The Group

Reviews / Votes

Absorbing, funny, painful . . . I consider it a masterpiece -- Hilary Mantel Shocking, titillating, and acid-laced . . . the book still dazzles as a generational portrait, falters as fiction, and blighted McCarthy's life -- Laura Jacobs * Vanity Fair * A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack -- Sarah Waters McCarthy's characters confront many of the same issues as their modern counterparts: sex and contraception, career and marriage, love and lust, fidelity to one's husband versus loyalty to one's friends and the attempt to carve out a place for oneself unconstrained by the gender limitations of previous generations. Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes -- Elizabeth Day * Guardian * Few works of literature can genuinely be termed "ahead of their time" * The Times * Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant * Cosmopolitan * Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining * Sunday Times * One of my favourite books ever -- India Knight A woman of intellect and style -- Celia McGee * New York Times * Her greatest novel . . . marvellous . . . a prophetic book which set the scene . . . for the novels of protest and liberation in the next decade * Independent * Feels like discovering a thrilling secret. Its prose shows a master stylist at work, its aesthetics are striking - all ivory-tipped cigarettes, hand-pureed pate, Vassar socialists in dungarees - and it has a surprise queer romance that twists the whole narrative into new shape. It's my new standard for a summer read: lavish, hilarious, smart and mean, like a glamorous friend you're torn between fearing and crushing on -- Mikaella Clements Scalpel-keen prose, honed on ruthless wit and insight * Observer * She is a sparkler, a very funny, very savage moralist, and a brilliant mimic * Spectator * This is the book which has aroused considerable advance speculation and well it might; it has a tremendous reader recognition . . . there cannot be much doubt that Mary McCarthy is an exceptional social satirist, with a jackdaw eye and an infallible ear * Kirkus Reviews * McCarthy's dissection of this disparate group - highly educated but powerless in a world of men - is witty and merciless but tinged with sadness. * Daily Mail *