Dorothy West the Living is Easy Summary
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Cleo and her three younger sisters were the light-skinned daughters of a sharecropper. Cleo expected to become a rich young widow when she married Bart at 18, but he turned out to be surprisingly robust although he was 23 years her senior. He was also kind, loving, generous, trusting and indulgent and Cleo appreciated none of that. She schemed to get all of her sisters moved to their house in Boston, leaving their respective husbands (and their sick, elderly father) behind to fend for themselves. Cleo was not really cut out for servitude. "At such times she put on an apron, held her proud head above the level of everybody's eyes, and wished they would all drop dead." She was also not kind. Of her elderly landlord who had been a maid until she inherited her house: "She stared with pity and revulsion at the wrinkled monkey face, the dim eyes behind the gold-rimmed spectacles, and the mottled hands that were like burnt matchsticks."
I found this book a little strange and uneven, but it was also an illuminating glimpse into how this segment of Boston society operated. It illustrates how complicated race is when you assign people traits and positions in society based on the exact shade of their skin. It also presents a portrait of an unforgettable woman.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
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This book can be summarized something like this.
Once upon a time a devilish child named Cleo was born. Her sisters had the misfortune of being very innocent and naïve. She took advantage of them. She hurt them. She was happy.
Cleo grew up and moved away. Her sisters started to have normal lives. Cleo was unhappy about this. This simply would not do. They were too far away from her tentacles. She trick
Cleo is one of the most despicable characters I have ever had the displeasure of reading about.This book can be summarized something like this.
Once upon a time a devilish child named Cleo was born. Her sisters had the misfortune of being very innocent and naïve. She took advantage of them. She hurt them. She was happy.
Cleo grew up and moved away. Her sisters started to have normal lives. Cleo was unhappy about this. This simply would not do. They were too far away from her tentacles. She tricked them. She hurt them. She was happy.
The elite colored Boston community was also caricatured. They were Cleo's equals in cruelty and heartlessness. She was among her peeps.
I love a good villain, but Cleo was just too much for me! Unfortunately that was not the only problem I had with this novel. The storyline just did not interest me, and I struggled to finish this one.
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This novel provides a fascinating look at life in Boston for the Black elite. Some members tried to pass, they were usually successful because the rich Black Bostonian community would not tell their secret. It's infuriating but many of them looked down on Southern Black people. If you had no money and weren't a member of the Old Families of Boston, you were considered to be nothing. Issues of class and race intersect as does family. Cleo doesn't think she loves her husband, but she takes him for granted. I wish the novel had explored the relationships of Cleo's sisters better (especially Victor, Lily's husband. He seemed like a fine man until Cleo came along). The worst part is, Cleo ruins the lives of her sistes and her husband and daughter, but they don't blame her. The Living Is Easy quite clearly demonstrates that the living is not easy and it does so in a vivid, page turning way.
PS A sweet exchange between Serena and Robert as Serena prepares to leave her husband, Robert and the girls' father for Boston to visit Cleo. Robert: "'I can't read but a little bit. I never went to school.'
She said with tenderness, 'There'll be love in my letters, won't there? All you have to do is watch for it to spill out the envelope, and hold your heart ready to catch it.
'You won't go off and forget to come back?'
'When I forget God's in the sky, I'll forget to come back to you. And there's no way to live and breathe in this world without knowing God's on high.'" pg. 163
This book was difficult for me to get into. I didn't start appreciating the rhythm until Chapter 4 when the plot started picking up. Cleo is a type of anti-hero not common in literature. She's a black woman during World War I. She doesn't have many opportunities herself so she manipulates her husband, friends, neighbors, her child, to get what she wants. Cleo is obsessed with color, status, and class and will do almost anything to move up. This novel explores large themes of race, colorism, feminism, class. Cleo is not likable, but I wonder if this is only because she's a black woman. If she were a white business man, would she just be resourceful? That's the question the reader carries through this book.
