A Woman of Independent Means

     A fellow member of a writing group is the owner of an online bookstore, and he recently had a huge sale at his warehouse.  One of the books I purchased was A Woman of Independent Means, 2oth Anniversary Edition by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey.  The title seemed vaguely familiar to me and the blurb on the back intrigued me, since I am fascinated by history and books – not necessarily in that order.   Also, the fact that the entire book was written in the format of letters really fascinated me.  The review on Amazon.com says this of the book and of Bess Steed Garner, the main character:

“From the early 1900s through the 1960s, we accompany Bess as she endures life's trials and triumphs with unfailing courage and indomitable spirit: the sacrifices love sometimes requires of the heart, the flaws and rewards of marriage, the often-tested bond between mother and child, and the will to defy a society that demands conformity.”



Money? Yes.  Likeable?  No.

 

     Needless to say, I had high hopes for this book.  I thought this character would be quite the radical – someone who defied the stereotype and was more than a wife and mother. 

     I was wrong.  So, so wrong!

     This woman, Bess Steed Garner, only aspired to be the “perfect” upper class wife and mother – one obsessed with money, status and only a part-time caretaker to her children.  Combine that with the woman’s narcissistic personality and you get a character that I immediately disliked.  I mean, this lady writes her husband’s obituary and then sends it to a paper in her former hometown with a cover letter that instructs the editor to print it in the society pages because he was such an influential person.   Bess asked her dying father’s nurse to leave his bedside and come back to help her instead!  She forced her aunt, who had taken in her father and raised him as her own, to go into a nursing home.  She sold the aunt’s home and made her aunt sign over all her antique furniture to Bess in payment for the nursing home care and then had the audacity to write her aunt and tell her that she was being petulant about living in a nursing home!  Bess asked her housekeeper to delay her vacation in order to decorate Bess’s house for the holidays not for Bess and the children, but for Bess’s friend who would be staying in the house alone, without them.  Bess alienated her children, especially her daughter, and forced them to do as she wanted instead of finding their own places in life.  She did nothing with her money except build houses, decorate them and go to Europe on vacations.  She didn’t do anything special or help others.  Bess absolutely expected to be catered to and resisted any effort made to try to let her know she wasn’t the center of the universe.  

     The author wrote in the preface to this edition that the book was based on her grandmother.  After reading it, I thought “Wow. This was not a tribute to that woman.  How could she have thought she was writing it as one?”

     Not long after I finished the book, I was on the phone with my mother and asked her if she had read it and she said that she had and liked it.  I laughed and said, “Well, it must be a generational thing because I absolutely loathed that woman and was grateful I didn’t have her as a mother!  You may not have had any money to speak of, but you sure did more for your kids than Bess ever did!”     

     I was so relieved to finish that book.