas, those traveling entertainers and lecturers who spread out among rural America, brought new ideas and people to the small towns of America. Set against the backdrop of a Midwest town, on the cusp of change in the era of World War One, the community's local newspaper publisher grapples with his own personal and town constraints, when he meets and becomes enamoured with an imposing, outspoken and worldly woman who will change his life forever. However the Chautauqua lady who touts women's rights, sustains an ankle injury and becomes temporarily sidelined in the town. During her recovery, she encounters many interesting characters and events that lead her back to a long-submerged mindset much like of her own upbringing.Then comes America's entry into the European theater of World War One. Many young men of the community go overseas to fight for a patriotism that has long overshadowed their's and their ancestors lives. Once well to return to the Chautauqua circuit, Marian also follows a call to help French communities survive the Axis attacks. Her own sense of self and community is strengthened and she returns to America a changed woman.However, upon her return to the fast-dying Chautauqua concept, Marian is drawn back to the town and the newspaper publisher who has had to fight to save his own self, in the onslaught of a changing community. His daughter, his financial benefactor, his neighbors and the town itself is changing and he decides to follow his own heart.At the conclusion, all the characters must dig deep to find their own hearts and struggle toward a better life that has been wrought many changes by the altered landscape of the American, mid-century mindset.If you like stories about women's rights, small town struggles and the history of early, modern American life, this book is for you. Besides a very entertaining and well-paced storyline, the author has a very skillful command of the writing craft. The text is full of many scenarios of disturbing, as well as inspiring events. Mostly, the novel allows the natural process of people to redeem themselves, through the active processes of change. The reader can easily identify with the characters' pitfalls and the sheer courage to succeed, while still courageously depending on their families, neighbors and friends.

All the superlatives have been used already for this book's plot,characters, pacing and use of historical detail. While I certainly share in giving that praise, I must add my admiration for the author's deft interweaving of characters, politics, historical and even economic reality.Not that this is some dry tome - far from it. Instead, the characters appear naturally, playing their parts in the story, and also in the backdrop. The young woman who defiantly announces she will go to Chicago the day after graduation, is stopped by her grandfather's disapproval. No matter how spirited she is, most young women in her position had no marketable skills, nor even any way to find a decent rooming house in a big city without her family's help.The young black man who isn't allowed to buy a soda from the same machine as whites, looks to the army as a way towards respect, if not equality. The newspaper editor choosing between integrity and economics Even the descriptions of the lecture circuit - the First Nighters, and hierarchy of performers - establishes a clear, if light handed view of small town America on the brink of great change.All this - and a page turner, too. What else could you ask for?

I love this book! When I first started reading UNMENTIONABLES, I googled one of Loewenstein’s main characters, Marian Elliot Adams, because I was certain she had to have been a real figure in history, lecturing about women’s undergarments on the Chautauqua circuit. I soon discovered that Marian’s flamboyancy, her outspokenness, even her vulnerabilities were all created in the author’s imagination. Amazing!Loewenstein’s novel is both quiet and powerful. She deftly anchors the reader in a time when discrimination against African Americans and women was the norm, without imposing a twenty-first century sensibility on the story—not an easy task in historical fiction, but a vital one to be sure. She never judges her characters; she simply allows them to reveal themselves through masterful shifts in POV. This is the kind novel that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading, and I highly recommend it.

I had high hopes for this week when I got it. I find the era fascinating, and the author touched on several things of particular interest to me. The characters were engaging enough -- I especially liked the mature relationship between Deuce and Marion -- but the story just didn't hold up. And, in the end it left me with a lot of dangling ends that I think a better-constructed book would have tied up. It has not made me want to move on to the author's other novel.

I thought this was an extremely well written book as well as being a page turner. Despite the dramatic back drop, it has a subtle mood to it that I really liked. I can't find anything else by Laurie Loewenstein, but will definitely buy it when I do.

The story itself is a drag. I think that the author relied on the setting too much for the book 's success. I had a hard time even understanding who was the main character. I was fooled by all the five star reviews.