The Calamity Club is the story of several women whose lives converge in unusual (and desperate) ways in Mississippi during the Great Depression.
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction (1933), Southern Fiction, Women Supporting Women, Orphans, Prostitution, Mississippi
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My Brief Summary:
Birdie Calhoun and her mother are struggling to make ends meet in 1933, and Birdie travels to Oxford, Mississippi to ask her sister (and her husband) for money. When she arrives, she discovers that her sister’s life isn’t perfect and she may not have money to spare. Birdie feels she must stay and help them out. We also meet eleven-year-old Meg, an orphan at the local orphanage. Birdie and Meg meet when Birdie volunteers to do some bookkeeping for the orphanage. Birdie discovers horrible conditions and befriends Meg. While the situation with Birdie’s sister worsens and the financial shortage becomes dire, Birdie meets a desperate woman who has an idea for them to make some money. By the time Birdie realizes that this woman plans to start a brothel, she’s already in over her head. Meanwhile, Meg has been adopted under some strange circumstances and leaves the orphanage to live with her new (dysfunctional) family. How will Birdie and Meg survive their circumstances? Who will rescue Meg? Will Birdie and her friends get arrested?
My Thoughts:
Desperate times and desperate measures…
Do I have a reputation as an Outlier?!
Here I am again as an Outlier for one of the most popular books of the year. Despite rave reviews, I have mixed feelings about my reading experience. Overall, I wished for more Meg content and less Prostitution.
How do reading tastes affect the reading experience?
Neglect and mistreatment of children is my definition of difficult and troublesome content. So, although I loved the character of Meg, her parts were difficult to endure. I set the story aside multiple times to pick up lighter reads. In fact, it took me two months to finish the book. Although I was tempted to DNF, I felt compelled to find out what would happen to Meg and Birdie (and her business venture).
What is the tone of the story?
The tone of the story is tense and bleak (especially the latter half) with slivers of humor. The author excels at creating low-key tension and suspense throughout the story. I kept expecting the worst, and waited for one huge, dramatic moment that never came. I was simply tense and worried about somebody all the time.
Who are the narrators?
The story is told from two perspectives: Birdie’s and Meg’s. When we are in Birdie’s POV, we worry about Meg; and when we’re in Meg’s POV, we’re concerned for Birdie.
What did I enjoy or wish could be better?
I enjoyed:
- Audio format (I doubt if I would have persisted through a print version; the audio is excellent)
- Interesting and well-drawn characters
- Strong sense of time and place
- Discussable
- A “what outlandish thing is going to happen next” vibe kept me turning pages
A few elements I wish had been better executed:
- Overwritten (could have used a 200-page edit)
- Dragged down by descriptive passages and/or irrelevant details at times
- Some characters were caricatures
- A few over-the-top/unbelievable events/decisions
- Troublesome content (prostitution, child neglect and mistreatment, abandonment, bullying, suicide, …..)
- Abrupt ending (considering the length of the book, the ending was abrupt and felt unfinished in some ways)
- Attempted too many issues, and the author’s agenda was apparent
Content Consideration: Profanity, Crassness, Prostitution, Neglect and mistreatment of orphans, Bullying, Abandonment, Forced Sterilization, Homophobia, Racism, Alcoholism, Suicide…
Recommending The Calamity Club:
This is not a book I’ll be widely recommending. However, no two readers read the same book, so I encourage you to check out the many favorable reviews. If you are OK with the content warnings, I do recommend the audio format for this one.
Related: This story mentions Georgia Tan and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society Orphanage, which is the setting for Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
My Rating: 2.5-3 Stars
Meet the Author of The Calamity Club, Kathryn Stockett
Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. The Help is her first novel.
QOTD:
Is The Calamity Club on your TBR or have you read it?
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Fab review, Carol, too bad it didn’t live up to your expectations. I loved Before We Were Yours, but think I’ll give this a miss.
So many others loved it! im a definite outlier!
My feelings exactly!! This was also nearly a DNF for me. The first half was well done, but the second half seemed far-fetched. I prefer main characters who are not so morally ambiguous. But I know that doesn’t bother everyone 🙄
Thrilled to know another outlier! There are so few of us! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I followed this up with The Burning Side which was a memorable 5 star read for me. Right now, I’m reading No One’s Coming by Kevin Hazzard.
I do have Calamity Club on my TBR, but I admit, I’m putting it off because of it’s size. My sister just listened to it and enjoyed it, and she told me this excerpt that she thought was so indicative of readers….a little girl (possibly Meg?) was recounting to someone else how her mother or parent abandoned her in their house, and she ate everything in the house, and then she started in eating a book. My sister said, you might expect someone to say, “Oh no! How awful! You poor thing!” Instead the person said, with some fascination, “WHICH book?” hahaha, I thought it was funny, too—I mean, that’s how we readers think….
But yeah, your review sounds pretty grim. I was hoping it was more on the line of The Help. I guess “Calamity” is an apt title.
So many have loved it! Worth a try? Highly recommend audio if you do.
I totally agree with you Carol. I thought it was far too long and the prostitution part was unbelievable. Meg was a great character.
Thanks for the solidarity! It’s lonely out here! 😂 I think we need a Meg spinoff!
I liked the book overall much more than you did, but I also agree with certain of your points, especially how much of a caricature certain characters are and the abruptness of the ending / lack of a big dramatic moment. Still, I was completely immersed!
Yes, despite everything I was compelled to keep turning the pages!
Oh… ouch! I’ve heard similar things from some reviewers, so… I’m holding off buying a copy of this, despite my loving her The Help.
Wait until you can get it from the library or from a thrift shop! 😂
My hold for the audiobook should be coming this week or early next. I have read many comments about the length and that it could easily have been edited down. I hope I can stick with it, I guess we’ll see. I didn’t realize that they opened a brothel in this book. I admit, I requested this one due to the author, and probably didn’t read the description very closely. Wonderful and informative review, Carol.
The description doesn’t fully capture the real content of the story. Audio is the way to go for this one.
Stockett was always going to face a challenge with her second novel after the soaring success of the first. Sounds like she didn’t hit the mark for you in several ways
I’m a total outlier for this one! 😂🤷♀️