supercheesegirl

Finally. The ending of this book really bothered me. Here's poor Rose, her mother's dead and her father couldn't care less about her, and her cousin Bertram, the only person who ever took her in, can't wait to get rid of her in the end. She spends two or three years with these people and the only one who wants her to stay is the professor, who spent most of the book treating her like an inanimate object. She works for them and is a part of the household for all that time but she's always considered to be something other, not a true part of things. Oh, and I hated Bertram in the end. What a jerk. He pushes Rose off in favor of crazy Ninel, who never loved him and who cleans him out, and then he shows up broke and begging Rose for help. Then he usurps her place in the family, takes over everything, and sends Rose on her way! Never mind that none of this would have happened for him if it hadn't been for Rose. No, just Here's some money, good luck in the big wide world! But I guess this is what the novel is kind of about, it's realistic in that way. Rose has to learn to make her own way and not to count on anyone, and it's the middle of the Depression so that's an important thing to know. It's easy to forget in this book that it's set in the Depression, and what that means for the context of the story. No wonder Bertram was such a jerk. Overall I think I liked the book, but I'd have to think about it some more. I think parts of it will stay with me. I ended up both feeling bad for and simultaneously hating most of the characters. They were all in crappy situations, and that wasn't their fault, but then the things they chose to do about their situations made me angry. I guess it was a good book. Definitely an interesting one.