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Terrible Virtue A Novel Ellen Feldman Books

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Terrible Virtue A Novel Ellen Feldman Books

"A woman's duty: To look the whole world in the face with a go-to-hell look in her eyes, to have an ideal, to speak and act in defiance of convention."

And that is what Margaret Sanger did. She looked everyone in the face with a go-to-hell look in her eyes, and she spoken and acted in defiance of convention. Having watched her mother die older before her time, having raised 13 children, lost about 5, Margaret both loved and hated her mother. She loved her mother yet was disgusted with what her mother was, with what she let herself be: a broodmare...a baby incubator.

This novel is told in the first person, as though Margaret is looking back on her years and her life, her goals, trials, losses, loves. Personally, I loved it. First-person writing can make or break a book. In this case, it worked. The writing was engrossing; the memories were vivid. I never felt as though they were being narrated to me, but that I was living them myself.

I went with her from being called a devil's child and falling over her feet in the woods to her first marriage and the birth of her three children and the battles she fought inside herself between what she should want (what society told her she should want...a loving husband, a nice house, three adorable children) and what she really wanted (free love with whomever she pleased, a basic place in the middle of artists and socialists, and her main child: the birth control movement.

She takes on lovers and never hides who she is. She neglects her children for her one great passion. In her mind, it's better to deprive three than to let thousands of women and unwanted children everywhere suffer. And yet, she suffers herself later.

And was she a Nazi? No. We find later in the novel how that accusation came to pass and that it was a misunderstanding, a twisting of events, a misinterpretation.

I learned so much about this woman, this champion of all women. The only thing I didn't like about the novel was how vague it was about early contraception. Up until 65%, Margaret kept preaching the importance of family limitation yet didn't really offer a solution for it. This came later, after her Europe travels...but in the meantime, like all the women writing her desperate letters, I kept wondering, "What exactly are you wanting the women to do?? French letters are not affordable."

But eventually she got there, with her little possets, or womb veils. And she went to jail, albeit briefly, for her beliefs...and her sister was never the same, as she went to jail too and had a hunger strike.

But she got there...and as a result, ladies, we got there. Us modern women have the means as well the right to choose.

We can thank Margaret for that. I highly recommend reading this novel.


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Terrible Virtue A Novel Ellen Feldman Books Reviews

I thought it was a good book but found the main character fairly loathsome. Margaret Sanger certainly paved the way in early reproductive rights but sacrificed her own children to do so. I especially liked the letters written to her by family members.
Very poor writing. Lots of sensational sex incidences and much less substance This is a famous and important woman, but you would hardly know it
Margaret Higgins Sanger grew up in a small town in New York (Corning), and in Terrible Virtue A Novel, the fictionalized tale of her life and her quest, we come to understand more about what drove her.

A hard-drinking father and a worn-out mother who had given birth to thirteen children would set the stage for the pursuits she followed. Escape from the small town life and from the destiny she would face if she chose to follow her mother’s path, Margaret’s obsession to help women choose when and how many children to have kept her outside the norm in many ways.

For in the early twentieth century, birth control was still illegal, and only the wealthy had the privilege of finding ways around the laws.

When Margaret began her nursing career, she also launched her studies of contraception, and set out to enlist those who could aid in her research and help her bring the knowledge to those who were downtrodden and impoverished.

Along the way, she met and married Bill Sanger, they had a brief time as an “ordinary” couple, and they had three children…but Margaret’s overriding passion would take her away from her husband and children on a regular basis.

Not only did she have a passion for her work, she was drawn regularly into sexual liasons, which set her apart from those around her as well. Her path crossed with the thinkers of the day, some of whom were also passionate about sexual quests. We see her meet up with John Reed, Emma Goldman, and ultimately, Havelock Ellis, who some would say was the love of her life.

How would Margaret reconcile her work with her family life? How would her losses fuel her passions? Would jail and fighting the establishment stop her, or spur her on? And how would one loss continually haunt her?

Narrated in Margaret’s first person voice, hers is joined by the occasional letters and thoughts of others, rounding out the tale for the reader. I could not put this book down, and while I thought I knew a bit about the movement, now I know a lot more.

These stories take me back to my own early days, after the pill and Planned Parenthood. In the 70s, volunteering in a clinic, there was still so much more to be done. We counseled women and girls in rooms no larger than a bathroom. I remember putting my clipboard across the sink while I filled in forms. We have come a long way! But even now, there are those who would take away some of our rights. Let us not forget the long hard journey. 5.0 stars.
Well written story. I think women now days forget how lucky we are compared to the life back then. But, this character accomplished much at
the expense of her family, which is too often done today. Book should make most women thankful we have choices.
This 'autobiographical' novel is a compelling read. The novel's title says it all - Margaret Sanger was a woman for the modern age whose driving passion contributed to what was arguably the most significant change in public health and in a woman's ability to make choices about her own body - but that passion came at a painful price. For any woman who is a devoted mother, it is impossible to read this book without alternately lauding Sanger and condemning her. Feldman's prose is beautifully written, and the 4 stars are only because there were a handful of places where I wished she and her editor had trimmed some occasional overlong passages. Excellent read!
Wonderful novelized version of Margaret Sanger's life and work, including her benchmark work in helping women with sex education and birth control. Women in tenements were particularly vulnerable to lack of family planning. Sanger's own life is truly dramatic as one of 13 children; her mother passed away--as so many women did. The novel doesn't portray Sanger as saintlike but shows her warts and all. Still, her bedrock work in ensuring women have choices in family planning cannot be denied.
"A woman's duty To look the whole world in the face with a go-to-hell look in her eyes, to have an ideal, to speak and act in defiance of convention."

And that is what Margaret Sanger did. She looked everyone in the face with a go-to-hell look in her eyes, and she spoken and acted in defiance of convention. Having watched her mother die older before her time, having raised 13 children, lost about 5, Margaret both loved and hated her mother. She loved her mother yet was disgusted with what her mother was, with what she let herself be a broodmare...a baby incubator.

This novel is told in the first person, as though Margaret is looking back on her years and her life, her goals, trials, losses, loves. Personally, I loved it. First-person writing can make or break a book. In this case, it worked. The writing was engrossing; the memories were vivid. I never felt as though they were being narrated to me, but that I was living them myself.

I went with her from being called a devil's child and falling over her feet in the woods to her first marriage and the birth of her three children and the battles she fought inside herself between what she should want (what society told her she should want...a loving husband, a nice house, three adorable children) and what she really wanted (free love with whomever she pleased, a basic place in the middle of artists and socialists, and her main child the birth control movement.

She takes on lovers and never hides who she is. She neglects her children for her one great passion. In her mind, it's better to deprive three than to let thousands of women and unwanted children everywhere suffer. And yet, she suffers herself later.

And was she a Nazi? No. We find later in the novel how that accusation came to pass and that it was a misunderstanding, a twisting of events, a misinterpretation.

I learned so much about this woman, this champion of all women. The only thing I didn't like about the novel was how vague it was about early contraception. Up until 65%, Margaret kept preaching the importance of family limitation yet didn't really offer a solution for it. This came later, after her Europe travels...but in the meantime, like all the women writing her desperate letters, I kept wondering, "What exactly are you wanting the women to do?? French letters are not affordable."

But eventually she got there, with her little possets, or womb veils. And she went to jail, albeit briefly, for her beliefs...and her sister was never the same, as she went to jail too and had a hunger strike.

But she got there...and as a result, ladies, we got there. Us modern women have the means as well the right to choose.

We can thank Margaret for that. I highly recommend reading this novel.