The Sturdy Oak: Composite Novel

Title: The Sturdy Oak: A Composite Novel

Author: 14 different people

Edited by: Elizabeth Jordan (American, 1865-1947)
Originally published: 1917
Page count: 175

Dates read: 3/3/22-3/7/22

2022 book goal progress: 5 out of 20

Back to the Classics category: 20th-century classic

Mindful Readers' Family Bookclub genre/theme: March - Feminism


Read my other book reviews for my 2022 goals HERE.


Description on back of book:
Much of The Sturdy Oak reflects the New York campaign for suffrage of 1916-17. The story takes place in a small, conservative community in upstate New York. George Remington, a cautious young lawyer running for office, and his new wife, Genevieve, who becomes converted to the suffrage cause, do not fit the picture of the traditional couple: "the sturdy oak" supporting "the clinging vine." Caught up in the swirling political currents of the day, their marriage, his career, their community - the very foundation of their society - are threatened.

A satirical look at the gender roles of the time, this composite novel was based on the rules of an old parlor game, in which one person begins a narrative, another continues it, and another picks it up. Although the particular political issue that prompted the story, the enfranchisement of women, has now been formally settled, the social problems raised in the novel are hauntingly current: the disposition of wealth; gender inequities; dishonesty and violence as avenues to power.

Contents and authors:

Chapter # - Author -note

1 - Samuel Merwin (American, 1874-1936)

2 - Harry Leon Wilson (American, 1867-1939) -long and complex sentences; hard to decipher

3 - Fannie Hurst (American, 1885-1968)

4 - Dorothy Canfield (American, 1879-1958)

5 - Kathleen Norris (American, 1880-1966) -multiple tense scenes; great continuation

6 - Henry Kitchell Webster (American, 1874-1936) -great chapter; turns everything on its head

7 - Anne O'Hagan (American, 1875-1932) 

-used the n-word early on and it tainted the chapter for me, but it's interesting

8 - Mary Heaton Vorse (American, 1874-1936)

9 - Alice Duer Miller (American, 1874-1966) -great conversation; insightful

10 - Ethel Watts Mumford (American, 1876-1940)

11 - Marjorie Benton Cooke (American, 1876-1920) -Plot twist!

12 - William Allen White (American, 1868-1944)

13 - Mary Austin (American, 1868-1934) -Dicksonian

14 - Leroy Scott (American, 1875-1929) -Great ending, but an unnecessary last 2 pages.

First sentence:
"Genevieve Remington had been called beautiful." 

-chp 1, Samuel Merwin

Favorite quotes:
"That's the real issue. It isn't that women are better than men, or that they could run the world better if they got the chance. It's that men and women have got to work together to do the things that need doing." 

-chp 5, Kathleen Norris

"The sturdy oak [men] will support the clinging vine [women]!" 

-chp 12, William Allen White - brackets added for clarification

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.6/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 7
Atmosphere   - 7
Writing Style - 9
Plot                - 8
Intrigue          - 8
Logic             - 6
Enjoyment     - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

I enjoyed this book! Elizabeth Jordan edited another composite novel, The Whole Family, and the main issue I had with that story was that it didn't feel very cohesive. For The Sturdy Oak, if I didn't know each chapter was by a different author, I don't think I would've thought anything was off - it was very cohesive and smoothly written from author to author. 

Most chapters were a good continuation from the previous one and overall an easy read. The characters tended to be pretty one-dimensional and the overall plot was predictable. The details/specifics of individual situations were quite surprising. I also appreciated how it showed that not all women were in support of the suffrage movement - which doesn't make sense to me but is historically accurate. Overall, it was a good, albeit simple, story about women fighting for the right to vote.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Alice Duer Miller (chp 9) have the last words:

Note: There are 2 quotes from the same chapter that show a man's perspective versus a women's perspective on another man's reaction to something. Penny is the man they are reacting to - I just wanted to clarify because Penny, at least to me, is usually a name for a female. George and Penny are partners in a law office; Betty is their stenographer and Penny's love interest. George fires Betty; Penny is not happy about it and threatens to dissolve their partnership.

George's perspective on Penny:

" 'I don't feel inclined to ask a favor of Penny just at present," George said haughtily. 'Has it ever struck you, Uncle Martin, that Penny has an unduly emotional, an almost feminine type of mind?'

'No,' said the other, 'it hasn't, but that is perhaps because I have never been sure just what the feminine type of mind is.'

'You know what I mean,' answered George, trying to conceal his annoyance at this sort of petty quibbling. 'I mean he is too personal, over-excitable, irrational, and very hard to deal with.' "

Genevieve's perspective on Penny (several pages later):

" 'I think Penny has been a little hasty,' George said, judicially but not unkindly. 'He lost all self-control when he heard I had let Betty go.'

'Isn't that just like a man,' said Genevieve, 'to throw away his whole future just because he loses his temper?' "

This made me think of the description of the book that said it was still relevant today. It reminded me of a meme I saw just the other day: