The Friendly Young Ladies by Mary Renault

We've all read those books where a woman's life is magically transformed by a man's penis, but I did not expect that from a gay author (though Renault doesn't actually label herself as gay she was interested in exploring alternative sexualities). I have to say that I was deeply disappointed. The writing is extremely good and very emotionally perceptive, delicate and nuanced, but the sexual politics made me want to die. I absolutely loved Renault's The Charioteer (which is about gay men during World War II), but this was just so upsetting for me. First of all, Renault seems to fully subscribe to the idea of inversion (that a gay woman is a man trapped in a woman's body and vice versa), going so far as to have one of the characters 'split' herself into a boy and a woman. Also, I was really depressed by the portrayal of Elsie, a young girl stifled by life in a Cornish village, who runs away to join her sister in London. I tend to identify with shy, idealistic and frightened characters, probably because I myself always feel insufficient and anxious, and at first Elsie seemed very pathetic and I was cheering for her to get away from her family and start an independent life. But instead, she just becomes a burden to her sister and is constantly oblivious, selfish and annoying, and the story shifts away from her altogether. I was so upset that she was denied any character development, and the book left me feeling somewhat hopeless. And even though, as I've said, Renault's writing is wonderful and her characterization very good, I found her judgemental and god-like attitude towards her characters sort of irritating. It felt like every character had to have a somewhat objective outside observer to comment on them dispassionately and make them 'knowable' while they are clearly unable to form a real picture of themselves. But in terms of writing and humour, this was a really great book.