This novel feels like a first novel to me, everything is thrown into this book (and maybe West didn't think she'd get another shot. She didn't publish another book until the 1990s.) I don't think this novel was well written. The sentences are clunky. The paragraphs are structured in a way that do not build suspense. However, I like that Cleo is a full character with flaws and strengths. I am very happy I read this book and I recommend this because we don't have many books by black women from this time. We picked this book for the Spilling Tea book club for Black History month. If you want to read with us, send me a DM.▪️
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The writing was mostly delicious a This book grew on me even though, by the end of the book I had decided it was a very sad story of a man and a woman who had gotten married but neither could give what the other wanted. I would often be angry with Cleo, the wife, throughout the book, but no more so at the end of the book when she did NOT understand that EVERYONE had ultimately lived the life that she wanted them to live (despite what the individual wanted or expected) and no one was really happy.
The writing was mostly delicious and what kept me poring through the book. ...more
From Brittanica, "Dorothy West, (born June 2, 1907, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died August 16, 1998, Boston), American writer who explored the aspirations and conflicts of middle-class African Americans in many of her works and was one of the last surviving members of the prominent group of black artists, writers, and musicians who flourished in New York City's Harlem district during t
I'm so glad that The Feminist Press introduced me to Dorothy West through this reissue of "The Living is Easy".From Brittanica, "Dorothy West, (born June 2, 1907, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died August 16, 1998, Boston), American writer who explored the aspirations and conflicts of middle-class African Americans in many of her works and was one of the last surviving members of the prominent group of black artists, writers, and musicians who flourished in New York City's Harlem district during the Harlem Renaissance."
This story features an audacious protagonist, Cleo, who is determined to scheme, manipulate, and solidify her way into Boston's Black society. Along the way she bullies everyone in her path and the machinations are fascinating to read. How could a Black woman in the early 20th century be free? Well, Cleo chose one path. Highly recommend reading this book if you're in need of gossip, social intrigue, and Black history.
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This novel is very different from "The Wedding", which I absolutely loved, but it was still a great read. I wish Dorothy West had written more.
Have not had a fiction character make me want to pull my eyelashes out in quite awhile but Cleo fixed that!This novel is very different from "The Wedding", which I absolutely loved, but it was still a great read. I wish Dorothy West had written more.
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It was a good read, nonetheless. Well, it was a difficult one. Difficult not because of the complexity of the writing nor the storyline, but because of its protagonist, Cleo. Numerous were the times when I found my jaw on the floor due to this character's actions. She is manipulative, deceitful, and most important of all, the queen of liars! And the naivety of some of the other characters was just through the roof.
It was a good read, nonetheless. ...more
At the end all of Cleo's work is for naught, her family is growing increasingly poor and dysfunctional ending with her husband's business failure and his leaving for New York for a fresh start. An interesting bit of history wrapped up in a work of fiction.
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Read #16 of "2021: My Year of (Mostly) Midcentury Women Writers"]
West's debut, one of only several novels by a black woman published in the 1940s. The prose style is frequently astonishing, but lots of problems with characterization (a deeply unlikable main character that doesn't feel exactly intended as such) & narrative (somehow it just doesn't move). But there's still so much of interest here; looking forward to exploring West's acclaimed later novels.Read #16 of "2021: My Year of (Mostly) Midcentury Women Writers"]
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This made me read this even more slowly. It's not a book for when you're grieving, the characters are despicable. I started this book a long time ago as we were reading it for book club. I have since disbanded the club as it was too much work without my husband to help me.
