A powerful and groundbreaking revelation of the secret history of the 1.5 million women who surrendered children for adoption in the several decades before Roe v. Wade
In this deeply moving work, Ann Fessler brings to light the lives of hundreds of thousands of young single American women forced to give up their newborn children in the years following World War II and before Roe v. Wade. The Girls Who Went Away tells a story not of wild and carefree sexual liberation, but rather of a devastating double standard that has had punishing long-term effects on these women and on the children they gave up for adoption. Based on Fessler's groundbreaking interviews, it brings to brilliant life these women's voices and the spirit of the time, allowing each to share her own experience in gripping and intimate detail. Today, when the future of the Roe decision and women's reproductive rights stand squarely at the front of a divisive national debate, Fessler brings to the fore a long-overlooked history of single women in the fifties, sixties, and early seventies.
In 2002, Fessler, an adoptee herself, traveled the country interviewing women willing to speak publicly about why they relinquished their children. Researching archival records and the political and social climate of the time, she uncovered a story of three decades of women who, under enormous social and family pressure, were coerced or outright forced to give their babies up for adoption. Fessler deftly describes the impossible position in which these women found themselves: as a sexual revolution heated up in the postwar years, birth control was tightly restricted, and abortion proved prohibitively expensive or life endangering. At the same time, a postwar economic boom brought millions of American families into the middle class, exerting its own pressures to conform to a model of family perfection. Caught in the middle, single pregnant women were shunned by family and friends, evicted from schools, sent away to maternity homes to have their children alone, and often treated with cold contempt by doctors, nurses, and clergy.
The majority of the women Fessler interviewed have never spoken of their experiences, and most have been haunted by grief and shame their entire adult lives. A searing and important look into a long-overlooked social history, The Girls Who Went Away is their story.
评分
评分
评分
评分
这本书的叙事节奏把握得简直是教科书级别的,每一个转折点都像是精心布置的陷阱,让人深陷其中,欲罢不能。作者对人物内心挣扎的刻画入木三分,那些细微的情绪波动,那种在理智与情感之间摇摆的痛苦,都通过细腻的笔触展露无遗。我尤其欣赏它在构建悬念上的功力,不是那种廉价的突然惊吓,而是层层递进的、让人脊背发凉的氛围营造。那种“一切都来得太晚了”的宿命感,萦绕在故事的每一个角落,让人读完后久久无法释怀,甚至会开始反思自己生活中的某些决定。它巧妙地利用了环境描写来烘托人物的心境,比如某一个阴雨连绵的下午,或者一间被遗忘已久的阁楼,都成为了推动情节发展的关键元素。读到后半部分,我甚至需要停下来,深呼吸几次,才能鼓起勇气继续往下看,生怕揭开真相后,会带来更沉重的代价。这种阅读体验,是近年来难得一见的,它不仅仅是一个故事,更像是一次对人性幽暗深处的探险。它让你不断地去猜测,去质疑,直到最后一页,才恍然大悟,原来所有看似不经意的细节,都早已埋下了伏笔,这才是高明的叙事艺术。
评分我必须得说,这本书的语言风格有一种独特的、近乎诗意的忧郁感,读起来有一种浸润在老电影胶片颗粒里的质感。它的对话不是那种直来直去的交流,而是充满了言外之意和试探,仿佛每一个字都带着重量,轻轻落下,却能砸出深深的涟漪。作者似乎对“失去”这个主题有着非同寻常的理解,书中对逝去的美好、未能实现的梦想的描绘,既残酷又温柔。我能感受到那种时间洪流冲刷下,记忆如何被扭曲、被美化,最终成为支撑人物活下去的幻象。更值得称赞的是,它没有将角色简单地划分为好人与坏人,每个人物都带着他们自己的灰色地带和无法言说的秘密,这种复杂性使得故事更加真实可信。我常常在阅读时,会脑补出各种不同的配乐和色调,因为它不仅仅是文字的堆砌,更像是一部未完成的、需要读者自己去填补声光的视觉作品。那种关于“如果当初……”的无尽追问,贯穿始终,让这本书拥有了超越一般小说的哲学深度。它不是那种读完就忘的消遣品,而是需要你拿出笔记本来,标注出那些让你拍案叫绝的句子,反复咀嚼的文本。
评分这本书的魅力在于它的“留白”艺术。它没有把所有的事情都解释得清清楚楚,而是留下了大量的空间供读者自行想象和填充,这种不确定性,反而成了最引人入胜的部分。我发现自己会在阅读间隙,不断地在脑海中重组情节线索,试图找到一个更完美的解释,但最终都会发现,作者给出的那个模糊的、充满灰色调的结局才是最接近真实的。它的情绪基调是低沉而克制的,没有歇斯底里的爆发,但那种由内而外散发的压抑感,却比任何大喊大叫都更具穿透力。我几乎可以肯定,这本书会成为那种多年后你依然会拿出来重读,并且每次都能发现新的细节和感悟的经典。它对人性的幽暗面有着深刻的洞察力,不是批判,而是一种近乎悲悯的理解。阅读这本书的过程,与其说是看故事,不如说是一次深入自我内省的旅程,它逼着你面对那些不愿意承认的、深藏的恐惧与遗憾。
评分从结构上看,这本书的巧妙之处在于它采用了多重视角的切换,但这种切换处理得极其流畅,完全没有打断阅读的沉浸感。每一个视角的切换,都像是在解开一个独立的谜团,但最终它们又完美地汇合成了一幅宏大而令人心碎的画面。我特别欣赏作者对“沉默”的运用,很多时候,角色之间没有激烈的争吵,而是漫长而尴尬的沉默,但正是这种沉默,比任何呐喊都更能揭示人物之间难以逾越的鸿沟和内心的恐惧。这本书的推进速度在我看来是极为精准的,它知道何时该放慢脚步,让你细细品味某个场景的细节,也知道何时该猛然加速,将你推向不可逆转的境地。它成功地营造了一种令人窒息的封闭感,仿佛故事中的人物被困在一个无法逃脱的命运循环里,无论他们如何努力挣扎,都逃不掉既定的轨道。这种对“无力感”的深刻描绘,让这本书拥有了一种压倒性的艺术力量。我推荐给那些喜欢挑战传统叙事结构、追求阅读深度的朋友们。
评分这本书给我带来的冲击,更多是感官和心理层面的。它在描绘特定场景时的细节丰富度令人咋舌,比如对某个老旧家具的气味、阳光穿过百叶窗投下的光影形状的捕捉,都极其到位,让你仿佛能身临其境地感受到那种时间停滞的氛围。它探讨的议题非常尖锐,关于记忆的可靠性以及集体创伤如何影响一代人的命运,处理得既敏感又毫不回避。作者没有给我们提供一个简单的答案或救赎,而是将所有悬而未决的问题抛给了读者,让我们自己去消化和寻找出口。这种“不负责任”的收尾方式,恰恰是它最负责任的地方,因为它尊重了现实的复杂性,现实中很多痛苦是没有完美落幕的。我尤其佩服作者在保持故事张力的同时,还能穿插一些看似无关紧要的生活片段,这些片段非但没有分散注意力,反而如同散落的珍珠,串联起人物更深层的动机和背景,使人物形象立体得如同我们身边真实存在的人。
评分Last Chapter, deeply moved.
评分Last Chapter, deeply moved.
评分SAD AND REGRET
评分SAD AND REGRET
评分SAD AND REGRET
本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息,本站不存储任何数据与内容,任何内容与数据均与本站无关,如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度,google,bing,sogou 等
© 2026 book.wenda123.org All Rights Reserved. 图书目录大全 版权所有