I chose this book from NetGalley because I've read a couple of Anita Diamant’s books and I really enjoyed them. I like that after reading them, I feel satisfied that I’ve read a good story and also, somehow, smarter. She has a gift for telling complicated stories in an elegant, simple manner, and the story of Addie Baum is no different. Addie tells her story to her granddaughter with the benefit of years and hindsight, and Diamant brings the book up-to-date with nods to current trends in contrast to Addie’s experience.
This is the story of a young woman living through periods of great change in women’s roles, and Diamant gives us a capable heroine to challenge the status quo. For me, something about the telling reminded me of a more grown-up version of the Betsy-Tacy stories my daughters and I read aloud together a couple of years ago. This is meant as a compliment, as they were a highlight in our reading, and Betsy was a well-loved character. We read all of those stories as they spanned her lifetime, just as Addie’s story spans almost a century, and the many changes those times brought. As I’ve come to understand, reading a book by Anita Diamant is always time well spent.
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