Let’s Call Her Barbie shares the story of Barbie’s inspiration, creation, and promotion, and the woman who drove the success.
Let’s Call Her Barbie by Renée Rosen
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Biographical Fiction, Barbie Dolls, Entrepreneurship, Children’s Toys, Business
***This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links
My Summary:
Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for #LetsCallHerBarbie. Thanks #NetGalley @BerkleyPub #BerkleyBuddyReads for a complimentary eARC of #LetsCallHerBarbie upon my request. All opinions are my own.
Let’s Call Her Barbie shares the story of Barbie’s inspiration, creation, and promotion, and the woman who drove the success. Ruth Handler and her husband co-founded the Mattel Toy Company, and in 1956 she had an inspiration for a doll that would revolutionize the baby-doll market…..a doll that allows girls to dream about being anything they want to be. The author addresses the creative process, the risks, the tensions, the launch, and the controversies.
My Thoughts:
Multiple Perspectives
Let’s Call Her Barbie is told from multiple perspectives, and I appreciate this omniscient, third-person point of view. Hearing from several main characters offers multiple layers and gives the story substance and complexity.
Behind-the Scenes
This behind-the-scenes look into the world of Barbie is intriguing for several reasons.
- First, the vision, the process, and risks of introducing something entirely new to an existing market is interesting. We know now that it was going to be a huge success, but they didn’t.
- Then, we have the fact that the person presenting the vision is a woman. How will she make her voice heard in this male-dominated boardroom?
- We also have the stress that a new venture puts on a marriage and family.
- Another interesting aspect is the development of the doll… the vision….the trial and error…the second-guessing… the courage to forge ahead…the failures…the criticism…
- Don’t forget about the fabulous wardrobe….the construction details are fascinating!
It’s All About the Wardrobe
Construction of Barbie’s wardrobe is a fascinating part of the story. The wardrobe was the real moneymaker for the Barbie line, but more importantly to Ruth Handler, the wardrobe sparked the imaginations of little girls in different career directions. It inspired them to be anything they wanted to be.
Sacrifice
In a family, where both parents are career-driven, sacrifices are made. One of the most thought-provoking questions I was left with is this: We often remark that it doesn’t matter if it’s the mother or the father who manages the home front and/or attends to the children. There are many career-driven women and stay-at-home dads who flip traditional roles and make it work. In this story, Ruth Handler and her husband are co-founders of their business, but he is also the more present and nurturing parent. I have held the opinion that it doesn’t matter which parent is more present in the home as long as one of them ensures the well-being of the children. After reading this story and hearing about the daughter’s anger with her mom about not being present, I have been pondering this. You would think that having the father present would have been enough for her, but it wasn’t. She was very angry and needed her mom. Maybe because parents in the 1950s held more traditional parenting roles, their daughter found that a working/absentee mom made her different from the other kids/families? Maybe girls need their moms and boys need their dads? Maybe all kids need their moms? Maybe their daughter would have been angry with her mom anyway? Maybe it was a personality conflict? Maybe it’s lovely when dads are present but children need both?
In my family of origin and in my own family, I was the parent who was the most present with the children while my father and husband were more career-driven. (while I dabbled in part-time jobs and outside interests, I waited until my youngest had graduated from high school before I pursued a career) Which parent do you feel should be more present for the children? Ruth Handler sacrificed a great deal for her career and the creation of Barbie.
Lots to Discuss
Whether you grew up playing with Barbies or had a career-driven mom or are a businesswoman, you will find a great deal to discuss in this book. As a child, were you allowed to play with Barbies? Were you inspired by Barbie and the possibilities she represented? Did your mother approve of Barbie?
Content Consideration: mother/daughter conflict, drugs, alcohol, addiction, eating disorder, infidelity
Recommending Let’s Call Her Barbie:
Fans of all things Barbie might appreciate this behind-the-scenes story of her creation. Women entrepreneurs will enjoy the business aspect. Book clubs will find it discussable.
You might be interested to know that the author had the idea for this book in 2019 before the movie came out.
Related: You might also enjoy The Social Graces and Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by the same author.
My Rating: 4
Meet the Author of Let’s Call Her Barbie, Renée Rosen
Renée Rosen is the USA Today bestselling author of Fifth Avenue Glamor Girl, The Social Graces, Park Avenue Summer, along with 4 other historical novels and the YA novel, Every Crooked Pot.
Her newest novel, Let’s Call Her Barbie, about the creators of the Barbie doll, will be published in January 21,2025 by Penguin Random House/Berkley. Renée lives in Chicago where she is at work on a new novel.
QOTD:
Did you play with Barbies?
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You’ve raised some interesting points, Carol. Even if the subject matter of Barbie doesn’t interest you, I think the issues of parenting and relationships, as well as a woman fighting for her ideas, would be very discussible. I played with Barbie sort of, but I don’t think she influenced my thoughts about what I would do in life. That was my mom. She was widowed with 5 children when my youngest sibling was only a year old. She was both mother and father to us. My husband was not a very present dad. He worked ten hours a day and half a day on the weekend, so I did most of the child raising and I have a pretty good relationship with both my kids. My son was the stay at home dad, but his wife was present when she was home. Lots to think about.
It was an interesting read n many ways! The dads and husbands today are much more present! True partnerships.
This sounds like an interesting read. I never played with Barbie specifically but had some dolls though I gravitated towards Sylvannian Families as toys to play with, lol.
I think it’s tricky with parenting, perhaps girls want their mums more while boys would feel worse without a present male father figure? Though this might well depend on the individual child and some other circumstances such as any health or social problems those kids might face.
My youngest daughter had the Sylvannian House and the ensemble of woodland creatures and accessories! Fun times!
A Good, interesting review. I’ll leave this one on my TBR!
Thanks Lisa! It’s an intriguing peek behind the scenes!
Thought provoking review, Carol. I think this would be a worthwhile read just for the social commentary. 💖📚
Absolutely!
I like Renee’s writing and wished for this one, and only got approval recently, so I’m only reading it now. So far… so good!
A bit grittier than I expected….but interesting!
This sounds interesting! My initial impression when seeing the book cover was that it would be very dry, but based on your review, it sounds like there’s a lot to enjoy and think about. The question about parenting makes me even more interesting in reading the book — as someone who worked full-time while raising children, it’s something I’ve thought about quite a bit!
I think there are many ways to raise children. 👧 if they are safe and loved you’re good! The daughter had a very emotionally present dad so it perplexed me. I think she was just mortified that her mom worked when most moms in the 50s were home 🤷♀️ and it didn’t help that her name was Barbara and she was teased. It’s an interesting read from many aspects and a bit grittier than I expected.
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