This made me read this even more slowly. It's not a book for when you're grieving, the characters are despicable. ...more
This novel came out in the late 1940s and it shares an obvious connection to another novel from that time The Street by Ann Petry. They have some parallels. Bot
Dorothy West didn't write that much fiction all told. But she was forever involved in publishing, editing, and other fields related to writing. In the mid-1990s she published her first new novel in a few decades The Wedding which won acclaim because it's good, because Oprah took notice, and because it was her first novel in a few decades.This novel came out in the late 1940s and it shares an obvious connection to another novel from that time The Street by Ann Petry. They have some parallels. Both novels are written by educated Black women (in an era where that was not the norm); both look at city life in the North for Black women, and both start with a Black woman looking for a new place to live. Whereas Ann Petry's novel has a darker tone and is about the complications of poverty and single motherhood, this novel has a much lighter tone, somewhat loftier goals for the protagonist, and not necessarily the most sympathetic ends for her either.
Similar to scenes from Native Son where liberal whites try to give African-Americans a chance (laden with unfair expectation and a nefarious racist mission) this novel begins with a rich white man offering his nice house to Cleo for much less than it's worth to rent. While he plays at altruism, it's clear to both the reader and to Cleo that he just doesn't want to be associated with the changing complexion of the neighborhood. Offered an exceedingly good deal, she haggles. That sets the tone for the novel: in the face of disingenuous white generosity, she bites back and takes what she can. For example, her next steps are to bring in as many boarders as possible to make her already good deal that much sweeter.
From there the novel involves Cleo convincing her sisters to move back in with her and then goes through a series of different mishaps, plots, and events. There's not a strong throughline of plot in this novel, other than the themes of family connection, race, and womanhood.
It's an interesting novel that I enjoyed for the most part, though it definitely became a bit of a chore to finish.
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I thought the book was interesting, it taught me many things about the lives of black wo
So,The Living is Easy by Dorothy West was written in the 1940's, one of few books to be published by black women at the time, and takes place in the beginning of the 20th of century. It's about a woman, named Cleo Judson, who's adamant that she'll become a member of Boston's elite. She's married to the "black banana king", and through manipulation she gets her sisters and their kids to come and live with her.I thought the book was interesting, it taught me many things about the lives of black women at the turn of the century. It wasn't the best book I've read, but if you're interested in learning more about women's lives at this time, I do recommend it
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I know what you are thinking, "But April, isn't that the point?" ::sniff:: Maybe, but I am so badly scarred that I do not care. I wi
Okay, many may find it ironic that this is the most frustrating book I have read from the AA genre, but it is. Perhaps because this book lulled me into a false sense of security. With all of the other books I have read from this period and genre I already knew to expect frustration, sadness, and a general dissapointment with American society. This book deceived me.I know what you are thinking, "But April, isn't that the point?" ::sniff:: Maybe, but I am so badly scarred that I do not care. I will now end on that dramatic, or "wild", note.
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Dorothy West was a novelist and short story writer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel The Living Is Easy, about the life of an upper-class black family.
West's principal contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was to publish the magazine C
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.Dorothy West was a novelist and short story writer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel The Living Is Easy, about the life of an upper-class black family.
West's principal contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was to publish the magazine Challenge, which she founded in 1934 with $40. She also published the magazines successor, New Challenge. These magazines were among the first to publish literature featuring realistic portrayals of African Americans. Among the works published were Richard Wright's groundbreaking essay "Blueprint for Negro Writing," together with writings by Margaret Walker and Ralph Ellison.
After both magazines folded because of insufficient financing, West worked for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project until the mid-1940s. During this time she wrote a number of short stories for the New York Daily News. She then moved to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, where she wrote her first novel, The Living Is Easy. Published in 1948, her novel was well received critically but did not sell many copies.
In the four decades after, West worked as a journalist, primarily writing for a small newspaper on Martha's Vineyard. In 1982 a feminist press brought The Living Is Easy back into print, giving new attention to West and her role in the Harlem Renaissance. As a result of this attention, at age 85 West finally finished a second novel, titled The Wedding. Published in 1995, the novel was a best-seller and resulted in the publication of a collection of West's short stories and reminiscences called The Richer, the Poorer. Oprah Winfrey turned the novel into a two-part television miniseries, The Wedding (TV miniseries).
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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/158371.The_Living_is_Easy
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